Ashra Tempel - Big blasting space noise guitar led madness of "Amboss" balanced with the cosmic hymn of "Traummaschine".
Schwingungen - Annoying vocals spoil another kosmische masterpiece.
7-Up - Acid drenched bonkersness from by the acid king backed by acid drenched musicians (well some of them). Some of this is great - "Powerdrive" is a damn good piece of spacerock, "Right Handed Lover" is lees wonderful. Side 2 continues the Ashra Tempel tradition of loud on one side and spacey on theother.
Join Inn - One side is another power trio jam sounding in places like the Grateful Dead circa "Live Dead". Side 2, again floaty cosmicness and the first to feature Manuel's doris, Rosi.
Starring Rosi - Never make an album with your girlfriend, even if she can play a mean harp. Most of this is lightweight pap with only "Interplay of Forces" coming close to classid Ashra Tempel.
Inventions for Guitar - Nothing more to add to what's already been said than this is classic sequencer driven music, without sequencers . A masterpiece.
Le Berceau de Cristal - A very mellow affair, lots of gentle electronic percussion, organ and guitar and very little synth. A very atmospheric album (and soundtrack IIRC).
Drop the 'Tempel'
New Age of Earth - Very mellow. Recorded under the influence of Michael Hoenig and amazingly doesn't use sequencers. All of the tracks are beautiful and is IMHO Ashra's finest hour.
Dream and Desire - Lots of string synth washes, basically 2 tracks stretching "Ocean of Tenderness" and "Nightdust" from NAOE out to 50 minutes or so. The last track is a bit more uptempo with some nice guitar touches.
Blackouts - Funky sequencers and guitar. "Don't Trust the Kids / Blackouts" is the standout track on this with Manuel really stretching himself on guitar (and then hiding it low in the mix!). "Shuttlecock" is as funky as you'll get with EM - I always suspect Manuel wanted people to dance to his stuff (see below).
Correllations - Up to a 3 piece. Their 'Disco' album. Not bad in places but a pale imitation of Blackouts,
Belle Alliance - Better IMHO than correlations. Some nice tunes like "Screamer" which is a guitar / synth workout of the highest calibre, "Kazoo", a simple tune but really stick in the mind long after it's finished and the album ends with "Mistral" with Manuel sounding like Santana.
E2-E4 - Never known what all the fuss is about with this album. It's the same riff for 50 minutes with some guitar on it. Nothing very special at all.
Walkin' the Desert - Not bad. Ashra make a comeback and go digital for this music composed to back a film, I believe. The titles give the game away ("Four Guitars", "Twelve Samples" etc). Standout tracks are "4 Guitars" which is very hypnotic and the finale, "Dessert" which is a more 'traditional' track than the rest.
Tropical Heat - Toilet. Cack. Avoid.
Sauce Hollandaise - Ashra live. Not bad, lots of real drums, guitars and sequences but is eclipsed by:
@shra - live in Japan. Tracks from Walkin the Desert and Inventions beefed up with more guitar, more drums, more sequences but the standout track on this is "Niemand Lacht Ruckwarts" - dancy as you like but a greta sequence and some nifty guitar interplay between Lutz and Manuel.
Gin Rose - Fantastic. Billed as Ashra Tempel but is basically Klaus and Manuel on top of their game with some nifty sequencer, guitar interplay. What you always wanted to hear
Friendship - More of the same. Because you can never have enough KS and MG playing together.
@shra 2 - More fom the Japanese tour that @shra was taken from.
Making Of - Demos recorded for "Correlations". Rough as old boots in places but a fascinating insight into the composition process that led to Correllations.
I've still got to buy the new ones.
stay tuned
