Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn

1973 Germany

Review originally published in Expose on November 1, 1999. This was then edited and published in Gnosis on February 9, 2001. Version below edited on August 24, 2008.

Ash Ra Tempel's third studio release, "Join Inn", sees Klaus Schulze back in the drumkit saddle. However, for this session he provides less drumming and more keyboards than on the debut, which makes sense given his newly embarked solo career and and a landmark album called "Irrlicht". 'Freak n' Roll' opens the album in typical heavy fashion. Schulze's trademark machine gun drumming technique comes to the fore very early this time - and one would almost expect them to outdo the phenomenal 'Amboss' from the first album. But they peaked a bit too early and ended up settling on Göttsching's unique guitar rambling combined with the Enke/Schulze energetic rhythm section to help make it until the finish line. We now introduce Manuel Göttsching's lovely girlfriend Rosi Mueller (who previously only had cameos on "Schwingungen" and "Seven Up"). She makes her recording debut on Side 2's 'Jenseits', Ash Ra Tempel's crowning spatial moment. Here, Schulze shows his brilliance with electronics, laying down a tranced locust-at-night sound while Hartmut Enke defines what a bass guitar can do for space music. Göttsching's guitar just shimmers and flows. But the highlight here has to be Rosi's seductive yet fragile and innocent voice whispering on top. I have absolutely no idea what she's talking about, which adds to the exoticism and mystery for non-German speakers. Another masterwork, completing the trio of the brilliant early Ash Ra Tempel albums (including "Ash Ra Tempel" and "Schwingungen"). Afterwards, Hartmut Enke suffered from mental issues, Klaus Schulze went on to solo fame and Göttsching was left with the Ash Ra Tempel name and his girlfriend.

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