Ash Ra Tempel / Gottsching The Private Tapes Vol 1 - 6

Firstly a word about packaging, which for all the CDs is fairly good with transparent CD trays revealing full colour snapshots and booklets containing plenty of pictures and information (vital because I'm not an Ash Ra Tempel expert!). Perhaps the only disappointments are the front covers themselves, though they do complement each other! Some sort of official box to house all 6 CDs would have also been welcome. Vol. 1 opens with four Göttsching tracks. 'Bois de Soleil' and 'Bois de la Lune' (both '79) are shortish guitar pieces. 'Eloquentes Wiesel' ('79) clocks in at just under the 30 minute mark and is an interesting sequenced piece using the "obscure EKO rhythm computer" (which seems to feature quite a lot throughout the albums) and ARP sequencers. 'Begleitmusik zu einem Hörspiel' ('74) consists of 5 pieces produced for a radio play. Experimental with guitar, gong, vibraphone and harp featuring and even Göttsching's vocals on the last piece. And if you thought that was different, wait 'til you hear 'Chicken Maladie'. Göttsching's first recorded piece (May '70) with the Steeple Chase Bluesband. Don't expect EM. Vol. 2 and subsequent volumes include live recordings. 'Deep Distance' and 'Shuttle Cock' are both lengthy pieces from a Göttsching solo tour in '76 and both are impressive sequence based improvisational outings with lots of analogue synths, effects and guitar treatments. Reasonable recordings of Ash Ra Tempel's short but prolific live career are apparently hard to come by. 'Soirée Académique' is one such recording, 24th August 1970 in Berlin. 24 minutes of "Heavy-Metal-Free-Jazz-Punk-Rock". A 22 second interview with Klaus Schulze from 1970 ends the disc. Vol. 3 contains three more Göttsching solo pieces, this time from May or June '73. Guitar based utilising overdubs, quirky in places and experimental in others. The Ashra lineup make their first appearance with 'Schwerer Dino' ('75). L.o.o.o.ng ambient intro reminiscent of Tangerine Dream from that period gives way to electric guitar and finally the EKO rhythm computer. 27˝ minutes long and unfortunately it takes them 26 minutes to really get going. Still, it's a piece which sounds effective even today. 32 minutes of an Ash Ra Tempel concert from 19th May 1971 ends the volume. Poor recording quality, but fans should love it. I could only take the first 2 minutes... Onto Vol. 4 which opens with a trio of Ashra tracks recorded live at Berlin's Quartier Latin on 19th August 1979. A solo Göttsching piece 'Niemand lacht Rückwärts' ('79) follows. Totally sequence based, using the ARP sequencer to drive the MiniMoog & ARP Odyssey, and sounding very impressive indeed. 40 minutes of an Ash Ra Tempel reunion concert from February 1973 winds up this volume. Vol. 5 concentrates on Göttsching solo pieces. 'Ultramarine' is a much extended version of the track 'Aquamarine' which was donated to KLEM (for the Jubileumcassette??). Sounding very TDish with much guitar work with a sequenced backing. 'Lotus' is a superb sequenced outing from a solo concert in December 1976, a forerunner to the track which appears on the Ashra album 'Blackouts'. After two more solo pieces, we are presented with another 30 minutes of the Ash Ra Tempel concert from Feb 1973, and finally a short interview with Göttsching. Vol. 6 opens with a trio of Ashra tracks, the first a 1979 studio offering and the others taken from the Quartier Latin concert from August 1979. The set concludes with 54 minutes of an Ash Ra Tempel concert in Bern, Switzerland on 10th September 1971. Very much a companion to the Klaus Schulze 10 CD Editions, this set should keep even the most ardent A.R.T. fan happy. I only wish someone would do something similar on TD! GG)

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