Ash Ra Tempel: Schwingungen (1972)

For an album that’s as amazing as Ash Ra Tempel’s self-entitled 1971 debut, the band knew right away they would need to follow that up with another excellent albums and they delivered. Guitarist Manuel Göttsching and bassist Hartmut Enke were still there. Klaus Schulze had already left the band, to pursue his ever famous solo career. So they brought in new drummer Wolfgang Müller, in which his style seems to be more jazz-influenced. The album starts off with the two part “Light and Darkness”. The fist part is “Light: Look at Your Sun”. Here the band does a rather bluesy piece, and for something different: the band actually included a vocalist, by the name of John L. Great song to say the least. The second half is “Darkness: Flowers Must Die”. It starts off rather mellow, but when it picks up, it becomes really intense. Plus there is some really disturbing vocals in which John L. spends his time screaming. Also for something different, is the addition of sax. There’s almost a jazzy feel to this song. The album then ends with the title track divided in to “Suche & Liebe”. The “Suche” half consists of mostly vibraphone and spooky spacy electronic effects not unlike what you’ll hear on an early Tangerine Dream album. The “Liebe” half is mainly voice and great spacy guitar that’s simiar to parts of “Traummaschine” off Ash Ra Tempel’s excellent debut. So if you can get over the presence of vocals that might be a little difficult to take in, you’re certain to enjoy this album as this is yet another masterpiece of spacy Krautrock!
– Manuel Göttsching: guitar, organ, electronics, voice
– Hartmut Enke: bass, guitar, electronics
– Wolfgang Müller: drums, vibes
– John L.: vocals, jew harp, percussion
– Matthias Wehler: alto sax
– Uli Popp: bongos