Hawkwind - Space Ritual

Year of Release: 1996
Label: EMI
Catalog Number: HAWK4
Format: CD
Total Time: 115:32:00

Bobo reviewed several Hawkwind titles in an omnibus review; they are listed separately in the database. This is the fourth of the five reviews.

I do remember very vividly how I armed myself against arriving enemies with the sleeve of Warrior On The Edge Of Time. When folded open the sleeve became a cardboard shield which illustrated perfectly the great creativity of the band. Founded at the end of '69 as Group X, the band evolved, via the name Hawkwind Zoo, to Hawkwind; this band has always had eyes and ears for detail in order to deliver Art with a big A! That art not only was apparent in their music but also in the sleeve designs. The coming of the compact disc made it difficult to continue to deliver that same Art. The tiny booklet in the kitsch-like cold, static, plastic jewel cases no longer has that Hawkwind feel. Fortunately EMI/Premier has seen how serious this was and has re-released the band's first albums in digipack replicas. They did whatever it took to finally release the complete artwork even including various extras such as concert posters, exclusive photographs, extra sleeve notes and the almost obligatory bonus tracks.

Meanwhile, the band outgrew its cult status and a huge excursion is offered to the public by means of the double album Space Ritual, an unreal concept album. There's music and short lectures from Robert Calvert on one side and readings from Michael Moorcock on the other side, recorded live in Liverpool and Brixton. If you want to listen to the complete album in one go without showing any extra symptoms, then I'm afraid you will have to drink quite a lot of that mushroomsoup!

Tracklisting:
Disc One: Earth Calling (1:46) / Born To Go (9:56) / Down Through The Night (6:16) / The Awakening (1:32) / Lord Of Light (7:21) / Black Corridor (1:51) / Space Is Deep (8:13) / Electronic No. 1 (2:26) / Orgone Accumulator (9:59) / Upside Down (2:43) / 10 Seconds Of Forever (2:05) / Brainstorm (9:20)

Disc Two: 7 By 7 (6:13) / Sonic Attack (2:54) / Time We Left This World Today (5:47) / Master Of The Universe (7:37) / Welcome To The Future (2:03) / You Shouldn't Do That (6:55) / Master Of The Universe (7:26) / Born To Go (13:04)
Album Comes In Foldout Digipack Containing Two Discs And Two Seperate Booklets

Musicians:
Dave Brock - guitar, vocals, synthesizer, organ, 12-string guitar, harmonica, percussion
Nik Turner - sax, flute, vocals, oboe
Lemmy (the Lurch) - bass, vocals
DikMik - audio generator, electronics
Del Dettmaer - synthesizer, keyboards, kalimba
Simon King - drums, percussion
Bob Calvert - poet and swazzle

