Third solo album by Manuel Göttsching, and second that he did under the abbreviated Ash Ra Tempel name "Ashra", before they became a proper band again at the end of the 70s. Blackouts was a further refinement of the echo guitar plus electronics sound of New Age Of Earth, with Göttsching heading for shorter, melodic tracks other than the 17-minute Lotus suite at the end. Opening with the catchy '77 Slightly Delayed, the tempo comes down next for Midnight On Mars with its intro's interesting resemblance to Marquee Moon by Television, and so on to make for a very strong and varied album. The funky Shuttlecocks is definitely my favourite thing here.
pw: sgtg
Manuel Göttsching at SGTG:
Thanks for the Ashra
ReplyDeleteWhile Michael Brook is usually one of the first people who comes to mind who worked similar territory, I'll tell you somebody else who is very close to this kind of thing a lot of the time and who doesn't get mentioned much - Nash The Slash.
ReplyDeleteThink I've heard of Nash The Slash before but never gave him a listen until now - thanks!
DeleteHe's definitely a different (but still great) deal some of the time - but in his more mellow moments - and some of the rockier ones as well - when he goes into his echoed mandolin wanderings, you will hear the similarities. There is a Bandcamp page where you can sample most of his prime era stuff.
DeleteBrings me back to a time when I liked to listen to this kind of dreamy music; I was a sensitive young man of 18, full of dreams and passion. One of my records who survived all these years in my rather little record collection...Thank you a lot for these memories Alan.
ReplyDeleteDanny, Belgium.
Many thanks for sharing this great album my friend.
ReplyDelete