ARTIST/GROUP OF THE MONTH

AGITATION FREE:Fragments CD
Often hailed as one of the lost synth-based supergroups but if you listen closely you will hear an unsung group straddling the worlds of synth, prog, ethnic-electric, cosmic, West coast guitar jams, shades of early '70's Krautrock and beyond. 'Fragments' could almost be a late '60's Grateful Dead album with its spiralling guitar jams although the presence of Chris Franke on drums and some great keyboard/synth work gives it the odd familiar reference point. This, to me is the best album for guitar work but if you want an utter spellbinding, 100% guaranteed, bona-fide classic that out-does the likes of early T.Dream/ Schulze cosmic synth work and out-does the guitar side of Ash Ra Tempel's 'Join Inn' album, then get 'Last' because it is a masterpiece of synths/guitars excellence and one of THE all-time German classics.

AGITATION FREE:At The Cliffs Of River Rhine CD
Awesome, is the only word to describe this 38 minute collection of previously unreleased live tracks from 1974 and if you love any of their classic first three albums, this is for you without a doubt. It's instrumental, it's got all the classic '70's Kraut hallmarks, lots of synths, guitars and drums, and it's fantastic.

AGITATION FREE: River Of Return CD
25 years later and they've reformed. The core quartet is now Lutjens, Rausch, Gunther and Ash Ra's Ulbrich. Musically, the word is........pleasant. It's instrumental, with crystal clear production, digital drum sounds, waves of synths, tasteful bass and clean electric guitar leads; and that's the problem. Ther's no fire, no substance, no sense of adventure, in fact very little that made the band the force they were in the '70's. The daft part is that the sort of guitar-led fusion that they are playing, is actually pretty decent fusion in its own right - OK, still a bit on the faceless side - but for a band with the legendary statsu that they have (which for all we know, may be a millstone round their necks), this has to be seen as a disappointment. That said, it is the sound of four musicians getting back together and just having a fun time playing some tracks - I only hope they didn't spend a lot of time on it, however, because I can't see this going down too well among the fans. Not bad as long as you forget who it's by amd there's some very tasty guitar work in there for guitar and inst music fans.

ASH RA :New Age Of Earth CD
If you were to do a list of the top 5 synth CD's of all time, this would have to be one of them, since it is the perfect marriage of synths and guitars that is spacey, rhythmic, melodic, atmospheric, cosmic music that has a really deep, warm set of textures and is just so gorgeous as to be addictive. It's one of those albums that, when you've got a synth CD collection in the hundreds, always reaches out and demands to be played. I've been listening to this thing on and off for 22 years and it still sounds as fresh and vital as ever, which is a rare thing for '70's synth music. Oh yes, it's had its original cover art restored and now comes as a neat fold-out digi-pak. Just in case you don't know, it's a complete solo album from Gottsching and opens with one of the finest synth tracks ever laid down in the form of the gorgeous soaring synth melodies and atmospheric sequenced/synth rhythms of the seven minute 'Sunrain', before things go even more cosmic and beautiful on the eleven minute 'Ocean Of Tenderness', the sheer feel and atmosphere of the track conveying a sense of wonderment every time you play it. After a five minute melodic piece, the album ends on nearly twenty-two minutes of cosmic bliss, synths and guitar weaving some magical spells on a track that never deteriorates and sounds completely timeless. One album that thoroughly warrants the status of "classic".

ASH RA TEMPEL/MANUEL GOTTSCHING/ASHRA:(Best Of) The Private Tapes Double CD
THE ONE MANY OF YOU HAVE BEEN LONGING TO SEE RELEASED............. Originally a 6 CD set featuring all the early tracks that, while featuring Klaus Schulze, had him on drums and consisted largely of extraordinarily long electric guitar jams of lo-fi quality. Well, now some bright spark has ahd the sense to split off much of the typically Ashra style synth guitar tracks to produce a well over 2 hour set of tracks to be enjoyed by all Ashra/Gottsching fans, and a t a price that makes it even more of an essential purchase. If that wasn't enough to tempt you, the final bonus is the presence, for the first time ever on CD, of a cosmic track recorded by the early '70's Ash Ra Tempel which has only ever previously appeared on the vinyl-only sampler 'Kosmische Musik'. As you see, this is an album you simply can't ignore and is welcome manna from heaven for early '70's style synth/guitar music fans.

