Reviews (page 2 of 8)
I expected interesting background music and I got interesting background music WITH saxophone so I am pretty satisfied
Not a lot to write. I like Lemmy’s playing on this. I can see where this band had influence on others.
687/1001 2026.08.25 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Long and meh
Not for me
Hippy space rock , surprisingly good for a live album. Great to hear Lemmy on Bass
Its a long one and I have my opinion regarding live albums but its a very psychedelic and well flowing album. A nice discovery here
A big album. Not sure when i'll find time to listen to it again but got into the mood with it.
This is the type of space rock that leaves you floating, alone, in the darkness, nothing to see or comfort you, just the eternal nothingness. A heavy live show with enough fuzz, echo, and reverb to last a lifetimes. The band fuses the sounds of hard rock, psychedelia, and krautrock to create these long, repetitive, entrancing structures. The bass propulses the band forward, loud in the mix, a nonstop rhythm with melodic additions. Synths and sound effects whizz and whirr you into an unknown place. The guitar helps set the tone by either shoving fuzz and wah down your throat, or creating a slightly gentler environment between those. The drummer helps keep them together as they jam through songs - spending relatively little time in them and more in the instrumental spaces between them. Vocals tell sci-fi tales and fill in gaps with ‘poetic’ interludes. It’s all quite magical when put together.
Iets teveel live album, maar wel een bijzonder vette sound! Echt inspiratie voor Kyuss
Not a great fan
Cool concept, way too long of an album, and the vocals being drowned out makes it difficult to listen to. Wish my first experience with this band would have been something else.
Favorite Track: Born to Go
This feels generous
...
Not a fan
If this was half as long it could have gotten away with 2 stars but c'mon.
"Space Ritual" is a double live album by Hawkwind. This album is a space rock and hard rock genre. This album has a good experience for me. I love how it bizarre or weirder with space sounding details. The instrumental and vocal performance are great and interlude is also good for the continuation of the text track. I love the tracks like "Master of the Universe", "Lord of Light", "Born to Go" and "Orgone Accumulator". Talking about negative side, I don't like the tracks like "7 by 7" and "Time We Left This World Today". The interlude are just a spoken word intervals and it is too many sometimes ruin the excitement. Also the album feels long even though it is double album. And I found disc 1 far more superior than disc 2. Overall good moments listening to this album. This album feel like I'm in outer space.
Decent. I thought hawkwind were effectively the same as Motörhead because of the Lemmy connection but this was way trippier. Couldn’t tell you what my favourite track was as didn’t make it through it all, but was certainly pleasantly surprised. Would listen again.
Enjoyment: 9/10 Replayability: 9/10 Cohesion: 10/10 Flow/Pacing: 8/10 Artistic Merit: 9/10 Weighted Average: 9.05/10 Review: This album is the best musical approximation to an acid trip that I've had the pleasure to listen to. The start and end of each track are merely suggestions as the overarching melody ebbs and flows like a river through my ears. The vocals are otherworldly, echo to infinity, and yet resonate deep within me. Some of the songs do overstay their welcome, but the bass carries them through the entire time. To put it simply: I really dig this psychedelic sound. Liked Song(s): Down Through the Night, Lord of Light, Space Is Deep, Orgone Accumulator, 10 Seconds of Forever, Brainstorm, Seven by Seven, Master of the Universe, You Shouldn't Do That Disliked Song(s): (None) Recommend? Yes Heard Before? No
Wow, I didn't expect to see Hawkwind on this list. They were my special nerd pleasure in high school: I discovered them through reading Mike Moorcock, but very few people in the US knew who they were, or cared. I once tried to trade some cheap marijuana for some tape dubs of their late '70s albums. Anyway, this album is the right choice for the list: Doremi was always my favorite, but I suppose they're better represented by this sprawling live-double-album thing. Big space nonsense, unafraid of dopiness, quality stoned-stuff.
Weird that this album alternates between 2 and 9 minute songs. A little too long for me though for songs that sound so similar
The first time I wished I was born without ears occurred halfway through the second song. That feeling remained for the next TWO HOURS. Seriously, a live, two hour psychedelic space rock album. Genuine ear torture. The songs sound so disjointed and messy and the random plonking synths make me want to pull a Van Gogh. I hate this.
4.65. Sick. Trippy heavy. It’s official 4.75 and higher reserved for 5 stars
Really cool - probably too cool for me. Not the most accessible lol
Lots of echo, reverb and weird supposedly space type noises. Talking parts also get tiring. Production is terrible. Guitars just a wall of fuzzyness mostly. Listened to half of it before becoming very bored.
This is so tedious. All the random noises are irritating, but there wouldn’t be much there without them. I couldn’t suffer through nearly 2 hours of this, so it’s a 1.
Psychedelic / space rock. I like the vibe but all of the tracks turn into long jams that just meander along. The spoken word poetry doesn't help with the pace either. I'm sure it was great to be in the audience but as my first exposure to Hawkwind I was ready for it to end about 30mins before it did. Lemmy's bass playing is a highlight on just about every track though. The bluesy Orgone Accumulator was my favourite track, although Down Through the Night and Master of the Universe were quite good too. But I'm not going to put them on my playlist since they're twice as long as they need to be.
There’s something here, but this is just way too much
A mi en principio el metal no me gusta, pero este disco es un pepino. Casi que es una unica canción larga y no dejan de pasar cosas.
Lemmy is cool, outer space is cool, so this was a great time
interesting stuff id give a 3.5 if i could
In the likes of epic opera rock. Too many instrumental and long winding tracks. 2
Muddled and meandering
This one had a lot of points which have strong opinions from me, space rock, Brit rock, prog, unknown Brit band, 70s, but ultimately the fundamental coolness about getting Mike moorecock to write sick as hell lyrics for music this rad makes this a good album. A little long, but that’s prog.
Space-rock, abstract & … actually shoegaze-y? (Cool art, though.)
