Search - Hawkwind :: Space Ritual

Hawkwind's apex

Dave Lang | Coburg, VIC Australia | 07/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The speil I usually give to people who turn their nose up at me when I announce my rabid Hawkwind fandom (people, by the way, who've usually never even heard any of their music) is that Neil from "The Young Ones" TV show ruined Hawkwind for an entire generation. By lumping them in with lily-livered lightweights like Genesis and by tainting them with strong hippie associations, everyone assumes they're either horrendously indulgent prog-rock, or embarrassingly dated peace-&-love musings. Hawkwind never were either.Hawkwind, at their peak, as on '73's live "Space Ritual" double LP, were an air-tight rock'n'roll demolition unit who combined the best of trancey psychedelia and buttocks-scorching rock'n'roll. If you have the remotist interest in Krautrock or the pre-Punk school of high-energy rock a la MC5/Stooges/Pink Fairies/Deviants, then you need this in your collection.From Dik's crazy synth whoops and bleeps thru to the sublime sci-fi spoken-word babble right up to the apocalyptic "Orgone Accumulator" (almost 10 minutes of pure sonic fist-shaking bliss), this is an album for both rock'n'roll purists and avant-prog geeks alike (I fall somewhere between the two).Whilst nothing can compare to the original vinyl version with its fancy fold-out cover, this CD version is almost as good as it contains bonus tracks and a very well put together booklet with new photos, graphics and liner notes. Unlike many other reissues, it's nice to know that someone at the label actually put some care into it.If you must know, everyone from Jello Biafra to John Lydon has sung the praises of this set, so do the done thing and get on it."

Mott's Ritual

Kim Fletcher | Pattaya, Chonburi Thailand | 10/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the lead up to Christmas 1972 there was a massive disturbance in the force as the mighty Hawkwind had a freak hit single with their `Silver Machine ` reaching Number three in the singles chart. I am not saying that this exactly made Hawkwind into pop stars, but it certainly gave them access to a far wider audience.

`Silver Machine' was even more of a freak than it appears. For a start it was a live recording, which was almost unheard of in singles land, especially as it was nearly five minutes long (even if it had been heavily edited with Robert Calvert's vocals completely erased and replaced with the far more aggressive growl of Hawkwind's bass player Ian Kiliminster, known to all as Lemmy). The sight of the Hawkwind video being played next to the Nolan Sisters on Top of the Pops did bring a smile to the face, but imagine if they had let Lemmy into the same studio as the Sisters?

It's not as though Hawkwind had not already enjoyed success, as their first three albums had already charted in the U.K. `Hawkwind' (1970), `In Search of Space' (1971) (complete with fabulous foldout cover and Hawklog), and `Doremi Fasol Latido' (1972) which had a vaguely space concept.

But with the money generated by a hit single Hawkwind decided to take their Space Ritual on the road for a massive tour of the United Kingdom and surrounding planets. A road crew was brought in, the most impressive display of lights were acquired under the auspicious eye of Liquid Len accompanied by his crew of Lensmen, costumes were fashioned, famous English D.J. Andy Dunkley was appointed Mothership control, one of the most impressive stage settings was put together to house the band for their rocket ride, actual dancers were put on the payroll and given chorography, and most impressively the band put in some rehearsal time.

The band had been stable for a whole year, which for this bunch of space cadets was in itself an event. Baring in mind that there had already been three other bass players before Lemmy secured the job, a lead guitarist had been lost and nobody had bothered to replace him, whilst the drum stool had already moved into Spinal Tap mode. It was almost a rule in the band that they never did two studio albums with the same line up.

From these early beginnings, though, nobody could have ever imagined that over the years Hawkwind would have such a heavy influence on such diverse musical threads as Ambient, World, Disco (seriously), Trance, Stoner Rock, Heavy Metal, and of course Space Rock.

Fortunately for us all several of the shows were recorded, and the best of two of them from Liverpool and Manchester have been spliced together to give the complete experience, all done in the correct running order. This was first released as a double album in 1973 at the price of a single album, Hawkwind being Hawkwind and always giving value for money. As well as a poster size foldout cover, you also got two booklets, one telling the story of the Space Ritual joining the dots between songs, the other giving you all the information you could possibly want about the tour.

In 1996 EMI went one step further and re-released the Space Ritual in Digi-Pak form reproducing the original artwork, whilst adding some extra photos from the tour. The music itself has been wonderfully re-mastered to give a much clearer sound than the original vinyl, or for that matter the first CD release. Due to time constraints first time round (you could only get eighty minutes of music on four sides of vinyl) the encore of `You Shouldn't Do That' had to be left off. Well no more; here you get the full concert encore and all. As if that was not enough over twenty minutes of bonus live Hawkwind has been tacked onto the end with two tracks from the hard to get Greasy Truckers benefit concert.

