No offense to Deep Purple, but they didn’t know shit about space truckin’. When it came to kicking into installer overdrive the real kings of the intergalactic freeway were Hawkwind, and they put the pedal to the metal on 1973’s The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London.
Space was the place in the early seventies; everybody–Sun Ra, David Bowie, the Jefferson Airplane, Steve Miller, Elton John even–was going Milky Way, but nobody explored its furthest reaches as relentlessly as Hawkwind.
And on Space Ritual they go way, way out, to the environs of Jam City where they lay down a bunch of relentless grooves built on the motorik drumming of Simon King and relentless bass of the late, great Lemmy Kilmister. If you’re a fan of sheer, unstinting propulsion–and who isn’t?–this Krautrock-friendly double live LP is the best thing this side of Neu!
What makes these songs so great? Well, besides the crack rhythm section you get Dave Brock, whose sonic assaults on guitar (check out the wailing “Brainstorm” for starters) skyrocket these wonderfully titled tunes (“Master of the Universe,” “Earth Calling,” “Lord of Light,” “Orgone Accumulator”) straight into the stratosphere. And you also get the manic sax blurt and freaky flute stylings of Nik Turner, to say nothing of the electronics of Dik Mik and mad synthesizer work of Del Dettmar.
This isn’t just space rock; it’s hard rock that dances. Lemmy wasn’t some goddamn space hippie, just a leather jacket wearing rock ’n’ roller whose true calling was probably as a steamroller driver. And that’s what sets Hawkwind aside from, say, early Pink Floyd; they rarely noodle, and when they do they keep it short (c.f.: “Earth Calling”). The best of these songs gallop like Venusian Stallions and never let up. Hawkwind rides ‘em hard and puts ‘em away wet.
The lads start the Wilhelm Reich-inspired “Orgone Accumulator” in fifth gear and keep it there while Brock wah-wahs all over it; “Lord of Light” is a motorik delight over which Mik and sax man Turner do their things. The hard-charging “Born to Go” goes thanks to its driving bass and lots of space wind electronics; this is the sound of Blue Öyster Cult gone Krautrock, and a very hard number indeed. And while “Down Through the Night” opens with some groovy space theatrics, it also goes supernova with an ominous guitar riff that also brings to mind classic BÖC.
On other tunes Hawkwind lets up on the gas pedal; aural tableau “Space Is Deep” is pure psychedelic bliss and prefigures the Brian Jonestown Massacre, although even it shifts into a higher gear about halfway through. And anybody who ever claimed that the flute has no place in rock may change their mind after hearing Turner trip the light fantastic on this one.
Similarly, on “Upside Down” the band sacrifices velocity in favor of cosmic crunch; it boasts one of the meatiest riffs this side of Cheech & Chong’s “Earache My Eye” and lots of far-freaking-out electronics effects to boot.
I could go on, but suffice it to say that Space Ritual tosses enough great songs at you to keep you happy through 40 acid trips. I’m no fan of science fiction and hence not much enamored by the poetry readings by band member Robert Culvert interspersed between the musical offerings throughout, but they’re a small price to pay for what is in effect a tour de force and one of the best live LPs I’ve ever run across.
Should you live to see the day when NASA-approved private space capsules become both available and affordable, you’ll want to make sure you have this double live spectacular on board to play on your gravity-free stereo system. Until that day, it’s the ideal way to explore the cosmos from the privacy of your bean bag chair.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
