STARRING ROSI

Ash Ra Tempel was a German band centred around innovative guitarist Manuel Gottsching. 'Starring Rosi' is not as 'cosmic' as the previous albums but certainly has its moments. It is also quite accessible. Rosi Muller was Manuel's girlfriend at the time of this album and she contributes spoken words throughout, and to good effect. 'Laughter Loving' is a lengthy, cheerful song (with hints of country-rock) which features wonderful wah-wah guitaring, some droning synth, and a strong rhythmic prescence, with some echoed laughing from Rosi at the start and the end. 'Day-Dream' is just that - a very stoned and dreamy 2 chord sequence, strummed on acoustic guitar with some nice lead electric guitar lines, with spoken lines from Rosi, repeated by Manuel's singing. Nice, for sure. Next up is an all-too- brief instrumental piece 'Schizo', which creates a very detatched, spacey atmosphere, built around Manuel's affected and highly emotive guitar-lines. This could've been a side-long jam. 'Cosmic Tango' is a funky little number, with Rosi's take on space-whisper (not unlike Gong's Gilli Smyth) and is pretty cool. The almost 9 min 'Interplay of Forces' starts out with the most spacey section of the album, again reminding one of French space-rockers GONG, which eventually gives way to another lengthy jam in a similar, hippie style as 'Laughter Loving'. 'The Fairy Dance' is a pretty little instrumental track, with some synth and Mellotron to boot, very pastoral. Last song is 'Bring Me Up', which is a funky, blues tune, with a jammy vibe and more of Manuel's magical guitaring.