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 Kilmister (founder of
Motoerhead). 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
![Action Painting [With Book]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0825764106429_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Action Painting [With Book]")
