Ash Ra Tempel -

Ash Ra Tempel was a German space-rock band that released four albums between 1971 and 1973 on Ohr. Guitarist/keyboardist Manuel Göttsching made a 1975 solo album then trimmed the name to Ashra for a late-Seventies run on Virgin Records.

Members: Manuel Göttsching (guitar, vocals, electronics), Hartmut Enke (bass, guitar, electronics, 1970-73), Klaus Schulze (drums, steel guitar, organ, electronics, 1970-71), Wolfgang Müller (drums, vibraphone, 1971), John L. (vocals, jaw harp, percussion, 1972), Rosi Müller (vocals, 1972-74), Lutz Ulbrich [Lüül] (guitar, synthesizer, piano, Mellotron), Harald Grosskopf (drums, 1973), Dietmar Burmeister (drums, 1974)

Background

Ash Ra Tempel sprung from Eruption, a free-form Berlin group with guitarist Manuel Göttsching, bassist Hartmut Enke, and two recent Tangerine Dream members: drummer Klaus Schulze and cellist Conrad Schnitzler, a current Kluster member. Göttsching and Enke played earlier together in the Steeple Chase Bluesband with singer Volker Zibell, a later presence on the Norwegian new wave scene.

Ash Ra Tempel

Ash Ra Tempel released their self-titled debut album in June 1971 on Orh.

The album contains two extended, contrasting pieces that showcase the group’s early balance of charged improvisation and suspended, space-bound drift.

“Amboss” starts with subdued cymbal and ambient haze before escalating into a sequence of escalating rhythmic surges. Klaus Schulze drives the pace with tense, insistent snare bursts as guitarist Manuel Göttsching pushes sharp, overdriven phrasing across widening layers of delay and feedback. His solo builds in phases—first blues-informed, then modal and angular—before erupting in extended passages marked by tonal saturation and layered distortion. At its peak, the intensity rivals hard rock, but never locks into fixed patterns.

“Traummaschine” follows with nearly half an hour of immersive, slow-expanding ambience. Initial textures hover at the edge of audibility, shaped by oscillating synths and suspended feedback. Finger cymbals and hand percussion slowly pulse beneath soft echoing tones, while reverb-treated guitar lines recede and return, always at a distance. Later passages thicken as Göttsching’s tone grows more assertive, briefly piercing the layered drones with a distant lead before dissolving into silence. Each piece builds from near-stillness to motion, then cycles back into atmospheric recession, favoring process and space over structure or repetition.

A. “Amboss” (19:54)
B. “Traummaschine” (25:32)

Sessions occurred in March 1971 at Studo Star Musikproduktion in Hamburg with engineer Conny Plank, who worked in sequence on title by Cluster, Eiliff, Eloy, Guru Guru, McChurch Soundroom, Parzival, and Virus.

The Ash Ra Tempel gatefold features a black-on-orange design with a stylized Egyptian head framed by bold lettering and geometric borders. Opening the cover reveals a three-panel black-and-white scene with a radiant pyramid, flying figures, and seated silhouettes gesturing upward. Further unfolding exposes a central Vitruvian-like figure within a turquoise spiral, flanked by elemental symbols. Handwritten manifestos in German and English frame the sides, invoking themes of consciousness, alienation, and cosmic transformation.

Schwingungen

Ash Ra Tempel released their second album, Schwingungen, in April 1972 on Ohr.

Schwingungen (German for Vibrations) unfolds in two distinct halves that contrast rhythmic propulsion with slowly layered ambience. The opening track, “Light: Look at Your Sun,” begins with restrained pacing and subdued vocal lines, then escalates as Manuel Göttsching stretches a fuzzed, ascending guitar figure across a constantly shifting rhythm bed. The solo threads through the entire piece, bending from sharp blues inflections to sustained, reverb-heavy tones, while the drums pivot between steady pulse and expressive fills.

“Darkness: Flowers Must Die” shifts into dense, freeform territory with shouted vocals and abrasive saxophone bursts. Percussion leads the arrangement, building tension across loose cycles and abrupt breaks that never fully settle.

The title suite on side two—“Schwingungen,” divided into “Suche” and “Liebe”—opens with disjointed textures and isolated tones before coalescing into a glacial progression anchored by organ and vibraphone. Layers accumulate slowly: first shimmering cymbals, then a bass pattern joined by distant choir-like chants and gently phrased guitar lines. As the arrangement thickens, the drums reenter with regular cadence, lifting the texture briefly before fading into atmospheric dissolution. Each movement stretches pacing to the limit, favoring gradual transitions over climactic payoff.

Enke composed both suites, which feature guest input by also saxophonist Matthias Wehler, Agitation Free percussionist Agitation Free, and drummer–vibraphonist Wolfgang Müller, a fellow Steeple Chase Bluesband alumni.

A. “Light and Darkness” (18:40)
— a. “Light: Look at Your Sun” (6:20) – inspired by the guitar textures of Peter Green on the 1968 Fleetwood Mac instrumental “Albatross.”
— b. “Darkness: Flowers Must Die” (12:20)

B. “Schwingungen” (19:00)
— a. “Suche”
— b. “Liebe”

Sessions occurred at Dierks Studio with owner/engineer Dieter Dierks and Orh/Pilz director Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, who produced Schwingungen along with 1972 label releases by Emtidi, Hoelderlin, Tangerine Dream (Zeit), Wallenstein, and Witthüser & Westrupp.

