ASH RA TEMPEL

Simply one of the all-time great Krautrock albums, this is the original ASH RA TEMPEL lineup with Manuel Göttsching, Hartmut Enke, and Klaus Schulze (who just left TANGERINE DREAM following the release of "Electronic Meditation"). Still at this point, Schulze was handling the drums, rather than keyboards that he's most famous for. There are only two side-length cuts. "Amboss" is totally mindblowing guitar-oriented jam that's not unlike the most intense moments of "Electronic Meditation", I guess that shouldn't be any surprise as both were recording on Ohr, and Schulze was involved in both. "Traummaschine" (German for "Dream Machine") is a much more relaxed, spooky sounding piece, mostly relying on ambience, with the guitar only rearing its head occasionally. Another mindblowing piece for the total opposite reason as "Amboss".

This is truly one of the first ASH RA TEMPEL albums you should try, especially because there are no vocals (except for some wordless vocals on "Traummachine" which are rather pleasant). The original LP on Ohr comes with a fold-out cover, sorta similar to ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" (but without the diecut), or that obscure late '60s Portland, Oregon act called Touch (the band that recorded for the Coliseum label, that is, as opposed to too many other bands with that name). Spalax in France also reissued this on LP, but unfortunately lacks the gimmick fold-out and instead includes a little booklet (the same kind of booklet used on the Spalax CD reissue as well). A true must have for all space rock and Krautrock junkies out there!