ASH RA: S/T (Live In Tokyo) CD
Came out around the same time as "Sauce Hollandaise", but I've had the chance to listen to it several times since the original brief review and I have to say that it improves with every play. Recorded at the opposite end of the year to the other album, it becomes clear that, while not as 'highly polished' as the versions on the other album, this one has an energy and spark that is subtle at first but gradually you realise that you are in the presence of a towering set of lengthy tracks that glow very brightly throughout. Take the opener, 'Echowaves' for a start. The way it starts off with the cyclical electric guitar riff set on cosmic, slowly adds the drums, keeps any synths well out the back and gradually builds to the 13 min point whereupon Gottsching's electric guitar work breaks out into one of the most fiery solos that you've heard on any Ash Ra album, as Grobkopf's drums roll effortlessly along and a faint sequencer rhythm comes in alongside, while the guitar burns, leaving you breathless and in awe of a 20 minute slice of excellently played, produced and mixed musical genius. You might think that you can't follow that, but they do, with the 19 min '12 Samples' track, this time featuring the synth layers more to the front as string-like waves of sound flow over the restrained Liebezeit-styled drumming and the guitar taking on a more rhythmic accompanying role when present, the whole piece possessing an edge and dramatic sense of purpose with a beautifully full-sounding, richly textured cosmic synths mid-section, and ending with another stinging guitar solo over the galloping drum rhythms. Track 3 is a 7 minute, more melodic, reflective but still rhythmic piece with guitar melody lead soaring upwards and drums continuing thier trademark rolling beats. The album ends on an incendiary version of 'Niemand Lacht Ruckewarts' with the dual electric guitar work positively glowing white hot against the thunderous drum and cymbal rhythms , the whole thing surging through as though their lives depended on one of their finest ever performances, a feat they deliver with ease. With a music that burns very brightly indeed, this really does make a vital companion to the "Sauce" album, and posibly, in time, an even better album in its own right. With acres more guitars, just listen to them fly.

ASH RA: @sh Ra - Live In Japan Vol 2 CD
The rest of the concert following the excellent first album released sometime back, and the perfect partner to it. Here the current quartet illustrate all the facets that makes them such a unique and refreshing force on a somewhat stale European synth music scene these days and why they are genuinely the leading band of all right now in this genre. For a start you get the gorgeous synths-dominated atmospherics and melodies of the classic 'Sunrain', originally from "New Age Of Earth", but here given added drive thanks to some solid drum work from Grobkopf. Following this comes 'Four Guitars', which is basically exactly that - a sort of live reprise of the flavours and sounds first presented on the "Inventions For Electric Guitar" album, with interweaving and flying guitars providing a flowing set of leads, rhythms and textures for oveer seventeen minutes. With two further tracks completing the album, there's not a less than magical second on the whole thing, even better than the first one.

