Die Geschichte von ASHRA / ASHRA TEMPEL begann bereits Ende der 60er. Damals brachte das Triumvirat Klaus Schulze (dr), Hartmut Enke (b) und Manuel Göttsching (keyb) den "electronic spirit" mit frei fließenden Improvisationen und instrumentalen Exkursionen in die Krautrock-Szene ein. Nach dem Weggang von Klaus Schulze wurde ASHRA das Medium von Mastermind Manuel Göttsching, der 1981 mit dem ersten technoiden Album "E2-E4" einen Trance-Klassiker schuf. Auch wenn es in diesem Jahrzehnt ruhig wurde um dieses Projekt - die Releases stammen allesamt aus den 70ern & 80ern -, so war ihre Musik der Zeit meist einen Schritt voraus. Ob New Age, electronic psychedelic Impetus oder Techno, immer verstanden es Göttsching & Co. mit substanzhaltigen Vorläufern diese Stile vorwegzunehmen. Und nun, nach fast zehn Jahren Abstinenz, ein weiteres Meisterwerk: live während der '97er-Japan-Tour eingespielt, bietet "@shra" Trance-Grooves vom Feinsten. Die sorgsam aufgebauten Sounds der drei 20-Minuten-Stücke verbinden ambiente Passagen mit träumerischen melodischen Beats, eingewebt in das Spiel der Twin-Guitars von Göttsching und Ex-AGITATION FREE Lutz Ulbrich. Intelligence Techno mit Feeling.

(Joachym Ettel, © Intro - Musik & so)

Ash Ra Tempel's second album featured the first of several personnel changes, Klaus Schulze having departed for other realms and replaced as a result by Wolfgang Muller. A few guest players surfaced here and there as well, with one John L. taking the lead vocals — another difference from the self-titled debut, which was entirely instrumental. The general principle of side-long efforts continued, though the first half was split into two related songs, "Light" and "Darkness." "Light" itself sounded halfway between the zoned-out exploration of "Traummaschine" and bluesy jamming, a weird if not totally discordant combination that still manages to sound more out there than most bands of the time. Gottsching's fried solo, in particular, is great, sending the rest of the song out to silence that leads into "Darkness." Said song initially takes a far more minimal approach that bears even more resemblance to "Traummaschine," fading out almost entirely by the third minute before a full band performance (including Uli Popp on bongos and Matthais Wehler's sudden alto sax bursts) slowly builds into a frenetic jam. John L.'s vocals become echoed screams and yelps not far off from Damo Suzuki's approach in Can, and the overall performance is a perfect slice of Krautrock insanity, sudden swirls of flanging and even more on-the-edge solos from Gottsching and Wehler sending it over the top. "Suche & Liebe" takes up the entire second side, the performers this time around concentrating on the quiet but unsettling approach, Gottsching's massive soloing kept low in the mix but not so much that it doesn't freak out listeners. The song concludes on an almost conventionally pretty band jam, something that could almost be Meddle-era Pink Floyd, only with even a more haunting, alien air thanks to the wordless vocal keening.

(by Ned Raggett, All Music Guide)

'Beware of Schwingungen!' That should be the large sticker on the front of all copies of this record. For it is dangerous to be casually introduced to something that is life-changing, as I found out to my cost when first listening to this record. It all starts fairly simply and without any cause for alarm – 'Look at Your Sun' begins with a Doorsy lone groover guitar begins a pedestrian blues, beautiful. Then the most crushed voice, a cross between Johnny Rotten and Tiny Tim, preaches its way into the proceeds. God, it is beautiful – John L. repeats over and over, 'We are all one, we are all one,' until a howling fuzztone solo guitar blows the whole one chord 'Signed D.C.' ringing-cymbals torture to an end. And then the most far out track of all begins. This is called 'Flower Must Die' and it is a free-rock giant that transcends everything else in its field (there are no contenders.) As I've written before, PIL sounds like this. John L. was John Lydon in a previous incarnation. After a slow weird build, a frantic streamlined one-chord mantra kicks in and it's like the Stooges' Funhouse period but in a Righteous Vision Zone that fucks them right off. Phasing tears at the whole tracks as this Holy Racket crosses into hyper-space and everything gets all hyphenated just-for-the-sake-of-it. 'Flowers Must Die', man, it's fucked up. Over on side two, the title-track ('Vibrations') begins poetically enough with Wolfgang Muller's epic and hugely reverbed vibraphone. Organ fades in and FX guitars, and time passes by. Finally, tom-toms roll and the developing pace is built upon until that great eternal chord sequence finally materializes – this is the one that Göttsching and Enke believed was the sound of heaven. They may have been right. And Schwingungen was a gift from the Gods."

(Julian Cope's review on Schwingungen in Krautrocksampler,Head Heritage, 1995)