I get it. I couldn't finish it. I did half. I like choruses.
por esto tengo esta madre
A lot of guitar wankery with pretentious speeches between the songs...and I am only 2 songs in. I ploughed through. it was a real task and everything sounded like the rest. I guess it has some merit to be here, but not for me. 2.5 stars
I am very pleasantly surprised. I was expecting some blues style psychedelia jamming and instead got glam proto-punk jamming. I liked it much more than I was expecting. Still too many live albums on this list. Still way too long.
Its a long album, but damn! I really enjoyed it. Sort of reminded me of Shine on you crazy diamond or echoes type Pink Floyd, mixed with Sabbath. It was weird, but I really liked it. Long, but worth the listen. Solid 4.5.
Pretty far out man, but some good jams
It sounds interesting but I really wish there was their best album in this list instead of a stupid live album. Tired of live albums in this list!!!!!! *yells at clouds*
This album is not available in my country so I can’t rate it. I Will look for other audio platforms.
incredible album cover and about what I expected from a live album from 1973 by a band with this name. never heard of it and enjoyed it! feel like I'm maybe giving a point for the orgone reference alone... a bit cheesy in a way that I appreciated
Enjoyed this. Trippy and some cool spaced out jams. A bit too much at points but I do like this style of live gig.
This was actually pretty great half-listening background stuff and then every time it broke into Talking Over Music it ruined it.
Hell yeah. I've listened to this before and I know I like it. But I haven't revisited for a long time. I didn't actually realise this was a live album. Maybe live albums can be good? ------- Space ritual is a fantastic experience. Driving bass lines that absolutely thump backed up by absolutely pounding hypnotic drumming. All the best 70s space sound effects. Periods of calm and contemplation followed by waves of crushing fuzziness. It's prog, drone, sludge, metal, rock, blues dragged through a wormhole together and forming a nebula of sound on the other side. ------------ "Floating in a sack of fluid dark A clear century of space away from Earth While one man stirs from the trauma of his birth Attending to the hypno-tapes assuring him That this is reality, however grim"
i think a cut of this album focusing on the instrumentals and without the singing and only some of the spoken word parts would have been a 4 for me, alas. though i will nominate the werner-herzog-ass monologue about space as a replacement for the "love is patient love is kind" reading at a wedding. 3.5
I guess at least this 70s prog rock slog was kind of weird
This album/band grew on me. Wasn’t sure about the genre at first but ended up enjoying it. Reminds me a lot of King Gizzard.
4/10 - The sound like as cool, but 2+ hours of a live album is too much. Probably would have been cool to be there but it’s too much.
Far too long and not interesting enough to justify a 2 hr runtime. 4/10
Hawkwind is, of course, the only band featuring legendary bassist Lemmy Kilmister, better known for his time as a Roadie for Jimi Hendrix. Since we, unfortunately, have no other bands to remember Lemmy by, it's exciting that Space Ritual kind of rules. This *is* a live album, but it is very much presented as a studio album, it's just a very singular artistic vision. In fact, upon looking into it, it seems like this show was like an immersive, multi-sensory psychedelic sci-fi performance art thing, in addition to being just a sick early metal concert. And I am going to come down and say this *is* metal, it is *extremely* hard edged, and captures a flavor of psychedelia that more conventional psychedelic rock bands can't really do. Like it's almost punk in it's rawness, but there is such an epic, precise, heavy execution that it really feels like metal during a lot of songs. It does end up feeling *really* psychedelic too, which is always a plus. The spoken word interludes are also cool, but it's sort of "your mileage may vary", and a couple of them get a little cheesy, but ultimately the effect of this being one uninterrupted piece *is* really cool. I'm really glad the list made me listen to this. It's just extremely cool psych metal with a really consistent theme and aesthetic, and an incredibly strong execution. Not a five at the moment, but *very* strong.
I've really grown to hate this album. 2 long, exhausting hours of everyone just banging on their instruments in a drab, mindless "jam". And of course it's a live album too, so the mix is completely fucked. Add in some uninspired spoken word passages, and two hours later I was left with a headache and a sour mood. Albums like this really make this list a slog to get through sometimes Fav Track: 9 - Orgone Accumulator
The rock numbers here are Stooges knock-offs with electronic noodling on top and the non-rock numbers are basically electronic noodling. Lemmy here is the only one with any groove but he's basically stuck playing two or three variations on the same bassline.
Live albums are always a hard one. There are some that are truly masterpieces, and others that are abysmal. This album isn't good. It doesn't seem to have any direction.
Do I like the atmosphere? Yes, it sounds pretty cool. Will I ever give 2 hours of my life to this album ever again? No, probably not. It’s really just too long for a genre without too much room for changes. Every song sounds like space and is about spiritual awakenings in different forms.
It was a jam band live album, so right there it had two strikes. I managed to listen for a whole hour before I realized I wasn’t even halfway finished.
заебок, вайбово.
too long
Yea i kind of liked this for working. A bit long. Will check out other offerings
This is not good. I’d go so far as to say it’s completely tedious. The mix alone, or maybe it’s just how they sound, but it’s so bad. Murky, bleary, indistinct… the songs all kind of segue into each other in a really meandering way. There’s plenty of jamming (way too much jamming) but it all feels kind of generic with no real oomph. I do like the idea of psychedelic space rock, but it’s not delivering on that title for me. Maybe I need to be high? I’m afraid I didn’t listen to the second half. I got the idea.
Far out man
Enjoying this live record a lot more than their Studio stuff
For someone who only knew Hawkwind as the band Lemmy was in before Motörhead, this was not the easiest introduction. Still, I found myself slowly getting caught up in the sheer spectacle of this album, and really enjoyed the grooves once they got going. The sci-fi spoken word shit is awful, but I honestly thought that most of the 10+ minute jam sessions earned their length by riffing pretty amazingly. I obviously wish it was shorter, and I'd be lying if I said that having to sit through a 90-minute runtime didn't sour my experience. It's difficult, though, since the performance is so seamless and interconnected—I can't really imagine myself wanting to go back to individual tracks on their own either. Overall, I'm glad I heard this, but it didn't leave enough of an impact for me to need to hear it again anytime soon. Fav Tracks: Born to Go, Down Through the Night, Lord of Light, Orgone Accumulator, 7 by 7 Least Fav: (Insert any of the interludes) Score: 5.5
Holy crap I loved this. Hawkwind are a band that I’ve meant to check out before but never have until today. I’ve downloaded a load of their albums to get stuck into tonight. Top Track - Born To Go
That was a trip . . . I think you need to be in another dimension to get through this intact Kids - this is why we say no to drugs I sort of enjoyed Master of the Universe, or maybe that was just the song they f*cked up the least Anyway, this is a Once In A Lifetime, never to be repeated experience Keep out of reach of the children
Eh it's fine.