Discography:
Hawkwind (1970)
In Search Of Space (1971)
Doremi Fasol Latido (1972)
Space Ritual (1973)
The Space Ritual Alive (1973)
Hall Of The Mountain Grill (1974)
Warrior On The Edge Of Time (1975)
Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (1976)
Roadhawks (1976)
Quark, Strangeness And Charm (1977)
Masters Of The Universe (1977)
Hawklords: 25 Years On (1978)
PXR5 (1978)
Live Seventy-Nine (1980)
Repeat Performance (1980)
Levitation (1980)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 1 (1980/2000)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 2 (1980/2000)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 3 (1981/2000)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 4 (1981/2000)
Sonic Attack (1981)
Church Of Hawkwind (1982)
Friends And Relations (1982)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 5 (1982/2000)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 6 (1982)
Choose Your Masques (1983)
The Text Of Festival: Hawkwind Live 1970-72 (1983)
Zones (1983)
Friends & Relations... Twice Upon A Time (1983)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 7 (1983)
The Weird Tapes Volumes 8 (1983)
The Text Of Festival (1983)
Zones (1983)
This Is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic (1984)
Stonehenge/Do Not Panic (1984)
Space Ritual Volume 2 (1984)
Chronicle Of The Black Sword (1985)
Hawkwind Anthology (1985)
Bring Me The Head Of Yuri Gagarin (1985)
Hawkwind Live '70/'73 (1985)
Space Ritual Vol. 2 (1985)
Utopia 1984 (1985)
Friends & Relations Vol. 3 (1985)
In The Beginning... (1985)
Ridicule (1985)
Live Chronicles (1986)
Angels of Death (1986)
Out & Intake (1987)
Early Daze (1987)
The Xenon Codex (1988)
Spirit Of The Age (1988)
Space Bandits (1990)
Acid Daze The History Of Hawkwind (1990)
Stasis - The UA Years 1971-1975 (1990)
Palace Springs (1991)
The Best Of & The Rest Of Hawkwind (1990)
BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (1991)
Anthology (1991)
Masters Of The Universe (1991)
Electric Tepee (1992)
The Friday Rock Show Sessions Live At Reading '86 (1992)
Hawklords Live (1992)
California Brainstorm (1992)
Tales From Atom Henge (1992)
Psychedelic Warlords (1992)
The Hawklords Live (1992)
Mighty Hawkwind Classics 1980-1985 (1992)
It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous (1993)
Live - St. Albans U.K. Winter Tour 1979 (1993)
Lord Of Light (1993)
The Business Trip (1994)
The Best Of Hawkwind (1994)
Silver Machine (1994)
25 Years On 1970-1973 (1994)
25 Years On 1973-1977 (1994)
Alien 4 (1995)
Undisclosed Files - Addendum (1995)
Independent Days Volume 1 & Volume 2 (1995)
Silver Machine (1995)*
Space Is Deep (1995)
Love In Space (1996)
The 1999 Party (1997)
Distant Horizons (1997)
Live & Rare: Onward Flies The Bird (1997)
Welcome To The Future (1997)
The Ambient Anarchists (1997)
Various - The Elf And The Hawk (1998)
Sonic Boom Killers - Best Of Singles As and Bs From 1970-1980 (1998)
Anthology 1967-1982 (1998)
The Master (1998)
In Your Area (1999) (US only)
Epocheclipse - 30 Year Anthology (3CD box) (1999)
Epocheclipse - The Ultimate Best Of (1CD) (1999)
Family Box Set (1999)
Hawkwind 1997 (1999)
Glastonbury 90 (1999)
Choose Your Masques: Collectors Series Volume 2 (1999)
Complete '79: Collectors Series Volume 1 (1999)
Golden Void 1969-1979 (1999)
Year 2000: Codename Hawkwind Volume One (1999)
Live - 1970-72 (1999)
The Stonehenge Collection (2000)
Spacebrock (2000)
Atomhenge '76 (2000)
Live From The Darkside (2000)
Yule Ritual (2001)
The Hawkwind Collection - The Legends Collection (2001)
Masters Of The Universe (2001)
Family Tree (2001)
Canterbury Fayre 2001 (2002)
Live 1990 (2002)
Masters Of Rock (2002)
Live In Nottingham (2002)
Cosmic Overdrive (2002)
Welcome To The Future (2003)
Oscillations (2003)
Spaced Out In London (2004)
Take Me To Your Leader (2005)
Take Me To Your Future (2006)
The Collection (2006)
Live '74 The Chicago Auditorium 21 March 1974 (2006)
Space Ritual (2CD+DVD) (2007)
Knights Of Space (2008)
Spirit Of The Age - 1976-1984 - An Anthology (2008)
The Dream Goes On - An Anthology 1985-1987 (2008)
Minneapolis, 4th October 1989> (2008)
Reading University, 19th May 1992 (2009)
Live '78 (2009)
Winter Solstice 2005 (2009)
Minneapolis 1989 (2009)
Shot Down In The Night (2009)
Blood Of The Earth (2010)
Treworgey Tree Fayre 1989 (2010)
At The BBC - 1972 (2010)
Leave No Star Unturned (2011)
Parallel Universe: A Liberty/U.A. Years Anthology 1970-1974 (2011)
Onward (2012)
5 Album Set [Boxset: Hawkwind/ISOS/DFL/HOTMG/MOTU] (2013)
Spacehawks (2013)
Space Ritual Live (2015)
At The Roundhouse (2017)
The Machine Stops (2016)
Into The Woods (2017)
The Emergency Broadcast Years: 1994-1997 (2018)
Hawkwind Light Orchestra: Carnivorous (2020)
50 Live (2020)
Somnia (2021)
Dust Of Time: 1969-2021 (2CD ed.) (2021)
Dust Of Time: 1969-2021 (6CD ed.) (2021)
Knights In Space Live (2022)
We Are Looking In On You (2022)
Dreamworkers Of Time (The BBC Recordings 1985-1995) (2022)
The Future Never Waits (2023)
Black Corridor (2023)
Days Of The Underground: The Studio & Live Recordings 1977-1979 (2023)
Stories From Time And Space (2024) Live At The Royal Albert Hall (2024)

Chaos (DVD) (1996)
Classic Rock Legends (DVD) (2001)
Out Of The Shadows (DVD) (2004)
Knights of Space (DVD) (2008)
Winter Solstice - Live At The Astoria 2005 (DVD) (2009)
USA Tour 1989-1990 (DVD) (2009)
Live 1984-1995 (DVD) (2009)
Treworgey 29th July 1989 (DVD) (2009)

*appears to be a different album than the 1994 edition...

[Note: it is possible many of the comps and live releases are not authorized releases... -ed.]

Genre: Psychedelic/Space Rock

Origin UK

Added: February 19th 2001
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.hawkwind.com
Hits: 3999
Language: english