Atem means breath and this was John Peel's Album of the Year in 1973. After Zeit where could they possibly go?, well seemingly they could go back to a more structured and more Ash Ra Tempel like sound. Which is what they did - weird that there's little trace of the might of Zeit in this record. Slowly going through the mountain of crap I've acquired over my life (birthday cards from 2003?, Sweet wrappers from god knows when, Star Trek playing cards?), it's weird how these artifacts present a revisionist view of my past. I've owned Atem (it's unfortunately on the charity shop pile) on a twofer with Alpha Centauri. I always assumed that one followed the other but Zeit now sticks out as the elephant that should be in the middle of that record set.
But Atem. 20 minutes of noodles - not far from Zeit but with far less conviction. The first track starts with drums. Drums. Before breaking off into space with much synthesisers. There is one reason to buy this record and that reason is Fauni Gena on the start of side 2. It's almost straight from the book o' Zeit, all creepy mellotrons and cave dripping noises. It builds and grows and is fantastic. Circulation of Events has the elements but not the drive - it's noise and ambiance but there's something missing. The last track Wahn brings back Electronic Meditation style experimentation with all crazy voices swirling around.
So in summary. Breezes. It's not nearly as good as Zeit but I think it's better than Alpha Centauri. But hell if you'd just made a record as mighty as Zeit, you could pretty much just live off that forever. Incidentally, the child on the front is Edgar Froese's son aged 2 years. He joined Tangerine Dream in 1990 thus making him a pub quiz question: Which band featured a member on the cover an album when they weren't a member. Something to ponder over perhaps...
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