Credit to the folks over at The Wire for providing us with this juicy bit of news regarding one of the most criminally overlooked psychedelic outfits coming out of Germany during the 1970s. Through his label MG.ART, founding guitarist Manuel Göttsching has reissued on CD all five of Ash Ra Tempel’s 1970s albums, plus his first solo album Inventions for Electric Guitar. The five albums in question are: Ash Ra Tempel (1971), Schwingungen (1972), Join Inn (1973), Seven Up with Timothy Leary (1973), and Starring Rosi (1973). Equally as significant as the reissues themselves is the fact that each album has also been remastered by Göttsching himself. It certainly didn’t look like anyone else was going to take on the task, so why the hell not?
Given Ash Ra Tempel’s relatively small, cult-like following, reissues have been sparse, if not non-existent. I blame this fact on certain other influential krautrock bands hogging all the glory. No, I don’t care how good Tago Mago is, it really doesn’t need to be remastered and reissued half a dozen times in less than a decade.
Currently, the Ash Ra Tempel reissues are available strictly though the Ash Ra Tempel website, so click accordingly. Apparently if you order all six albums, Göttsching will also include a copy of one of the following DVDs: Postcards From Japan (a film by Kinga Kielczynska), Wroclaw Live, or Ashra: Live at the Open Air Festival Herzberg 1997. If you’re running on the same schedule as American department stores, this gift comes just in time for the Christmas season.
• Ash Ra Tempel: http://www.ashra.com
