Space Ritual Sundown, Vol. 2 [Deluxe Edition] [Limited]

Performer: Hawkwind
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Hawkwind: Dave Brock (vocals, guitar); Nik Turner (vocals, flute, saxophone); Lemmy (vocals, bass); Bob Calvert (vocals); Del Dettman, Dik Mik (synthesizer); Simon King (drums). Compilation producers: Dave Anderson, Dave Brock, Peter Chalcraft. Hawkwind: Bob Calvert (vocals); Dave Brock (guitar, background vocals); Nik Turner (flute, saxophone, background vocals); Del Dettmar (synthesizer); Lemmy (bass, background vocals); Simon King (drums); Dik Mik (tapes). Producer: Hawkwind. Compilation producers: Dave Brock, Dave Anderson. Recorded live at Brixton Sundown, London, England on December 30, 1972. Includes liner notes by Dave Thompson. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Hawkwind: Lemmy Kilmister (vocals, bass guitar); Robert Calvert (vocals); Dikmik (sound effects); Nik Turner (background vocals); Dave Brock, Del Dettmar, Simon King, Andy Dunkley. Personnel: Dave Brock (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar); Nik Turner (vocals, guitar, flute, saxophone, alto saxophone); Lemmy (vocals, acoustic 12-string guitar); Del Dettmar (keyboards, synthesizer); Simon King (drums); Dikmik (electronics); Andy Dunkley (turntables). Liner Note Author: Dave Thompson . Recording information: Brixton Sundown, London, England (12/30/1972). Photographer: Jorgen Angel. The original version of SPACE RITUAL is the definitive live document of U.K. space-rock heroes Hawkwind. VOL. 2 features tracks drawn from the same 1972 performances, but they're presented here in their original, unedited form. (Apparently the first volume involved a fair amount of post-production). The swirling electronics, space-cadet lyrics, and psychedelic guitars that made the band famous can be heard at their finest here. Motorhead fans, take note: this is where it all started for Lemmy, whose bass and vocals add plenty of drive to the proceedings. Hawkwind were still reeling from the shock of a monster hit single, "Silver Machine," when they set out on their late 1972 Space Ritual tour, a 26-date outing that crisscrossed Britain from early November until the end of the year. Vastly ambitious, incredibly choreographed, and brain-charringly loud, the concept had been on the band's mind for over a year already -- "we're getting a space odyssey together which will be a completely environmental situation," Dave Brock remarked in late 1971, while bandmate Nik Turner later reflected, "it was a very grandiose thing. Big stage sets, a lot of equipment, big trucks, very high overheads. But everybody was into it, so it was a very communal thing." Several shows on the tour were recorded, with highlights of two, in Liverpool and Brixton, remixed and released as Space Ritual -- in both legend and fact are the ultimate Hawkwind live albums. Four sides of vinyl documented a journey into deepest time and space, via behemoth re-creations of some of the band's greatest ever material -- definitive renderings of "Brainstorm," "Master of the Universe," "Sonic Attack," "Seven by Seven" and "Born to Go" await within and, when ads for the album called it "88 minutes of brain damage," they weren't kidding. Of course the record had its faults -- the sonic limitations of the vinyl medium excised chunks of two songs, as well as the mesmeric encore of "You Shouldn't Do That," "Seeing It as You Really Are" and "Silver Machine." Absent, too, was a sense of the sheer dynamism of the show, the band totally sublimated by the lights -- squad car strobes, blistered neon, colors the audiences had never before imagined; the slide show -- stark planets, bleak landscapes, harsh metallic objects passing through the icy void; the stage set -- enormous speakers built into cardboard tubes, brought to life by Barney Bubbles' luminous designs. But still Space Ritual was a triumph; unearthly, unequivocal, unerring, a solid roar into which the individual instruments simply blended until guitar was indistinguishable from saxophone, flute from bass, rocket roar from engine throb, through which Dikmik's pinprick whistles catapulted from the passenger hold like space dust, the blips of asteroids on the radar screen, while Del Dettmar interspersed his own generations with the fuzzy roar of Andy Dunkley's DJ-ing collection, familiar records spun backwards and off-center becoming the static-laden broadcasts from an increasingly distant Planet Earth. [Space Ritual Sundown, Vol. 2 was re-released in a deluxe edition in 2005.] ~ Dave Thompson

Inspired equally by the hippie lifestyle/marathon jamming of the '60s West Coast bands and the interstellar excursions of Pink Floyd, Hawkwind helped invent "space rock" as we know it today. Through countless albums and personnel shifts, they've continued to combine heavy rock with science fiction in a futuristic setting, inspiring a generation of bands and several international space-rock festivals.

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