The concert starts with the Starship Hawkwind on final countdown for its rocket ride. Robert Calvert, Hawkwind's resident poet, gets things underway with `Earth Calling' amidst an array of Hawkwind, bubble music, audio generators, countdowns, swazzles, electronic robot music, swishing, and after burns.

Blastoff occurs with Dave Brock blazing out the riffs from his sonic axe of `Born To Go'; then the rest of the band comes thundering in. Now you must remember that nobody had ever bothered to mention to Lemmy that the bass guitar was a rhythm instrument, as he goes note for note with his captain's guitar. Simon King on drums may have had his failings, but subtlety was not one of them as he thrashes away for all he is worth.

Everybody's favourite, hippy Nik Turner hoots and honks his way through every song on his battered saxophone, only reverting to the flute for those short quieter moments when Robert Calvert would get up to read out some of his poetry or to speak out the words of Michael Moorcock the famous science fiction writer who had written special passages for the Space Ritual. `Sonic Attack' is particularly disturbing in the concept of the Space Ritual, with the whole band echoing the narrator's speech. Then behind this you had the twin attack of Del Dettmar and Dik Mik on synthesisers, audio generators, and electronics giving out that very special Hawkwind wall of sound. The songs were most of `Doremi Fasol Latido' plus any songs that fitted in from the Hawkwind back catalogue. `Masters of The Universe' for example fitted in very well, plus material specially written for the mission. This was Heavy Metal at its very best, no matter what different wrapper you want to give it.

Of course Hawkwind was a very visual band in every way. Out the front of the stage for the journey was the larger than life Amazonian dancer Stacia, who somehow during each performance managed to lose every stitch of space garb adorning her ample body. As there were always a lot of spotty sixteen year old boys down the front of the stage, it probably means that Stacia was the first naked female seen by thousands of young lustful teenagers. To answer your next question, "Yes, those thoughtful people from EMI have included a few snapshots in one of the booklets," purely for historic reasons you understand. I know this has nothing to do with the music, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

More than thirty years later, Hawkwind are still flying, sadly without Stacia, who went off and married drummer Roy Dyke, which makes her Mrs Dyke, hmmm. Lemmy has of course gone on to become the founder of Heavy Metal with the mighty Motorhead. Whilst David Brock, with new Hawknauts, still leads Hawkwind, who released a new studio album in 2005 called `Take Me To Your Leader', their first album since `Distant Horizons' in 1997. Hawkwind's Space Ritual is a great trip.

Mott the Dog."

A Totally Unique Band, Then and Now

Spiritof67 | New York | 12/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I came to this review a bit differently than most of the reviewers: I knew of them from right after the release of their 1st album through their US tours, saw their 1st US concert, etc. I first heard of them via the Melody Maker - "spacerock", etc. I might have even been the first US reviewer to write about them. I thought they'd sound like the Floyd. Their 1st album might lead you to expect that as well.



This album dispels that idea for good. These guys are heavy, heavy metal space travelers on a vastly different mission than Roger Waters and the boys. Just listening to the "get in tune, mates!" countdown in the beginning of "Born To Go" still gives me chills as Simon plays across all the tom tom tops. Lemmy (Rickenbacker stereo bass) and Simon King (a really BIG kit of drums) then lay down the thunder like never before. Lemmy actually more or less plays "lead" on most of this tune, and plays some fine bass solos. This CD (though overpriced - come on, guys!) is probably the most authentic record of what I believe to be the best Hawkwind band.



The reason why there are no breaks between songs is that is how a Hawkwind concert was - a song, some lines from sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock, another song, some synth from Del Dettmar or Dikmik, another song...it was a revelation.



Unfortunately, they didn't fit into anybody's convenient pigeonholes then or now, and in an age of Peter Frampton and disco United Artists US pretty much let them drift away..but you can still have a piece of it, and a ferocious piece at that, on this disc. Listeners who heard the "1999 Party" live set beware: while it is without doubt the cleanest recording, this is the real concert sound.



There are a few problems with the CD version here, please note. There is no good reason for this material to be on TWO CD's; the producer who converted this to CD cut off 40 sec. of Dave's chord at the end of Master Of The Universe - what a churl.



Whatever format you choose, if you really like Hawkwind, this set is essential. The only thing lacking in their canon is a live gig on DVD which would feature the one thing you can't get from a strictly audio performance - Miss Stacia'a dancing."