CD REVIEW: Space Ritual Live by Hawkwind

IT’S 42 years since Hawkwind released one of the best live albums ever recorded, namely The Space Ritual Alive. Now, the band has performed the whole thing once again for a charity concert and served up the results on a new double CD.

Ofcourse bands performing past albums has becoming something of a trend in recent years as they ransack past glories for big money but Hawkwind, ever the underground musical anarchists, have done things a little differently.

For one thing, the performance was very much a one-off and it was to raise cash for good causes. And instead of just playing the original album note by note, Hawkwind have done what they always have and revisited the classic tracks. Some sound very similar to the originals, some are more experimental.

The good news is that the new Space Ritual Live album is a triumph and shows a band very much in form.

The Space Ritual is a mesmerising mix of space rock songs, sci-fi poetry and, as those who buy the special edition with DVDs will witness, an impressive stageshow. Nude dancer Stacia from the original line-up may have gone but the new version has plenty to entertain.

Proceedings kick off with the eerie Earth Calling introduction before blasting into Born To Go which is every bit as powerful as the 1973 original. The same can be said for other classic Hawkwind tracks Brainstorm and Master of the Universe which have been recorded live many times but rarely sounded as good as here.

The poetic offerings of the late Robert Calvert set the spacey theme with 1st Landing and Welcome To The Future standing out, and Michael Moorcock’s poem Sonic Attack is given a gloriously over-the-top twist courtesy of Brian Blessed.

But it is where the band has given a new spin to well-known tracks like Lord of Light, Upside Down and Time We Left that shows the Dave Brock and Co are still keen to be creative and adventurous while being fully aware of exactly what Hawkfans want.

Stand-out tracks for me are Born To Go, Orgone Accumulator and Seven By Seven but there is nothing not to like. The Space Ritual is very much alive.

There is a second CD which offers the first half of the concert and has tracks rarely recorded live. The Space Ritual CD is the principle attraction here but this other CD has many delights, in particular Steppenwolf which offers some Hammer horror touches.

Hawkwind may have had ups and downs over the years but here they have rocketed beyond the stratosphere.