ASH RA TEMPEL (KLAUS SCHULZE & MANUEL GOTTSCHING): Gin Rose At The Royal Festival Hall CD
A rare chance to hear two of the genuine greats of synth and Krautrock music history reunited under the Ash Ra Tempel banner for the first time in thirty years. In brief, what you need to know is that, in this album, you have 69 minutes of music that any fan of the more structured, flowing, melodic works of either artist at their peak, whether 'Mirage/Live/Body Love'-era Schulze or ' New Age Of Earth/Dreams And Desire/Jojn Inn' eras of Gottsching, as mere guidelines of the freshness and quality of the music you can expect to hear on this CD, will love this album to death. But if you want the full blow-by-blow account, then read on:
Basically it features one long, near seventy minute track that is indexed into 8 movements, the first of which finds Schulze extracting some weird and wonderful sounds out of his synths, twisting and turning knobs here, there and everywhere, to get a sound that sounds something like someone trying to strangle a fighting cat under 6 feet of water!! The opening part is a short piece of sound sculpting with Schulze wringing an assortment of effects out of the synths to get your attention hooked.
This eventually fades into a wonderfully celestial cosmic passage that drifts in the air while the velveteen sounds of Gottshing's guitar flow effortlessly over the soundstage in a real dreamy, peaceful manner. a little bit similar to the long celestial track on Ash Ra's legendary 'New Age Of Earth' album.
As we approach the ten-minute mark, Schulze adds some rippling synth textures, staggering them in such a way so as not to disturb the slowly drifting mists that are quietly enveloping the background too much. More flute like synth sounds emerge and start to break a hole through the thick electronic mist to expose a new textured Floyd-like guitar sound that is thoroughly magical and totally captivating. As the guitar's sensitivity increases, Schulze brings in new string synth layers and then electric percussion starts to weave it's way up through the foggy foreground, like birds waking and flying up into the air through early morning mists. As we hit the twenty minute mark things are starting to get into some kind of energetic groove, and you start to feel that you are just sitting on the verge of some oncoming, spectacular rhythmic synth/guitar jam that's going to be a mind-blowing experience, and you wouldn't be far wrong! Two minutes later Schulze's synths are swirling and sneering solos over a fantastic flowing rhythm, with Gottshing's guitars chipping in with some tuneful sound layers along the way. At the twenty-seven minute mark, the sound of Schulze's Mellotron choir can he heard sailing in over the musical horizon, as the rhythms subside into the distance. Weeping guitars weave an intricate and delicate pattern over the top of the thickening mass of heavenly tron sounds to create a quite beautifully haunting effect. Just as we approach the half-hour mark, the mood returns to one of peace and tranquillity again, as drifting, distant Mellotrons and synths, join the equally distant guitars to hover in the air for a minute or two, before a wholly new sound arrives. Again, this starts out in a very quiet canopy of suppressed synth rhythms, but soon the sounds of rippling and wave-bending synths blister the peaceful inner layer to expose Gottshing's guitar to the air, where it gets tastefully contorted into shape under the watchful eye of the steadily converging synth rhythms. As the forty-minute mark approaches, the theme changes again, to one where the electric guitar textures just echo in the distance, eventually to be replaced by the softer acoustic style, which goes on to improvise over a variety of synth textures and effects that take on a sound that is remarkably choir like. The guitar passage continues on for around fourteen minutes over a lightly textured synth rhythm, and then synth winds and other effects take the mood back into drifting cosmic territory. Over the top of all this, Schulze plays around with a synth melody for a while, twisting and turning the sound patterns almost up to the end of the first hour, then a new synth rhythm emerges overlaid by new electric guitar textures and melodies that improvise their way up into the heavens. As the rhythms become stronger, further percussive layers join the fray and the synths start to take on an altogether more aggressive approach with improvised solos blasting from here there and everywhere. Things are now developing into an all-out frenzied attack with both the synths and guitars tearing at the flesh of the piece and fighting for superiority like at no other point in the album proceedings so far. During the final few minutes they jostle with each other quite violently as they race toward the winning post, with the guitar seemingly coming out the winner as it sings an anthemic victory cry during the final minute of the set. To sum up, these two giants of synth & Krautrock history are playing together again in complete harmony, essential for all Ash Ra, Schulze & Gottsching fans and more!!

ASH RA TEMPEL: Friendship CD
Studio album released at the same time as the 'Gin Rose' live album, this is the sound of Schulze & Gottsching in the studio and for all the world is a logical extension of the live concerts the two musicians gave going way back. In many ways it's just like listening to a rather excellent modern Schulze album with a guest guitarist. That's not to do Gottsching down by any means, but this is three very long tracks that have a much more pronounced rhythmic quality than the live album and, for that reason alone, sound a whole lot stronger. Overall, it's as fine an album as they come from this duo's hands.