The quality of this recording leaves something to be desired
Very mid, can't believe Lemmy was their roadie
I guess you had to be there...
I think there is an inherent problem with a lot of live albums in that they dont fully express what I want with the performances. This is one of the better ones, i think their style must just work better like this. Would listen to again only with a selection drugs and not all hour and a half. We can cut out the weird alien skits and play me orgone accumulator
2 hours?!! I can only assume the physical album came with a tab of LSD to make that time go faster. Another disadvantage of digital media
2/5 mindless boring
Another best of live album that shouldn't be on this generator. Also all of these songs would be so much better if they were 75% shorter. Seriously ive been listening all morning and I'm only on the 3rd song. I'm amending my statement. All of these songs would be so much better if they were 85-95% shorter. I added another star because there IS some good interesting stuff here. Just not enough
Nearly lost me at a couple of points, but wow, what an amazing album. Lots of psych stuff loses me because it's too light, but this sounds like an incredibly competent metal band exploring the outer regions. Never heard them before, but loved it
Again, I appreciate what these bands are doing. Pushing the envelope, responding to their own creativity. It’s just not good to listen to dude. This is memorable and deserves a 2 instead of. 1 just because it’s called space rock and I got 1-2 chuckles out of the songs.
Starts off good, but eventually starts sounding repetitive and droning. Poetry sections got old quickly.
3 stars
Lol this is self-indulgent hippie nonsense.
Really cool. I loved how weird and psych it got, but also the progressive and experimental elements. Weird vocal tracks and really epic and progressive jams. I had a blast with this. Cool to hear Lemmy pre-Motorhead. And then mostly, this is really tight for a live album. Would have been a hell of a show to be at. There is so much energy behind each song.
No sé qué es la falopeada que acabo de escuchar, se sintió raro pero bien.
Listens: 1.5 Standout Tracks: Lord of Light, Orgone Accumulator Much jammy, such spacey. Wow. In what world is over two hours of music a "double album". Live album? Sure. I generally prefer studio albums, but there have been some good Live albums on the List before. Psychedelic rock? Thumbs up. Love the Dead, Big Brother and The Holding Company, etc.. But two hours and 13 minutes psychedelic guitar and space and drums? Woof. You might be able to casually listen to this album if you've got a demanding, focused task in front of you, but there's not enough variety here to really keep things lively. It would have been great to just straight up drop the alternate versions of songs too, to trim down the length. This had potential.
Honestly I think this album would have best been experienced under the influence of some drug while I stared at a screen projecting psychedelic images for its over 2 hour run time and not say listening to it during breakfast with my son before I take him to daycare. That being said, there is some cool stuff here. Very groovy and hard hitting riffs that sound like if Deep Purple was a little more psychedelic. However, the long run time coupled with excessive soloing and having one track seem to bleed into another prevents me from giving it a higher score. Again if I was under the influence of something I can see this being a 5/5. As it stands its a... 3.5 rounded down to a 3/5 Side note: 3rd double album in a row! What a streak!
Interesting mix of electronic and prog. I would have liked it a little better if it was all just instrumental I think, but It was a nice listen overall.
4 - did an hour, 2 is too many. Ok but kinda crappy psychedelic music. Bad voice.
This is a trip. I may have pooh-poohed Hawkwind for being hippies. I was missing the point. Long, psychedelic passages with wah-wah guitars while everything chugs along is a great recipe. Oh, and saxophones! And Orgone Accumulators!
Such a snooze fest. There wasn’t anything instrumentally that I thought was slightly impressive. So boring. Drags on to the point of being unbearable at times. And WAY too fucking long.
My overriding feeling with this was "my god this is so long". There were cool bits but simply cannot hack 90 minutes of it.
Fucking christ 1001albumsgenerator you need a length limit for these albums I'd just made it out of the Ella Fitzgerald box set. So basically this sucked and it didn't stop sucking for 2 hours. The lead instrument was the guy who made the woosh sound effect. I was begging for any lyrics and then they would sing and it was like 1 sentence repeated by a guy who can't carry a tune. 2 stars because Lemmy is pretty good at bass and I love the spoken word poet guy.
Psychedelic rock hasn’t always been my thing. This, however, is pretty good. Hawkwind are fronted by Robert Calvert, whose poetic interludes throughout definitely ground this album in the 70s. Overall, a fine album, but not a desert island disc.
Props for being different but definitely not my (space) jam. Psychedelic Brit rock album that sent on way too long. DNF (2)
Truly the worst experience of this project so far. I hate live albums anyway, but the sound on this is just awful. It sounds like you're standing at the very back of a real shitty outdoor venue. The vocalist is terrible. The lyrics are nonsense. And the music is a repetitive wall-of-sound with some songs going on for 13 minutes. I forced myself through the entire album and had to talk myself out of not quitting several times during it's 2 1/2 hour runtime. I got to hand it to the drummer though. He's cookin' on his kit!
An absolute shift to listen to this. Wasn't as bad as I had feared but I have little room for 12 minutes songs. Won't get another listen.
"Silver Machine" not on this one sadly. Boobs though.
Two albums in a row with boobs on the cover that suck, coincidence?
Best live space rock double album? I don't know how many others fit into this category, but I suppose this is the best example I've heard.
