Space Ritual

The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London
Live album by Hawkwind
Released	11 May 1973
Recorded	December 1972
Genre	Space rock
Length	86:55
Label	United Artists – UAD60037/8
Producer	Hawkwind
Hawkwind chronology
Doremi Fasol Latido (1972) Space Ritual (1973) Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Pitchfork Media	{8.6/10} [1]
Allmusic	[2]
Head Heritage	(Positive) [3]
Piero Scaruffi	(7/10)[4]

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. 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 experience, representing themes developed by Barney Bubbles and Robert Calvert entwining the fantasy of Starfarers in suspended animation traveling through time and space with the concept of the music of the spheres.^[5] The performance featured dancers Stacia, Miss Renee, Jonathan Carney (later of the V8 Intercepters) and Tony Carrera, stage set by Bubbles,^[6] lightshow by Liquid Len and poetry recitations by Calvert. On entering the venue, audience members were given a programme^[7] (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 science fiction 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.

In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #8 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".^[8]

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Earth Calling" (Robert Calvert) – 1:44
2. "Born to Go" (Calvert, Dave Brock) – 9:56
3. "Down Through the Night" (Brock) – 6:16
4. "The Awakening" (Calvert) – 1:32

Side 2

1. "Lord of Light" (Brock) – 7:21
2. "Black Corridor" (Michael Moorcock) – 1:51
3. "Space Is Deep" (Brock) – 8:13
4. "Electronic No. 1" (Dik Mik Davies, Del Dettmar) – 2:26

Side 3

1. "Orgone Accumulator" (Calvert, Brock) – 9:59
2. "Upside Down" (Brock) – 2:43
3. "10 Seconds of Forever" (Calvert) – 2:05
4. "Brainstorm" (Turner) – 9:20

Side 4

1. "Seven By Seven" (Brock) – 6:11
2. "Sonic Attack" (Moorcock) – 2:54
3. "Time We Left This World Today" (Brock) – 5:47
4. "Master of the Universe" (Nik Turner, Brock) – 7:37
5. "Welcome to the Future" (Calvert) – 2:04

Bonus tracks on 1996 Remasters CD

1. "You Shouldn't Do That" (Turner, Brock) / "Seeing It As You Really Are" [unlisted] (Brock) – 6:58
2. "Master of the Universe" (Turner, Brock) – 7:23
3. "Born to Go" (Calvert, Brock) – 13:02

2007 Digital remaster

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.

Sleeve

The sleeve^[9] 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 electrical cable and lightning bolts, perched upon an Earth situated in a void.

Notes

• "The Awakening" is a spoken piece which had previously been printed in the Hawklog which accompanied the group's 1971 In Search of Space album.
• "Black Corridor" is a spoken piece, adapted from the Michael Moorcock book of the same name.
• "Orgone Accumulator" lyrics were inspired by Wilhelm Reich. 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
• 11 October 2010: Rock Classics, RCV016LP, UK, 2x12" vinyl 1000 copies; RCV017LP, UK, 2x12" vinyl 1000 copies

Volume 2

Space Ritual Volume 2
Live album by Hawkwind
Released	May 1985
Recorded	Brixton Sundown, 30 December 1972
Genre	Space Rock
Label	American Phonograph – APK8
Hawkwind chronology
Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin (1985) Space Ritual Volume 2 (1985) Hawkwind Anthology (1985)
Alternative cover
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.

1. "Electronic No. 1" [listed as "Space"] (Dettmar/Dik Mik) – 2:15
2. "Orgone Accumulator" (Calvert/Brock) – 8:45
3. "Upside Down" (Brock) – 2:45
4. "Sonic Attack" (Moorcock) – 2:50
5. "Time We Left This World Today" (Brock) / "Paranoia" [unlisted] (Brock) – 13:20
6. "10 Seconds of Forever" (Calvert) – 2:10
7. "Brainstorm" (Turner) – 12:00
8. "Wind of Change" [unlisted] (Brock)
   "7 By 7" (Brock) – 8:50
9. "Master of the Universe" (Turner/Brock) – 7:40
10. "Welcome to the Future" (Calvert) – 2:55

• see starfarer for full catalogue of releases, re-releases, retitles of this album.

References

External links

• Space Ritual (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
• Jon's Attic – Sounds review, 19 May 1973
• HawkFanFare – Melody Maker review, 19 May 1973
• Starfarer – NME review, 19 May 1973
• Starfarer – Mojo review, July 1999
• Starfarer – Classic Rock review, Nov 2000