ASH RA TEMPELPrivate Tapes Vol 1/2/3/4/5/6 Each CD
Across the CD's you get nearly 8 hours of music covering all previously unreleased tracks, live and studio, by Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra and Manuel Gottsching. Overall the divide is a s follows:
Steeplechase Blues Band 1970 (9mins), Ash Ra Tempel live 1971 (110 mins), Ash Ra Tempel live 1973 (67 mins), Manuel Gottsching 1973 sessions (24 mins), Manuel Gottsching 1974 studio music (24 mins), Ash Ra live 1975 (27 mins), Ash Ra live 1976 (59 mins), Manuel Gottsching solo studio sessions 1978+1979 (97 mins), Ash Ra live 1979 (37 mins). Only catch is that the CD's are NOT in chronological order so that you have the tracks and eras spread all across the 6 CD's so you really have to buy the set to get it all, especially as it's all absolutely excellent and utterly essentila listening from start to finish.

ASHRA: Blackouts CD
If 'New Age Of Earth' was a defining moment for the musical path that Gottsching would take, then 'Blackouts' marked the pinnacle of that path. Opening with '77 Slightly Delayed', you have a natural continuation from the whole feel, mood and sound of the 'New Age' album, so much so that you feel that the two are almost inseparable when it comes to playing enjoyment, the track showing Gottsching as the master of mood, melody and fragile strength, with its solid yet spacious sequencers, sinewy synth leads, split-stereo electric guitar rhythm and multi-layered electric guitar leads that float and soar, all incredibly beautiful cosmic music yet in a totally melodic and rhythmic setting. For 'Midninght On Mars', the pace slows and one of those breathtaking musical canvases that he created so well on 'New Age' comes alive under a laser-soaked night sky, with bare hints of rhythm, a slowly bouncing sequencer line at the bottom of the mix, distant synth refrains and another misty-eyed guitar solo flying over the top as th synths well up from the background, all to absolutely spellbinding effect. The next two shorter tracks allow Gottsching a bit of space to create a bit more intensity on the guitar, while the eight minute 'Shuttle Cock' predates the future by being a piece that, more than any other track on the album, that links this and the album that would follow, the track being another work of solid sequencer-like synth rhythms, rhythm guitar echoes, soaring guitar leads, yet with a much more 'down-to-earth' feel to it instead of the more spacey and spacious atmospheres on the rest of the album. The magnificent eighteen minutes of 'Lotus' practically sum up all the best facets of this and the previous album in one crowning glory, destined to be the last truly great track that we'd hear on an Ashra album for some time. In short, for any synth music fan, this, and 'New Age Of Earth', form two essential parts of any self-respecting collection.

ASHRA: Correlations CD
To me, any fan of the band, particularly those who'd witnessed the concerts by the now-expanded line-up of Gottsching on guitars/synths, Lutz Ulbrich on synths/guitars and Harald Grobkopf on drums, has got to admit, if they are being honest with themselves, that this album, as a follow-up to 'Blackouts' and inits own right, is a major disappointment. Apart from the gorgeous three minutes of 'Oasis' and, to a degree, the rhythmic opener 'Ice Train', the rest of the album both lacks atmosphere and takes the use of melodies and tunes to such a degree that the longest track is eight minutes, most of the rest a good degree shorter, and the whole album somehow devoid of feel and warmth. Sure, there's some great guitar work, and the drumming is sound, but the total emphasis on 'tunes' seems to override anything else, probably more the label at the time than the band's decision one would guess, especially bearing in mind the almighty musical correction to this period that was put on the market in the form of the massive, epic composition, triple CD album that is 'Making Of'. Pleasant, OK if you want something to enjoy, bouncy, solid and commercial (for this band anyway), but otherwise, not particularly bad, but then not a lot of good either.