Space Ritual by Hawkwind is certainly an experience, although I'm not entirely convinced it's one I want to repeat. One thing I discovered before listening was that a young Lemmy plays on this album, which was news to me and definitely raised my expectations. I went in hoping for some great bass lines and classic Lemmy moments. Unfortunately, the album itself confirmed something I've learned repeatedly during this challenge: space rock and progressive rock just aren't genres that really work for me. Space Ritual is long, sprawling and never really grabbed my attention. More than anything, it feels less like a collection of songs and more like one long piece of theatre or storytelling, with tracks blending into one another as part of a much bigger concept. I suspect this album was designed to be experienced live, with the visuals and stage show being just as important as the music itself. Perhaps something is lost listening to it purely as an audio experience in 2026. Or perhaps I'm being generous and this simply isn't for me. Either way, I still don't get prog rock, and I can't see myself returning to this album in the future. Favourite tracks: “Time We Left This World Today” was okay and probably the closest thing to a standout for me Least favourite tracks: “The Black Corridor” was particularly hard work, along with several other sections of the album Album artwork: There is a lot going on in the cover art — I have absolutely no idea what any of it means, but it certainly fits the music!
This is one of the greatest live albums I've ever listened to. The songs are great and masterfully played. From the short songs to the extended jams, everything is perfect (Orgone Accumulator kicks ass!!!). 5/5
There is some okay music here, but 2+ hrs of anything is just entirely too much. 2/5
This is the kind of album you hear playing in the background of a record store that wants to keep up its hipster street cred. The longer it went on, the more “Spinal Tap” I heard. Not bad, but not something I would come back to.
The music, thick jam, is solid, but the vocals and lyrics are arthouse absurd. Thankfully the album is light on the singing/talking. Easier to go with Iron Butterfly or Deep Purple unless one is looking for a laugh.
Couldn't finish it
This is an incredibly cool album. It's got a fun sci-fi premise, plenty of prog rock jams, and wild narration. I appreciate that the album doesn't take itself too seriously, but still manages to play its concept straight. It's a great experience. I wonder if this album would be a little better if it were recorded in a more controlled environment, but I don't think that "Space Ritual" being a live album takes too much away from it. You probably wouldn't get the same noodling from a studio album, so I could probably go either way on this. All that being said, it's not hurting the score. Favorite track: Hard choice, but probably "Master of the Universe"
No manen con el space rock. Como aguantaban eso en ese entonces?
2.5
I liked this a lot more than I expected. It honestly feel a bit proto sluge metal to me. A kind of 1968 Pink Floyd meets 1970 Black Sabbath. Which is right up my alley. Staring thus off with a light 4½★, bit I could see it rising higher. (9.2) ★★★★½
Sole cool parts, early Floydesque, but don't like the spoken word and through drawn out. 3 stars
Somewhere, there's a cool album in here. At it's best, it kind of sounds like early Pink Floyd mixed with the hard edged British rock of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. However, every song overstays it's welcome by a good five minutes. Unless it's one of the spoken word interludes with random noises, which overstays it's welcome by however long it is. I guess you had to be there on a crazy amount of LSD to fully appreciate it. 2.5 stars.
One of the best live albums ever. One of the best album covers ever. Lemmy is great in this but so is the angry spacey Werner Herzog-sounding guy doing the spoken word segments and MVP Stacia’s interpretative dancing really comes through on this recording too. An all round amazing package.
Perfect!
Despite the spoken word interludes sounding like Spinal Tap outtakes and subpar vocals, the music on this is great.
Mira que me gusta el rock progresivo, psicodélico y sinfónico, pero se me ha hecho eterno. No suena mal, pero un directo y así de largo me supera.
Good ol space rock. Fascinating every time.
God this is terrible. Too long and just a barrage of noise.
The best thing I can say about this album is, for one brief moment, side 2 was better than side one. Otherwise, I felt on the verge of a panic attack throughout, particularly during “Sonic Attack”. That was… something.
Live double album of 70's psychedelic rock? For fucks sake! 1/5
It’s been ages since I last listened to Hawkwind, probably not since the 1970s. I’d forgotten just how brilliant they are.
2 fucking hours!?!?
This album was good, but it is a marathon. Plan on having a long time to listen to it.
Yeah. Someone took a bunch of drugs and thought they had a great idea. Would this be better without the random sound effects? Would it still be below average? Should this be on the list at all? No, Yes, and No.
Ugh.
All I knew about Hawkwind is that Sir Lemmy was in the band at one point. It would be hard rocking, for sure, and... it is! Drums are insane on this album. The cheesy lyrics are here, and I embrace them. Were they an inspiration for Spinal Tap? I hope so! Album cover apt for 70's van art and tattoos. Definite plus. Solid 4/5
Repetitive, indistinguishable, pretentious hippie crap. Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to Lemmy.
66
For some reason did not expect to find Hawkwind on this list but I'm glad they're here and it makes sense for this hybrid live album to represent them. Really interesting and cool space band. I love the guy twisting the knobs on primitive oscillator box. Definitely strong 4 stars
not for me
Good lord was that unnecessarily long. Would have much preferred that as a tight 40 minute album.
So this was just spacey weird. I took away a star for all the inane narratives. Maybe if I was on drugs I would get it but then again.
3/4
Holy shit, what an adventure this album is. If this is what drugs in the 70's felt like, I really was born in the wrong generation much as I hate that saying. Naturally had expectations going into Space Ritual, such as: - "Oh it's a English prog album from the 70's that claims to actually be trippy and psychedelic, can't wait to see that proven wrong" - "Oh it's a live album double LP, can't wait to see it fumble the intrinsic atmosphere that sets" - "Oh there isn't any actual song that's below 5 minutes in length at the bare minimum" Then you start it off, and your inner thoughts turn into something like: - "Wait, this actually goes kind of hard?" - "The lyrics and speeches in between are actually very retro sci-fi on LSD coded?" - "How did they manage such an immersive mix from a live album, and how is the audience noise so perfectly timed?" - "What is this bassist snorting, he's actually insan- WAIT LEMMY IS THEIR BASSIST?!" I don't imagine this would be a popular album to put on for your friends, but if you're into genuinely trippy sci-fi space rock, this will send you hurtling through hyperspace aboard a burning cosmic vessel with a crew of hard-rocking virtuosos. If you just close your eyes and imagine that, it'll teeter you between panic and adrenaline in a way that only this kind of music is able to.
