TIMOTHY LEARY & ASH RA TEMPEL: SEVEN UP

Ash Ra Tempel has often occupied the dimension floating between blues rock and space rock. The first half of the album demonstrates this concept. Space starts with a dreamy blues lick and hazy vocals, and creates an eerie and slightly alien atmosphere. Things get out of hand after 3 minutes when they head off for a delirious jam of echoed vocals and messy sounds, vaguely recalling guitars, bass and drums. The ideas aren't very different from previous albums, but the execution sounds sloppy and disinterested. Probably intentionally, but it doesn't make for an interesting listen, and certainly not an enjoyable one. After a good 7 minutes they completely ran out of ideas and continue with a random medley of rockabilly tunes and space drone sounds. It may sound tempting but it's actually rather bland. Hardly 2 stars.

Time is a bit more coherent but it's nothing new under the cosmos, just the usual ambient musings created with guitar, organ, sound effects and some messy drumming. Dreamy vocals add whispers and bits of talk. It's a nice one for fans of the similar tracks of the preceding albums. 3.5 stars.

Overall, it's a very short and rather disappointing album. It's more a self-parody then a serious effort, which makes it hardly interesting to anyone but fans. It may deserve some credit for humour and all that but not from me, I'm in a grumpy mood. 2.5 stars on average, maybe 3 tomorrow. Anyway, not the place to start investigating Ash Ra Tempel.