ASHRA: Belle Alliance CD
After the relative disappointment that was 'Correlations', you might have expected the group to bounce back with a stunner. Instead, they, and in this case one presumes it was them as the album failed to get a release in the UK, went even more down the commercial road, with seven out of the eight tracks lasting around 3-4 minutes apiece, and then moving through funk and reggae in a couple of cases, and not exactly to decent effect either. Sadly the 15 minutes of mainly cosmic, multi-layered music that is 'Code Blue' does not rescue the album as a whole, despite it being the only really heart-warming track on the album, although it is a stunning piece of music that any fan of the band and space music in general would be eager to play many times.

ASHRA: The Making Of 3CD SET
Despite its roughness, being recorded directly into a mic rather than a mixing desk, the album documents the jamming and improvs, plus some composed pieces, that were recorded at the sessions for the 'Correlations' album, yet also reveals that what the band were doing, was light years away from what the label wanted from an album. So, here you have the joy of tracks that last around forty minutes, twenty minutes and the like, all performed by a trio that have an almost telepathic empathy with one another, the result being some of the greatest previously unreleased tracks from that era, the only shame being the relatively rustic nature of the recordings, yet as an historical, and to a degree, listening document of the time, totally invaluable.

ASH RA: The Making Of 3CD SET
A treat for seventies synth/guitar fans - three CD's of completely previously unreleased sessions from 1978, from the actual Ash Ra trio that made "Correaltions". Despite the rustic recording qulaity, the music is nothing short of mind-blowing with tracks ranging from four to forty-four minutes in length. All you hear is the sound of three musicians laying it down as only they could - synths, guitars and drums simply flying to the heavens and back. The best track of the lot has to be the fifteen minute 'Promotion' which for me sums up the whole Ash Ra experience as it stood at the time, starting slowly, building a head of steam and finally rocking like a demon. Just awesome. Full of similar delights, this is an archive release that truly justifies its appearance on the market, and essential listening for all fans of the genre.

ASH RA TEMPEL: Le Berceau De Cristal CD
One of the 'forgotten' works of the Ash Ra Tempel catalogue, but lord knows why, as it represents a slight departure from the 'normal' albums but no less of a quality item. In fact, as a work of essentially cosmic music, it is positively wondrous. Recorded entirely in 1975, this is the sound of just Gottsching & Ulbrich playing space music that is simply magnificent and most definitely 'seventies' sounding (but then it would, wouldn't it!!!). The opening track, at fourteen minutes, has more than enough familiar elements of early Pink Floyd, early cosmic Ash Ra Tempel and even less indulgent early Schulze, as synth, Rick Wright/Klaus Schulze-sounding organ, and delicate electric guitar, glide and drift to heaven and back,just one incredibly atmospheric piece. After this, a twelve minute track has more of a strong quality to it as a definite melody line dominates the swirling organ/bass/synth flow that ensues, this time more like a cross between Schulze & Terry Riley. 'Silence Sauvage' is a dark, rhythmic, brooding slice of deep, electronic waves and cascading percussive layers. 'Le Sourire vole' again cascades and swirls, raining its rhythm-like patters down on the listener with a new soundscape of stabbing organ lines, rising and falling synths and throbbing electronic rhythmic undercurrent, this time much more akin to the stuff that Tim Blake was doing at the time. 'Deux enfants sous la lune' is more definitely akin to the Ash Ra sound that you hear on the "New Age Of Earth" album, while 'Le songe d'or' is back to the cosmic splendours of the opening track only with more rippling upfront guitar. After a short near three minute burst of 'Echo Waves' sounding electric guitar layers, the album ends with nearly eight minutes of organ/synth driven cosmic bliss. As I said, a 'forgotten' album yet an essential addition to any collection, of the band's music, or the music style itself.
CONTINUED.......

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