Seven Up (w/ Timothy Leary)

In early 1973, Ash Ra Tempel released Seven Up, a collaboration with Timothy Leary.

The album comprises two extended pieces that merge live group improvisation with layered overdubs. Manuel Göttsching and bassist–electronics player Hartmut Enke intertwine sustained tones with flanged textures and phased leads, while keyboardist Steve Schroyder applies organ swells and synthesizer drones that bridge song fragments and electronic sequences.

Flutist Michael Duwe appears on the first side alongside a shifting cast of vocalists—Leary, Duwe, Portia Nkomo, Liz Elliott, Bettina Hohls, and Brian Barritt—whose voices punctuate the evolving segments. The second side emphasizes Göttsching’s role with a freer arrangement that submerges voices beneath layered effects and processed instrumentation.

A. “Space” (15:55)
— a. Downtown
— b. Power Drive
— c. Right Hand Lover
— d. Velvet Genes

B. “Time” (21:37)
— a. Timeship
— b. Neuron
— c. She

Ash Ra Tempel recorded the bulk of Seven Up in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Bern, Switzerland, during Timothy Leary’s exile. They taped additional overdubs in October at Dieter Dierks’ studio in Stommeln, where vocalists added parts to the opening section.

Dierks contributed additional synthesizer elements and mixed the final versions under the direction of Cosmic Couriers’ producers Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and Gille Lettmann. Artist Walter Wegmüller supplied the cover paintings, with design by Peter Geitner.

Join Inn

Ash Ra Tempel released their fourth album, Join Inn, on April 10, 1973, on Orh.

The album consists of two side-length pieces that contrast fluid ensemble interplay with sustained ambient immersion. Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke interweave over extended sequences with Schulze, who alternates between drums and Synthi A, layering textural cycles and tonal shifts.

“Freak ‘n’ Roll” opens with a steady, midpoint tempo and minimal structure, allowing guitar, bass, and drums to cycle freely through repeating patterns and shifting textures. Klaus Schulze drives the momentum with focused, propulsive snare work while Manuel Göttsching overlays reverb-treated lines that alternate between fluid runs and clipped bursts. Hartmut Enke anchors the motion with pacing that tightens during each climax but never dominates the front. As the trio converges, the pulse intensifies without slipping into chaos, peaking in tightly wound sync before resolving in deceleration.

“Jenseits” retreats into static space, replacing rhythm with layered sustain. Schulze moves from percussion to organ and filtered synth, shaping waves of delay and filtered tone across a flattened sound field. Rosi Müller’s voice slips in and out of the upper register, processed to the point of texture, not narrative. Göttsching’s guitar threads the piece with light phrasing that never fully asserts, instead echoing across a backdrop of analog warmth. The track shifts density rather than theme, tapering into silence without closure. The album sustains motion and stasis in equal measure without reverting to fixed form.

A. “Freak ‘n’ Roll” (19:15)
B. “Jenseits” (24:18)

Ash Ra Tempel recorded Join Inn in 1972 at Studio Dierks during off-hours from the sessions for Walter Wegmüller’s Tarot project. Dieter Dierks engineered the material, which appears here without overdubs or edits. Producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser issued the album through Ohr as catalogue number OMM 556032. This marked the final appearance of Klaus Schulze as a member of the group.

Starring Rosi

Ash Ra Tempel released their fifth album, Starring Rosi, in October 1973 on Orh.

The album shifts toward compact forms and arranged structures with Manuel Göttsching on multiple instruments. He layers electric piano, synthesizer, and Mellotron beneath overdubbed guitar textures and multi-tracked bass parts. Vocalist and co-writer Rosi Müller adds vibraphone, harp, and spoken interludes. Drummer Harald Großkopf anchors the two, while engineer Dieter Dierks plays bass on the final track.

“Laughter Loving” opens with layered guitar figures—twang-inflected leads above chiming rhythm parts—over a light, steady pulse. Echo-treated vocals flicker in the margins before giving way to Göttsching’s clean, wah-filtered phrasing. “Schizo” slows the pace and strips down the arrangement, placing brittle guitar motifs and reverberant accents in a narrow stereo field. “Day Dream” unfolds as a call-and-response: Müller speaks verses in a flattened tone while Göttsching answers with softly sung refrains and bent guitar lines that arc between blues inflection and spaced delay.

“Interplay of Forces” brings back a jam sensibility, with guitar, synth, and rhythm tracks unfolding across repeating couplets in dual-language narration. The track widens slowly, layering treated tones and held chords before dissolving into delay and feedback. “The Fairy Dance” floats on sustained Mellotron and harmonic resonance, while “Bring Me Up” closes with syncopated electric piano and sparse vocal layering over a restrained rhythm track. Drums throughout alternate between clipped restraint and open phrasing, often stepping back to let the guitar or synth dominate. The album rarely builds intensity, favoring repetition and texture over development.

A1. “Laughter Loving” (8:00)
A2. “Day-Dream” (5:21)
A3. “Schizo” (2:47)
A4. “Cosmic Tango” (2:06)

B1. “Interplay of Forces” (8:58)
B2. “The Fairy Dance” (3:07)
B3. “Bring Me Up” (4:33)

Göttsching recorded Starring Rosi in 1973 at Studio Dierks in Stommeln with Dierks and assistant Heiner Friesz. He produced the album himself and released it through Ohr’s Kosmische Musik imprint as catalogue number KM 58.007. This was the final Ash Ra Tempel album to feature Göttsching under the original band name.

Discography: