LIVE AT MT. FUJI

First solo live release by Manuel Göttsching, "Live at Mt. Fuji" features two tracks from the first 70's ASHRA albums, two tracks from his 2000's recent albums and a new composition of 15 minutes.

"Sunrain" (from ASHRA's "New Age of Earth") is a bit deceiving. This interpretation sounds more cold and plastic, as if it was played in MIDI, whereas the original studio track possessed its own warm and human feel. The sonorities are not very adapted to the soothing ambiance of this classic electronic tune. Furthermore, this extended version is a bit too long. The slow "Saint & Sinner" (from Göttsching's "Concert for Murnau") is a curious choice for this live album. The languorous ambiance is however reinforced by Manuel's pretty cool guitar play.

"Trunky Groove" is a new piece composed for this concert. This previously unreleased track features more modern percussions and some nice sound effects. An enjoyable ambient tune, that sometimes reminds early THE ORB. "Die Mulde/Zerfluss" (from Göttsching's "Die Mulde") is a little more interesting this its studio version. First, it has fortunately been shortened to 20 minutes. Second, there are more variations than on the original, although the 90's cheesy sound effects remain. The rendition of "Shuttlecock" (from ASHRA's "Blackouts") is average as the electronic sequence is too present and thus tends to become slightly repetitive near the end.

As a live release from Manuel Göttsching, it is surprising not to hear any extract from his groundbreaking albums "Inventions for Electric Guitar" or "E2-E4". The chosen sonorities are sometimes cheap, which is a bit curious for such an electronic pionieer artist. To sum up, "Live at Mt. Fuji" is half ambient, half Göttsching-esque, not bad, but not great either.

Manual Gottsching certainly needs no introduction to Krautrock fans out there, being the premier guitarist of that movement. His friendship with Klaus Schulze helped motivate him to dive into electronics, and this live album is an electronic record. The combination of Mount Fuji and Manual Gottsching just sounded epic to my mind. I'm picturing him on stage with his long hair blowing in the wind as his backing band supports. Not quite. He turned 54 in 2006 and he's mostly sitting at a table with keyboards and wires all over it, with his shorter, coloured hair. Expectations are a funny thing.

Recorded live on April 29, 2006 at the Anoyo Prism Festival on Mount Fuji in Japan, this is a fairly ambient recording. Manual also produced, mixed and composed the light and melodic music here. This is a long one at under 73 minutes and over five tracks. He touches on songs from his solo albums at this time, but also a couple of tracks from his ASHRA days, along with a new composition "Trunky Groove" right in the middle(track 3). This recording did come with a edition that had all of these songs on DVD plus an interview but I don't have that one. The cover art seems to connect with the festival's name. The sub-title to that name was "The collective art conscious festival".

This album is for fans of his electronic period, more than his his early guitar led music which I prefer. ASH RA TEMPEL and THE COSMIC JOKERS really showcase this man's guitar skills. 3 stars is all I got for this one.