Space Ritual

Infobox Album |
Name = The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London
Type = live
Artist = Hawkwind


Released = May 11 1973
Recorded = December 1972
Genre = Space Rock
Length = 86:55 (original release)
Label = United Artists – UAD60037/8
Producer = Hawkwind
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hn821v7jzzma link]
*Prog Archives Rating|4|5 [http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_CD.asp?cd_id=3887 link] (34 ratings)
Last album = "Doremi Fasol Latido"
(1972)
This album = "Space Ritual"
(1973)
Next album = "Hall of the Mountain Grill"
(1974)

"The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London" is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album, reached #9 in the UK album charts and briefly dented the "Billboard Top 200", peaking at #179.

The album was recorded during the tour to promote their "Doremi Fasol Latido" album, which comprises the bulk of this set. In addition, there are new tracks ("Born To Go", "Upside Down" and "Orgone Accumulator") and the songs are interspersed by electronic and spoken pieces making this one continuous performance. Curiously, their recent hit single "Silver Machine" was excluded from the set, and only "Master of the Universe" remains from their first two albums.

The Space Ritual show attempted to create a full audio-visual-cerebral experience, representing themes developed by Barney Bubbles and Robert Calvert entwining the fantasy of Starfarers in suspended animation travelling through time and space with the concept of the music of the spheres. [ [http://www.kadu.demon.co.uk/pages/ritual.html Melody Maker, 28 October 1972] - Watch This Space] The performance featured dancers Stacia, Miss Renee and Tony Carrera, stage set by Bubbles, [ [http://www.kadu.demon.co.uk/pages/hawknauts.html Music Scene, 1 December 1972] - Hawkwind Musicnauts] lightshow by Liquid Len and poetry recitations by Calvert. On entering the venue, audience members were given a free programme [ [http://www.kadu.demon.co.uk/pages/ritualprog.html Tour Programme] – An extract from the Saga of Doremi Fasol Latido] (reproduced on the 1996 remaster CD) featuring a short sci-fi story by Bubbles setting the band in a Starfarers scenario returning to Earth.

The original release featured edits and overdubs, the sleeve notes explaining that "We had to cut a piece out of Brainstorm and Time We Left because they were too long", but the 1985 "Space Ritual Volume 2" album contains the full unedited versions. A previously unheard edited version of "You Shouldn't Do That" (segued with an unlisted "Seeing It As You Really Are") from this concert was included on the 1976 "Roadhawks" compilation album, then subsequently included as a bonus track on the 1996 remaster CD. The full unedited version of the track can be found on the "Hawkwind Anthology" album. June 2007 saw another EMI remaster issue with different bonus tracks and DVD-audio.

"Sonic Attack" had been written by sci-fi author Michael Moorcock, who often performed with the band when convenient and Calvert was unavailable. Here it is recited by Calvert and it was scheduled for single release, promotional copies being distributed in a cloth sleeve, but it never did receive a full release.

Track listing

;Side 1
#"Earth Calling" (Robert Calvert) – 1:46
#"Born To Go" (Calvert, Dave Brock) – 9:56
#"Down Through The Night" (Brock) – 6:16
#"The Awakening" (Calvert) – 1:32;Side 2
#"Lord Of Light" (Brock) – 7:21
#"Black Corridor" (Michael Moorcock) – 1:51
#"Space Is Deep" (Brock) – 8:13
#"Electronic No. 1" (Dik Mik Davies, Del Dettmar) – 2:26;Side 3
#"Orgone Accumulator" (Calvert,Brock) – 9:59
#"Upside Down" (Brock) – 2:43
#"10 Seconds Of Forever" (Calvert) – 2:05
#"Brainstorm" (Turner) – 9:20;Side 4
#"7 By 7" (Brock) – 6:13
#"Sonic Attack" (Moorcock) – 2:54
#"Time We Left This World Today" (Brock) – 5:47
#"Master Of The Universe" (Nik Turner, Brock) – 7:37
#"'Welcome To The Future" (Calvert) – 2:03;Bonus tracks on 1996 Remasters CD:
#"You Shouldn't Do That" (Turner, Brock) / "Seeing It As You Really Are" [unlisted] (Brock) – 6:55
#"Master Of The Universe" (Turner, Brock) – 7:26
#"Born To Go" (Calvert, Brock) – 13:04

