Hawkwind: Space Ritual (2LP) [ATOMHENGE]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set is remastered from the original stereo master tapes and comes in a gatefold jacket. Recorded on the 1972 tour in Liverpool and London, it reached No. 9 on the UK Albums Chart.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered from the original stereo master tapes
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Most bands go on tour to promote an album. Hawkwind went on tour to stage a space opera. The Space Ritual show was a full audio-visual production built on themes from Barney Bubbles and poet Robert Calvert: starfarers in suspended animation, the music of the spheres, a light show by Liquid Len, dancers including Stacia, and a sci-fi programme handed to everyone at the door.

The set leans on Doremi Fasol Latido, with new songs "Born To Go," "Upside Down" and "Orgone Accumulator," all stitched together with electronic interludes and Calvert's recitations into one continuous performance. "Brainstorm" and "Master Of The Universe" pound away, and "Sonic Attack" is Calvert at his most theatrical, with Lemmy's bass rumbling underneath the whole voyage. Dave Brock's guitar and Nik Turner's sax and flute drive the music, and it all plays as one continuous trip from "Earth Calling" to "Welcome To The Future."

It's a cornerstone of British space rock. Fifty-odd years on, the instructions on "Sonic Attack" remain the most memorable safety briefing in rock, and considerably more entertaining than the one on any airline.

Also at Kops: more Hawkwind on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Atomhenge (cat# QATOMLP21052X), a reissue of the 1973 live album.