Space Ritual (Live, 2007 Remaster)

Hawkwind

Released on 5/11/73 by Parlophone UK
Main artists: Hawkwind
Genre: Rock

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Recorded live in December 1972 and released the following year, Space Ritual is an excellent document featuring Hawkwind's classic lineup, adding depth and weight to the already irrefutable proof that the group's status as space rock pioneers was well warranted. As the quintessential "people's band," Hawkwind carried '60s countercultural idealism into the '70s, gigging wherever there was an audience. The band's multimedia performances were a perfect accompaniment for inner space exploration and outer space imagination. Though not concerned with rock's material trappings, Hawkwind was among the hardest-working groups in Britain, averaging a show every three days during the year preceding the recordings. Given that, it's not surprising that the performances collected here are incredibly tight (though a couple of tracks were edited). Incorporating most of Doremi Fasol Latido, the show for the Space Ritual tour was conceived as a space rock opera and used blend of sci-fi electronics, mesmerizing psych grooves, heavy, earthbound jamming punctuated with spoken word interludes from astral poet Robert Calvert, and nude stage dancers. Though Calvert's intergalactic musings date the album, they provide fitting atmospheric frames for Hawkwind's mesmerizing sounds. Calvert's manic recital of author Michael Moorcock's "Sonic Attack" (the writer later fronted Hawkwind on several occasions live and in studio), is an exercise in rippling tension that eventually gives way to a sonic explosion on "Time We Left This World Today," thanks in no small part to Nik Turner's otherworldly sax, Dave Brock's guitar distortion, and the earth-moving rhythm section of Simon King and Lemmy Kilminster (founder of Motörhead). The track is a signifier. It blueprints the album's most potent material including "Orgone Accumulator," ten minutes of hypnotic Wilhelm Reich & roll that could be the missing link between Booker T. Jones and Stereolab, the pummeling bass blast and psych throb of "Born to Go," and the psychedelic garage jazz titled "Lord of Light." A 1973 advertisement described Space Ritual as "88 minutes of brain damage." That characterization, while hyperbolic, contains a modicum of truth. The album's unhinged meld of prog, acid rock, proto metal, science fiction, fantasy, and jazz dates well, making Hawkwind prophetically influential.

© Wilson Neate /TiVo

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Space Ritual (Live, 2007 Remaster)

Hawkwind

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