Ash Ra Tempel
's fourth LP marked something of a pause, a recap, especially after the surprising
Seven Up
(which featured
Timothy Leary
as a guest). The temporary return of
Klaus Schulze
also greatly contributes to this feeling of summation. The album features two side-long pieces that represent literally two sides of the band, the
Krautrock
and
space
music incarnations.
"Freak 'n' Roll"
is a 19-minute hard-hitting jam, with
Schulze
bashing away behind the drums and
Manuel Goettsching
churning some mean guitar riffs while
Harmut Enke
ploughs heavy basslines. The track is actually an excerpt from a longer
improvisation
and begins with a fade in that throws the listener in the middle of an already heated session. Long but hardly long-winded, this track deserves a place alongside
Can
's
"You Do Right"
Faust
"Krautrock"
: it has the drive, the
psychedelic
appeal, and the creativity of what epitomized the
style in the minds of young Englishmen and Americans for a while. The 24-minute
"Jenseits"
sees
at the Synthi A and the organ, weaving dreamy drones and uplifting chords for
Goettsching
to doodle over.
Enke
's lines are not always as relevant as one would wish, and
Rosi Mueller
's soft-spoken narration seems to get in the way during the first few minutes -- in short, this is not
at their ethereal best, but it's still a fine exercise in late-night musical dreaming that will appeal to fans of
Phaedra
-era
Tangerine Dream
while not misrepresenting that aspect of the group's work. And put together, those two pieces make a very fine introduction to the first few years of
. ~ Francois Couture