by Jim BrenholtsBlackouts is a classic CD from Ashra. (As an aside, it is included in the Ambient Three Pack box set along with Aqua by Edgar Froese and Blackdance by Klaus Schulze. While those are all excellent CDs, they are not, by any stretch of any imagination, ambient.) This disc features Manuel Göttsching at his best. His guitar work just glides around dynamic Berlin school sequences. The electric guitar riffs give this album rock & roll overtones. So, classic is the word for this set. It is a classic Berlin school/rock & roll hybrid. The gentle moments are smooth, and the dense moments are heavy. It is a great mix of the two styles.