2007 Digital remaster

;CD 1
#"Earth Calling"
#"Born To Go"
#"Down Through The Night"
#"The Awakening"
#"Lord Of Light"
#"Black Corridor"
#"Space Is Deep"
#"Electronic No. 1"
#"Orgone Accumulator"
#"Upside Down"
#"10 Seconds Of Forever"
#"Brainstorm" (full version) - 13:46;CD 2
#"7 By 7"
#"Sonic Attack"
#"Time We Left This World Today"
#"Master Of The Universe"
#"Welcome To The Future" (full version) - 2:49
#"You Shouldn't Do That" 10:38
#"Orgone Accumulator" (alternate nights performance) - 8:50
#"Time We Left This World Today" (alternate nights performance) - 13:22
#"You Shouldn't Do That" (alternate nights performance, from the "Roadhawks" compilation album) - 6:42;Audio DVDtracks are in both DTS 96/24 and 24 bit/48 kHz Stereo format
#"Earth Calling"
#"Born To Go"
#"Down Through The Night"
#"The Awakening"
#"Lord Of Light"
#"Black Corridor"
#"Space Is Deep"
#"Electronic No. 1"
#"Orgone Accumulator"
#"Upside Down"
#"10 Seconds Of Forever"
#"Brainstorm"
#"7 By 7"
#"Sonic Attack"
#"Time We Left This World Today"
#"Master Of The Universe"
#"Welcome To The Future"
#"You Shouldn't Do That"

Credits

Musicnauts

*Robert Calvert – vocals
*Dave Brock – guitar, vocals
*Nik Turner – saxophone, flute, vocals
*Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) – bass guitar, vocals
*Dik Mik (Michael Davies) – Synthesizer
*Del Dettmar – Synthesizer
*Simon King – drums

Recording

*Recorded at Liverpool Stadium, 22 December, 1972 and Brixton Sundown, 30 December, 1972 by Vic Maile and the Pye Mobile.
*Produced by Hawkwind. Mixed by Vic Maile and Anton Matthews at Olympic Studios, Barnes.
*"You Shouldn't Do That" (bonus track) recorded at Brixton Sundown, 30 December, 1972. Originally released on the "Roadhawks" compilation album.
*"Master Of The Universe" and "Born To Go" (bonus tracks) recorded at The Roundhouse, 13 February, 1972. Originally released on the "Greasy Truckers Party" Various Artists album.

leeve

The sleeve [ [http://www.collectable-records.ru/groups/hawkwind/space.htm Collectable Records] – Original foldout cover and inner sleeves] was designed by Barney Bubbles and came in 3x2 panel foldout, the outer 6 panels being colour, the inner 6 panels being monochrome, the discs in psychedelic patterned orange & yellow inner sleeves were folded into this. It made Q Magazines 100 greatest album covers list.
*The outer foldout features an illustration of Miss Stacia flanked by the hounds of King over stage shots of the band.
*The inner foldout features three panels of a photograph of outer space with three illustrations on each panel headed by lines from a Hawkwind song.
*Inner panel 1: features a vintage photograph of a naked woman with listed credits.
*Inner panel 2: "chac bacab" – features an image of a female nipple as a planet, and a legend of the Earth as a living entity.
*Inner panel 3: "kan bacab" – features an image of a foetus suspended in space with the legend "The Universe resounds with the joyful cry I AM. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Naked I came out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither."
*Inner panel 4: Features a mandala with the legend "Everything exists for itself, yet everything is part of something else. The One and the many contain in themselves the principles of time and space. The way up and the way down are one and the same."
*Inner panel 5: Features a dedication from Lemmy to John the Bog, Supernova and Sue Bennett. "zac bacab", "tec bacab" and "bac bacab" expounds upon religious and cosmological myths and sciences, starting with the William Blake poem "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour", ending with the Alfred Whitehead quote "Give up illusions about ideas of order, accept nothing of inherited norm. Spread joy and revolution. It is the business of the future to be dangerous."
*Inner panel 6: features a winged superhero grasping an electric cable and lightning bolts, perched upon an Earth situated in a void.

