| We'll start at the start, with the first side of the first Ash Ra Tempel album. This was a legendary German Krautrock/Kosmische band with Göttsching's guitar as the most important element. Psychedelic, drugged out, and instrumental, Ash Ra Tempel produced five albums through 1973. On the first album Göttsching is joined by Klaus Schulze (see last show) on drums and Hartmut Erke on bass. |
| Amboss Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel - Spalax |
| The "sixth" Ash Ra Tempel album is often credited only to Göttsching, which makes sense, since he recorded the entire album using a TEAC 4-track, using only the sounds of the electric guitar. It is an astounding piece of work.
After this album Göttsching fronted a new band, now called Ash Ra, working with Lutz Ulbrich of Agitation Free, and Harald Grosskopf, drummer on many Klaus Schulze pieces, among others. This material was somewhat influenced by the synthesizer and even disco influences of the time. |
| Echo Waves Manuel Göttsching / Ash Ra Tempel - Inventions for Electric Guitar - Spalax |
| This next track was recorded in 1976 but only released in 1995. It is a collaboration with keyboardist Michael Hoenig of Agitation Free and is a strong and sometimes overlooked piece of Berlin school electronic music, given that neither musician is commonly associated with Tangerine Dream (Hoenig was actually in Tangerine Dream briefly in 1975). |
| Early Water Hoenig / Göttsching - Early Water - Spalax |
| For the final piece we move into the 80s, with Göttsching's first "official" solo album, which is widely considered his best. It is an hour-long piece of electronic music that sounds very predictive of the future techno genre, while giving Göttsching's guitar a lot of room to shine. |
| excerpt Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 - MG Art |
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