Whelp apparently for most of my life I've been ripping of Hawkwind riffs via ripping off Spacemen 3 riffs. Who knew? (certainly not I) The guitar work fucking rips. Right up my alley. Tho the vocals/lyrics, which is common for psychrock, are absolutely ridiculous. To counter that, boobies on the cover is always a bonus. Now I just need to find a psychedelic substance that lasts 2h 13min.
No, this isn’t what I have in my record collection. One star...
Guessing this album was a trailblazer for the form or something, I’m just not on enough drugs to appreciate it
This felt too long and while it had creativity it just dragged on to long.
Phew, I made it through. This is actually really good but waaaaayyy too long
Long, everything’s blurred together, but I really liked the heavy jams and the whacked out monologues. Wish I remembered it better though. By the end of the album your brain is just fried.
I like goofy stuff, but even I have my limits! I think I would have liked it more if it wasn't live or wasn't quite so long.
A bit out there and it's a decent live album. Piece of advice...depending on which version you listen to, the run time can push 2 and a half hours. I highly recommend you time your medications accordingly when listening to it.
Jam bands cap at 2 stars
long af
This is my kind of live album. A band lost in the moment playing elongated space rock. Can see where Kyuss and Monster Magnet got their best ideas from.
𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 is certainly one of the more unusual albums in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Hawkwind fully commit to their space-rock vision, filling the album with repetitive grooves, extended jams, and an almost constant sense of cosmic drift. There’s no mistaking it for anything else. The problem is that the same qualities that make the album distinctive also make it difficult for me to fully enjoy. The hypnotic approach works in places, but just as often it feels like the band is circling the same ideas for too long. I can appreciate the atmosphere, yet my attention starts to wander more than I’d like. What keeps me from rating it lower is that there’s something undeniably fascinating about it. Even when I’m not completely engaged, I can hear why 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 became such a cult favourite. In the end, I admire it more than I actually enjoy listening to it.
Is this a 1 or a 2? On the plus side: much of this music is decent. These are not bad instrumentalists, and there's some good composition in there; at times this really rocked. On the negative side: it's way too fucking long. I get that they're going for a jam band sound here, but some of this stuff just draaaaaaaaags forever. What would be fine as a 20 second bridge or guitar solo is grating after 100 seconds on repeat. Also, this is a live album?? It doesn't sound like a live album beyond the audio quality being a bit shitty. They're just using "live album" as an excuse to play long versions of previously written songs. My general rule of thumb on here is to give a 1 to any album that I can't force myself to finish. However, I did legitimately enjoy bits of this album. I can imagine a version where the runtime of every song is cut in half and I give this a 4. I think there's enough good to push this to a 2, but I did not care for your bloated chicanery here, gentlemen, and you can't make me listen to all of it. Harrumph. 1.8
I typically rate live albums quite low, but this was super interesting. The guitars were quite heavy, and even occasionally reminded me of modern doom metal, like a bit of Domesmoker, Sleep or Boris. With that in mind I felt the instrumentals were quite impressive. The singing was ok, and the spoken word (while cheesy) did make me think about the infinite universe. Pretty cool album. 4/5
Probably could have gotten higher if it wasn't a two hour long live album, ngl
I listened to this album over what felt like the course of my entire eight-hour shift, feeling generally exhausted in both emotionally and spiritually. I was not emotionally ready for another live album, especially not a two-hour one. But even once I built up the energy to tackle it, I immediately ran into the frustrating hurdle of trying to piece together the right tracklist. Suffice to say, Hawkwind and I did not start off on good terms, and I don't know that our relationship ever really recovered. I learned that this is apparently Lemmy's band before Motörhead, and it does not remotely sound like it; none of that energy and urgency is here in this earlier band of his. Space Ritual contains many of the things I find tedious about other psychedelic space rock bands without any of the innovative songwriting I find compelling. It's certainly well-played, and it very well might do more for me if I was actually in the building or had any familiarity with the studio recordings prior to hearing the live versions, but as it stands, this felt like a lot of droning noise which flowed in one ear and out the other. There were eventually a handful of interesting spoken word bits, all of which teased a significantly more interesting soundscape than what the album actually delivers. These interludes are my favorite part, reminding me in the best way of Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. However, these moments just remind me how much I want an actual grand space rock opera, where the music here just sounds like more conventional rock. There's nothing wrong with the album, but I wish its execution matched its ambition. Highlights: The Awakening, The Black Corridor, Electronic No 1, 10 Seconds of Forever, Brainstorm, Sonic Attack, Time We Left This World Today, Master of the Universe, Welcome to the Future
Man, this was a trip far into outer space. I guess I am more comfortable with staying on earth. This is just too trippy for me. Musically it is really very interesting, but just not very appealing. Excellent musicians, horrible songwriters. 3/5
Fucking way too long and way too weird.
Hawkwind always makes me think of Derek Smalls. This album has not changed that view. Some enjoyable long jams with groovy bass and honking sax. They certainly got value from their space effects box. Not the greatest sound mixing with the vocals often a bit lost and muffled - although what lyrics I did catch were ridiculous with portentous guff of the spoken intros. A low 3.
Not a big fan of live albums; most '70s prog rock takes itself way too seriously and is a bit meh; Hawkwind are basically who Spinal Tap parody; but... something about this album set off the dad rock in me. Reckon this would have been a good gig to go to. Though it does seem to go on for forever. And respect to a band where Lemmy got his mojo.
This album is just not good. The vocals and sounds are poor. Also it is way too long of an album.
It is weird and way too long. Whatever the meaning of this album is got lost really early on me
This sucked butt. They just ramble on and on and on and on for entirely too long. The lyrics are boring, nonsensical, bs that makes zero sense and just gets on your nerves. Waaaaaaaaaay too long for so little happening too.