Notes

*"Earth Calling" is a spoken piece, inspired by Lord Haw Haw's "Germany calling" wartime broadcasts.
*"The Awakening" is a spoken piece which had been printed in the Hawklog.
*"Black Corridor" is a spoken piece, adapted from the Michael Moorcock book of the same name.
*"Electronic No. 1" is an electronic piece, very similar to Cluster '71.
*"Orgone Accumulator" lyrics were inspired by Wilhelm Reich. The music (including bass solo) is a version of Canned Heat's "Fried Hockey Boogie". Pop Will Eat Itself covered the song in 1987 on their "Love Missile F1-11" single.

Release History

*May-1973: United Artists Records, UAD60037/8, UK vinyl – original issues came in 6 panel fold-out sleeve with inner sleeves. Subsequent releases in gatefold sleeve.
*Sep-1992: One Way Records, S2257659, USA CD
*Mar-1996: EMI Remasters, HAWKS4, UK CD – initial copies in digipak with reproduction of the Space Ritual tour programme ("An extract from the Saga of Doremi Fasol Latido")
*Jun-2007: EMI Remasters, UK 2CD+DVD

Volume 2

Infobox Album
Name = Space Ritual Volume 2
Type = live
Longtype =
Artist = Hawkwind


Released = May 1985
Recorded = Brixton Sundown, 30 December 1972
Genre = Space Rock
Length =
Label = American Phonograph – APK8
Producer =
Reviews =
Last album = "Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin"
(1985)
This album = "Space Ritual Volume 2"
(1985)
Next album = "Hawkwind Anthology"
(1985)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = live album


Lower caption = Space Ritual Sundown V. 2 (2002 Remaster)

"Space Ritual Volume 2" is an archive live album by Hawkwind released in 1985 consisting of a live performance from 1972. The tapes were licensed by Dave Brock to former Hawkwind bass player Dave Anderson for release.

This recording is part of the performance that was processed for disc 2 of "Space Ritual". Here it is in its original state, with no edits or overdubs, notable differences being a different middle section to "Orgone Accumulator", "Paranoia" included as the middle section of "Time We Left This World Today" and "Wind Of Change" leading into "7 By 7". "Space Is Deep" and "You Shouldn't Do That" / "Seeing It As You Really Are" from this tape were released on "Hawkwind Anthology".

#"Electronic No. 1" [listed as "Space"] (Dettmar/Dik Mik) – 2:15
#"Orgone Accumulator" (Calvert/Brock) – 8:45
#"Upside Down" (Brock) – 2:45
#"Sonic Attack" (Moorcock) – 2:50
#"Time We Left This World Today" (Brock) / "Paranoia" [unlisted] (Brock) – 13:20
#"10 Seconds Of Forever" (Calvert) – 2:10
#"Brainstorm" (Turner) – 12:00
#"Wind Of Change" [unlisted] (Brock)
"7 By 7" (Brock) – 8:50
#"Master of the Universe" (Turner/Brock) – 7:40
#"Welcome to the Future" (Calvert) – 2:55

*see [http://www.starfarer.net/bringme.html starfarer] for full catalogue of releases, re-releases, retitles of this album.

External links

* [http://www.kadu.demon.co.uk/pages/hawkinspaceritual.html Jon's Attic] – Sounds review, 19 May, 1973
* [http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/_hwpress/hw19730519mm.html HawkFanFare] – Melody Maker review, 19 May, 1973
* [http://www.starfarer.net/srlplive.html Starfarer] – NME review, 19 May, 1973
* [http://www.starfarer.net/infinity.html Starfarer] – Mojo review, July 1999
* [http://www.starfarer.net/crnov2k.html Starfarer] – Classic Rock review, Nov 2000