Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel – Seven Up LP

Description

MG.ART reissueSeven Upas part two of the authorized 50th anniversary “A.R.T.” re-edition series.Seven Upis the third studio album byAsh Ra Tempeland their only album recorded in collaboration with American Ph.D. in psychology,Dr. Timothy Leary. Cover art by famous Swiss artistWalter Wegmller. Recorded in August 1972 at Sinus Studio in Berne, Switzerland, remixed September 1972 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, Germany. First release in spring 1973 by OHR Musik — the first release on the new sub-label “Kosmische Kuriere”.Seven Upin a re-cut carefully overseen byManuel Gttschinghimself. Features the full original text for the “7 Levels of Consciousness” by Timothy Leary in English, i.e. “Instruction Manual for Pleasure Panel” plus a previously unreleased glimpse view of the original scripts including notes and mark ups as well as partly unreleased photos from the recording session. Gatefold; four-page inlay.

Julian Cope‘s review and remarks fromKrautrocksampler(1995): “When the Leary Mob met theKaiser Gang, the sparks flew everUp-wards…7upis a stone classic in every way. Yes, it is unlikely to find Timothy Leary singing lead vocal in a cosmic group, but even weirder that he chose to sing a wild yelping freaked out blues! Manuel Gttsching andHartmut Enkehad begun their careers inThe Steeple Chase Blues Bandback in the mid-60ies, and they quickly felt their way through whatBarrittand Leary were aiming for. They reconciled it all as a kind of West Coast chordless psychedelia, where blues riffs sparkle out of nowhere and the sheer weight of synthesizers renders everything with an unrealPere Ubu/earlyRoxy Musicquality. The greatness of Ash Ra Tempel burned so brightly on7Upthat there is really nothing else like it. Hartmut Enke and Manuel Gottsching here returned to their riffy roots. It can hardly be called a retro act, though, as the context of music is everything. And withDierksat the controls, even theNew Kids on the Blockwould have sounded psychedelic.7Upis like a late night radio show glimpsed through a shattered tuner where all but the most truly dangerous sounds have been allowed to stay, to drift and to dance around the performers. The result is an extreme gem, a flash of hysterical white lightning, and a pre-punk technicolour yawn in the grandest of traditions. In typical Ash Ra Tempel style, the record is divided into two pieces, ‘Space’ and ‘Time’. Within this, though, Timothy Leary’s ideas are allowed to free-flow and the two sides are therefore divided into mini-songs all segued together . . . Leary and Barritt present the greatest twin-vocal of all time, coming on likeJaggerandMorrisonbut too caught up in their own maelstrom to be anything less than Heralds of the Punkfuture still five years away…”