It looses a star just for being a double album. Long, rambling psych rock tracks…..and the ones with only spoken word-nope, nope
Super
No, no no from me. The album is crazy long and the songs are as well. The past 20 or so albums I've gotten a fair amount 60min+ albums that it's kind of drained me a lot, so this review might be a bit harsh. But to the actual music, to describe the music it would be, quasi-cinematic space rock adventures on a high dose of LSD or magic mushrooms. Some songs are quite thriller and action-packed. This stuff is psychedelic as all hell, and some of those psychedelic-taking hippies made a lot of their music around jamming and stretching songs out to the point they become paper thin. I find those sort of songs hard to get into. If I could become entranced by this it would be a very good album, but all I see it as is repetitive. I can't get with jam band music at the moment. I do like repetitive in other cases, like the album Metal Box by Public Image Ltd. that is literally Repetitive: The Album and I can easily become entranced by it, so I'm not completely intolerant of repetitiveness. I guess I haven't 'got it' yet with this daily album. Maybe an album later down the track will change my mind. I've listened to Grateful Dead's first live album and Allman Brothers' "At Filmore East" but it's with the latter that I've probably gotten the most into jam music (and that was near the start of my listening; #34 for "At Filmore East"; #198 for "Live/Dead"; #408 for this album) Because It's a double album I have to say my favourite side, this case it would be the A-side as that's when I was the most into it. This is one of the rare cases where I don't think any songs were highlight worthy. Won't be returning, unless I get into jam music.
It's with a heavy heart that I say this is total bilge. And the main reason is that they seem to have accidentally left endless loads of nothing on the record, in between which a very occasional song breaks out. And this - let's not forget - goes on for well over two hours. The songs that do exist in here are sort of vaguely OK, and if the whole thing lasted 25 minutes or so, it'd probably be acceptable fare. But it doesn't and it isn't. No thanks!
This…was not for me. Did not make me a believer in space rock, had to admit defeat after like 5 songs (normally I always finish the album).
Weird, trippy, esoteric - readings over seagull sounds and electronic sounds - did not enjoy. It's also SO LONG for being so annoying.
My second great discovery on 1001 list. Psychedelic Stoner Rock. A mixture of Jesus and the Mary Chain, Stooges and early Pink Floyd. The album has the energy of the Who “Live in Leeds”
Motörhead
Hårdrock, spacerock, psykadelisk ... Men också protometal i hur trummorna och basen driver på. Fläckvis fantastiskt! Men dubbel-live håller de inte för. Fast vem gör det? En fyra iaf
I didn't vibe with this album at all. I know its a live album but the sound quality is bad. The synth sounds don't fit and the singing and instruments aren't catchy. Total miss for me unfortunately.
The Good: We get to attend a ritual! The Bad: We don’t get to see it… and it turns out there was nakedness involved… The Ugly: Realizing that the nakedness is old… Why are there live albums on this list? Especially double live albums? More especially, of bands most of us have never heard of before? Not that this is bad… it’s just not something which I am ready for… maybe, just maybe, the way that we are getting these albums presented to us—randomly that is—is not the right way. Maybe, for sanity’s sake, we should have received this album at the start of a journey, not when we are 700 albums in and really not looking forward to a 80+ minute live version of music that is in desperate need for us to have ingested some kind of mind altering substance… It’s fucking Monday morning… and I have reports to attend to. 4* because I know that I will want to to listen to this album again… and I will forget about it if I don’t give it 4*… isn’t that sad?… Okay, so I listened to this album all the way through, and have come to the conclusion that I will have to downgrade this to 3*… sorry Hawkwind… it could have been so nice.
🎧Sprawling and overstuffed. 3 exploding cosmic stars of infinitely glowing light.
I could get into some of this, but the recording is really not good. Makes it tough to listen to. Also, this is way too long. By like an hour and a half. Again, I kinda like the music. I just don’t like this recording. LSD seems mandatory for this epic. Tedious otherwise.
Muy lsrgo
323/1001 Hawkwind - Space Ritual Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ Overall, I did enjoy the sprawling, scuzzy prog sound on this, however as an introduction to the band, it's a bit much at over 2 hours. I just can't think of a time I would genuinely reach for this again...
You know, I didn't go into this expecting to give it 5 stars but here we are. The only thing I really knew about Hawkwind is the song Silver Machine and that Lemmy used to be in them. That's it. This however was fantastic. I loved so many of the tracks here - there's something about that space rock sound that really resonates and you can feel how well it comes across in a live setting. Some brilliant musicianship and energy, loved Master of the Universe, Seven by Seven, Space is Deep, Orgone Accumulator. One of the extra features that might have pushed this to a 5 is the spoken word sections. They're so...weird and dramatic I love it. They sit really well as a segue into the next song and I found it really gripping and engaging. This pleasantly surprised me and has piqued my interest into more Hawkwind!
I did not expect to encounter Hawkwind on this list, although given the general quality, I probably should have. If you liked the songs in Spinal Tap, this could be for you.
Hippie, orgiastic music. Think psychodelia
A live album. Never heard of this artist either. At first, they gave me a little King Gizzard vibes. Talk about psychedelic rock.
pretty nice
Крута аерооооок , долго но драйвово
Naw
Only heard Silver Machine by these guys and really only knew them as the band Lemmy played in before Motorhead. Enjoyed this! (3.5)
Decent! I knew fuck all about them. A bit samey for 2 hours but there's some standout bits.
Didn't mind some of the jammy bits, rest wasn't for me
Rock from another dimension. So spacey. It pretty much takes you on a 90 minute long adventure with constantly progressing songs, massive riffs and just pure psychedelia. I don't know when I'll listen again but this album impressed me.
