Ashra - Dream & Desire (1977) Review

Songs:

01. Dream - 30:31
02. Desire - 23:05
03. Despair - 08:36



This great ambient album was recorded in 1977. Manuel Gottsching is well known for his work and collaborations with Ashra, Ash Ra Tempel, The Cosmic Jokers, Klaus Schulze and a lot more. The album contains three songs. The songs are based a lot on keyboards and effects, and the musical expansion progresses slowly, but give the impression of an evolving rather than a repetitive nature. The title itself always gave me a sad impression. On my mind it goes like this: You begin with a thought like a dream. Something distant but pleasant in our mind. Later, this thought becomes a desire, meaning that the mind begins to think that its dream might/may come true. This is a desire. Effort is made in order for this desire to come true. Finally, after all effort is made, you fail. So, the outcome is unpleasant and the next step is the despair because of the lost hope. The despair can actually then work as a motivation to try again! The last song is the happier than the previous two. So maybe we should NOT get desperate over things that do not come, but rather try again!  My perception might be wrong of course, I do not know what Manuel Gottsching was thinking when he wrote the album! Lets see the songs in detail:


"Dream" begins with wind effects, full echo/delay style and a gentle melody appearing slowly. The mix down of the different music parts is ideal. Almost minimal, a new riff  kicks in, subtly, but somehow standing in front of the rest of the rest of music. Soon, its volume is ascended and the musical interpretations of the theme make it now "officially" the main melody. Variations on this tune come again along with new sounds and variations. About the middle of the song, a groovy part kicks in with more psychedelic feeling. The song keeps on its cosmic/psychedelic route until the end.

"Desire" begins with a standard ambient/space mood, kind of close to Tangerine Dream style, however more minimal. The main riff kicks in after a while. Electronic drumming is also present in this track. This repetitive riff keeps on for quite a few minutes and later a new one is introduced. Variations on the riffs and some additional instrument voices are present throughout the rest of the song. Its whole feeling is very close to "Dream"

"Despair" continues just where the previous song stopped. It starts with ambient, relaxing sounds. A few extra riffs come and go, and after the first half of the song a more tense variation is introduced with "infinite echo/delay" guitar sound. While the background synthesizer sound is "marching", the guitar is re
laxing at the beginning, however it slowly gets faster. Towards the end, the whole song slows down and fades out.

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