Ash Ra Tempel (1971), Schwingungen (1972), Join Inn (1973), Ash Ra Tempel
The potential for glory in this sort of music is truly immense, when done well it can shift listeners beyond this world and into the new, conjuring alien and unexplored lands; it is no wonder so many musicians have been tempted by the prospect. But with potential glory comes high risk, of flatness and boredom or, even worse, silliness, and far greater numbers of musicians have disappointed than exhilarated.
Ash Ra Tempel’s early years (1971-3), before Manuel Göttsching veered off into electronics, featured these sorts of high-wire experiments, longform psychedelic rock aiming for the interplanetary and extraordinary. None of these LPs achieved glory in their entirety – at worst too messy, too long, too immobile, too dull – but they did on occasion, and that’s enough.
Pick(s): ‘Traummaschine’, ‘Schwingungen’, ‘Freak ‘n’ Roll’