2,5
szczoch imo
some songs are way too long
Album 209. Space Ritual (https://open.spotify.com/album/7wH3vXQZgy9a6PUvMXLayk?si=P6kY1detTn-01ajpi0NLLA) — Hawkwind (1973) I was extremely biased initially to the album: low ratings, 2 hr 12 min length, live recording! "Is it another mediocre hard-metal-shitrock?" Yes, it is a little, but I was so surprised. It's an alien rock. Space rock. Mixed with a lot of psychedelic rock. You don't even need drugs to get trippy — it's enough just to play this music. I get why the rating of this album is so low. Humans don't like alien music. But I am, as half-human, half-alien, with double citizenship: Humans and Nibirians — I like this album so much. Maybe humans should give it a more unbiased chance and maybe they will like it as much as aliens like it. Anyway occasionally we have to listen to something during space travels. And I'm on a space journey already, going to Alpha Centauri. The sci-fi album feels infinite, endless monotony and strange like space itself. 4/5 Liked: — Earth Calling — Born to Go — Down Through the Night — Lord of Light — Electronic No 1 — Orgone Accumulator — Brainstorm — Seven by Seven
I think I probably like this more than most people. That being said I get the main criticism. It really is way too long. Cool to see/hear some of Lemmy’s origin though. 3/5
Liked some parts a lot but the outer space thing got old
Thought I'd hate it, but it felt like finally solving an impossible rotational motion problem first try.
Hawkwind always makes me think of Derek Smalls. This album has not changed that view. Some enjoyable long jams with groovy bass and honking sax. They certainly got value from their space effects box. Not the greatest sound mixing with the vocals often a bit lost and muffled - although what lyrics I did catch were ridiculous with portentous guff of the spoken intros. A low 3.
Space Ritual _Our drummer wants to know if there’s any Liverpool supporters_ I don’t mind Hawkwind at all, but they’re a band I would rarely think to listen to, and I definitely wouldn’t think to listen to a double live album. It’s pretty much as you would expect; long space rock jams, some excellent bass playing, saxophones wailing away, and plenty of portentous nonsense in the introductions and in the lyrics. But it’s not unenjoyable for those same reasons - there is a notable Krautrock/Motorik element to the drumming as well as some of the guitar playing having the same spacey atmosphere as Neu and the general feeling of over the top silliness is fun. But it does get hard to differentiate anything after about half an hour, it essentially being 85 minutes of the above invarious unvarying configurations, but a couple of songs I liked - Lord of the Light, The Black Corridor, Orgone Accumulator, Brainstorm, Time We Left This World Today There’s not much else to say, if you love Hawkwind I imagine it's excellent, if you don’t mind them its fun but long. Think it just scrapes 3. 🦅🌬️🌬️ Playlist submission:Lord of the Light
Two hours of grown men acting like the clangers. Some of the dialogue is comical, I'm not sure whether intentional or not, but I found much of it genuinely hilarious - like a Reeves and Mortimer or Monty Python skit. '10 Seconds of Forever' may well be the inspiration for The Day Today's "no-one died". And 'Sonic Attack' an antecedent to 'Warming Up the Brain Farm'. Very probably. But dropped in amongst all the intergalactic pretence are some very tasty rock grooves, and that forms a solid spine to the whole affair. 'Down Through the Night' initially seems more Can-like than prog rock, and develops into a tasty bass-driven hook. A few of these are Stooges-like repeating rockers, and there's a fair nod to the Stooges throughout. Banging basslines are a recurring feature ('Lord of Light', 'Orgone Accumulator' and 'Master of the Universe' other great examples), and I was only reminded after listening that it is of course Lemmy. There's also psychedelia, space-sax, quick hooks, extended jams - somehow it all coalesces into a whole. I hate giving these sorts of albums a three because it suggests an 'average' that it doesn't deserve. I love it as a curio and as an intriguing blot on the rock landscape. It deserves some sort of proportional response, either admiration or opprobrium. I hold both in equal measure for this album - so a fence-sitting three it is!
"You Shouldn't Do That" is exactly how I feel about making albums this long.
OK so this genre is apparently “space rock”. I kinda liked it at first but wow this album is long. Which I guess makes sense because it’s a live concert album, but the music is all very similar. I think if I was in an altered mental state I might tolerate it much better. Not a big fan of the spoken word tracks. The drumming is great at times. Can’t really fault the musicianship. Had never heard of this band at all so kind of glad to know about them even if it’s outside what I choose to listen to usually. It’s not hard to believe there are people who really love this album. I think it reaches its goal of feeling spacey. Tl:dr Don’t love it, but respect it.
What an absolute banger of an album. This is exactly what I like. It is psychedelic but way harder than the 60s. Perfect for late night flys through space.
491/1089 - This album could've been half the length. The songs are so jammy and vamp-y which is complete bullshit to listen to. Where is the variation? Where is anything of interest? It sounds like bad EDM before EDM even existed!
I enjoyed it despite the length, although it did become repetitive, and felt like cult music at times
Out of this world
Kind of a crazy live album, very jam heavy but in a good way! Was decent enough but got kind of bored with it after a while lol
So very wanky. Yet again, I am not down with prog or prog adjacent rock. I will be forever grateful that Lemmy got canned from this band. Motorhead FTW!
Into it
J'hésitais entre 3 & 4 mais c'est vraiment bon. J'ai adoré l'ambiance cohérente. Juste un peu trop long et peu de moment qui me font vibrer
DNF - really not for me and way too long thus creating for a grueling experience that i don't ever want to repeat. First 30 seconds of a song would be great and then it would just keep going? Like just don't do that? Please?
Made by people on drugs for people on drugs. Unfortunately I wasn't on drugs but by the end of it definitely needed a load of drugs. Man.
I started my morning with bowl of Greek yogurt sprinkled with slivered almonds and laced with a healthy dose of acid as this album took me from my body and on a trip to outer space! Wow! I was not expecting that! I actually really enjoyed this album despite having no idea what was going on. Earth Calling was an album favorite (along with Orgone Accumulator; though shout out to Brainstorm for its very pre-metal sound, which may have inspired Iron Maiden). It was intriguing knowing that timeline-wise, Ziggy was roaming the earth; Pink Floyd was heading to the Dark Side of the Moon; Billy Preston was in his own Space Race; and Hawkwind created this opus. Apparently, the moon landing in ‘69 had its influence. Honestly, you can hear the influence in other modern Space Rock bands today, like No Signal, Wooden Shjips, and All Them Witches. The hardest part about this album was I was ready to move on after disc 1, and there still a second disc to go. It was like the acid trip that just wouldn’t end. I will check this out again in smaller doses. In the meantime, I have to stop taking almonds. The brown almonds are that were circulating around me were not specifically good…
Random thoughts: * WTF is this?!? * I’ve never heard of Hawkwind before this but the music I’ve listened to my whole life was definitely influenced directly or indirectly by Hawkwind. * I listened to all of this but to be honest I kind of zoned out several times as this music was pretty meditative and repetitive. * Clearly they had the space/psychedelic thing down. * Lemmy from Motohead was in Hawkwind. * Apparently, they are also one of Englands best selling bands. * I’d definitely listen again in the right “state”.
