Cosmic Dreams at Play - Stoned Circus radio show - Free

While recording Seven Up in Switzerland, Ash Ra Tempel also met a local 'underground' figure:
the painter and artist Walter Wegmuller. It was soon decided to make another great concept
album, this time about the Tarot. Both Gottsching and Enke played lead guitars on the Tarot
sessions, recorded in December 1972. On this occasion, they were also temporarily re-united
with Schulze, now totally occupied by experimenting with electronics. But this double set didn't
become (as first proposed) just an A.R.T. & Wegmuller project. Three members from
Wallenstein, namely Jurgen Dollase (keyboards). Jerry Berkers (bass) and Harold Grosskopf
(drums) along with Walter Westrupp (ace, guitar, known for his albums with Bernd Witthuser)
also contributed, resulting in a rich, full and versatile sound. Walter Wegmuller composed all the
lyrics and painted a brand new Tarot card set for the occasion, which was included in the lavish
German double album package. For more information about this project, consult the Wegmuller
entry. During breaks in the Tarot recordings, the original Ash Ra Tempel trio (Gottsching, Enke
& Schulze) recorded the fourth album Join Inn in just hours. Contained therein were two lengthy
improvisations! "Freak'n'Roll", a showcase for Gottsching's talented, bluesy up-beat
improvisations and "Jenseits" (meaning 'beyond'), dominated by Schulze's freshly developed
synthetic sound painting techniques. This track had spoken lyrics read by Rosi Muller,
Gottsching's long time girl-friend and new part time member of the group. Join Inn was a
pleasant enough recording, but brought no new landmarks for Ash Ra Tempel.
This line-up also performed live. Some gigs in France at the beginning of 1973 were however
very erratic, as Hartmut Enke tended to increasingly do very strange things on stage. Manuel
Gottsching: 'we were in the middle of a number when he suddenly stopped playing. After the gig,
when I and Klaus asked him why he stopped playing, he said that it was all too beautiful so he
just couldn't play'. He got very involved in the Timothy Leary philosophy...' Enke obviously had
to quit Ash Ra Tempel. Attempts to assemble his own group came to nothing and his musical
career was finished.
When Schulze left to continue his solo career, Gottsching was suddenly left alone in the group.
He now participated in the extensive Cosmic Jokers jam sessions. Kaiser had rented a studio for
four months (February to May 1973) where all the musicians, according to rumours, lived partly
on a diet of marijuana and LSD. Between the endless parties, several hours of music also were
recorded. Involved this time were basically the same musicians as on the Tarot sessions:
Gottsching, Schulze, Dollase, Grosskopf, Dieter Dierks (bass) and Rosi Muller, Gille Lettmann,
Brian Barritt, Lizz Elliott & David (all occasional voices). Kaiser and Gille Lettmann later edited
the vast amounts of material, and released three albums under the pro-forma group name
(Cosmic Jokers) in 1974. Some additional material was also used on the KM samplers Sci Fi
Party and Gilles Zeitschiff. All these releases were made without the knowledge or permission of
the musicians involved. Schulze nowadays dismisses those recordings as 'awful', bill on the other
hand Gottsching still regards them as 'pleasant recordings'.
After all the freaky jam sessions of the previous years, none of the musicians involved was
presumably able to tell which group he or she was really working with! It was time to re-group.
Gottsching formed a new, loose Ash Ra Tempel line-up with his session friends Dieter Dierks
(engineering), Harald Grosskopf and Rosi Muller. The resulting album Starring Rosi was a big
surprise. Gone were all those freaky jams. A more melodious, harmonic and accessible style now
dominated. "Laughter Loving" sounds like an improved "Freak'n'Roll", "Day-dream" is a most