Gave me the skeeves tbh
Not my thing but to be fair I didn’t drop acid before listening.
Gosh this was hardwork, felt endless. Not for me.
This was a great album to have playing in the background - very out there sounds. Not quite as much energy as I would have preferred. The runtime was a little too long for my liking too.
Early hard (metal) rock. I wanted to like it, but it was just too long and tiresome, with relentless guitar riffs.
Just an all around boring album that doesn't feel particularly ambitious or interesting.
another one i was excited about. great spacy, trippy grooves -- but overall didn't dig the spoken word intermissions and it ultimately just went on way too long.
Fine to middling and fucking weird.
I can see why this was popular when it came out. Pink Floyd did space rock way better though
5 out of 5. I'll take this over most love albums any day. I knew Hawkwind kicked ass but now I know they could do it live too.
Maybe this is super influential or whatever but I just found it boring.
fine
Space Ritual is Hawkwind’s first live album, recorded during their December 1972 UK tour and released in May 1973. Financed by the unexpected chart success of the single “Silver Machine,” the album captures the band at the peak of their early “classic era” lineup, delivering what many consider the definitive document of space rock as a genre. It remains one of the most immersive, overwhelming, and conceptually audacious live records in rock history. --- ### **The Lineup & Context** The 1972–73 Hawkwind unit was a seven-piece powerhouse: Dave Brock (guitar, vocals), Nik Turner (flute, saxophone, vocals), Lemmy Kilmister (bass, vocals), Simon King (drums), Del Dettmar (synthesizers, electronics), Dikmik (electronics, audio generator), and frontman/poet Robert Calvert (poetry, vocals). The tour also featured Stacia (exotic dancing) and elaborate light shows by Liquid Len and the Lensmen, creating a total audio-visual spectacle that the double LP could only partially preserve. --- ### **Music & Sound** Musically, *Space Ritual* occupies a unique intersection of heavy rock, Krautrock motorik, free-jazz skronk, and primitive electronics. Critics frequently describe the sound as falling somewhere between early Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath, but that only partially captures the band’s raw, hypnotic power. The defining characteristic is **relentless, repetitive rhythm**. Simon King’s drumming locks into unwavering grooves while Lemmy’s bass — often played with a plectrum and distorted to sound like “a thousand steam trains” — drives the music forward with a proto-punk ferocity that would later influence Motörhead’s sound. Dave Brock’s guitar work is less about virtuoso soloing and more about texture: wah-wah-drenched riffs, disorienting drones, and abrasive noise that rarely interrupts the rhythmic momentum. Nik Turner’s contributions on saxophone and flute add a free-jazz chaos, with his sax described as “more Steve MacKay than John Gilmore” — raw, bleating, and confrontational rather than smooth or melodic. The electronic elements, provided by Dettmar and Dikmik, create a constant low-level “space fog” of synthesizer textures, audio generators, and treated sounds that hover beneath the rock foundation. **Key musical moments include:** - **“Brainstorm”** — A 12-minute juggernaut built on one devastatingly simple, brutal riff that repeats endlessly until it becomes almost meditative. - **“Master of the Universe”** — A live version so heavy and aggressive it makes the studio original sound “pallid and sickly” by comparison. - **“Time We Left This World Today”** — A 13-minute epic that evolves through multiple rhythmic levels, incorporating the descending “Paranoia” theme from Hawkwind’s debut album before gradually collapsing into itself. - **“7 X 7” / “Sonic Attack”** — A gloriously over-the-top sequence where Calvert’s campy sci-fi narration gives way to thunderous, hypnotic grooves and a bone-rattling Lemmy bass solo. --- ### **Lyrics & Themes** The lyrical content of *Space Ritual* is deeply rooted in science fiction, metaphysics, and cosmic mysticism. Much of the material was inspired by or directly written by Michael Moorcock, the acclaimed sci-fi author who became a sometime collaborator with the band. The album presents an **unsentimental, often dystopian vision of space and humanity’s place in the cosmos**. Rather than the sleek, optimistic futurism of *Star Trek*, Hawkwind offers what one critic called “spacepunk” — clanky, ratchety, handmade spacecraft piloted by lysergically-charged psychonauts, with controls set for “Sirius, the sun, the Crab Nebula or sweet oblivion.” **Key thematic tracks:** - **“Sonic Attack”** — Calvert recites instructions for surviving a sonic weapon attack in deadpan, almost public-service-announcement style: “There will be bleeding from orifices.” It’s simultaneously terrifying and campy. - **“Orgone Accumulator”** — Based on Wilhelm Reich’s pseudoscientific energy device, with charmingly goofy lyrics like “It’s no social integrator, it’s a one-man isolator” and “Turns eyeballs into craters.” - **“Space Is Deep”** — A meditation on the vastness of the cosmos, though some critics find its lyrics shallow and its delivery ponderous. - **“10 Seconds of Forever”** — A spoken-word countdown piece with faux-Shakespearean gravitas, ending with the thrice-intoned “Never… never… NEVER…” - **“Born to Go”** — A declaration of interstellar destiny, embodying the band’s philosophy of escape and transcendence through space travel. The overall conceptual framework draws on Pythagoras’s “music of the spheres” — the idea that celestial bodies produce a form of cosmic harmony — filtered through a very British blend of pulp sci-fi, underground comix, and psychedelic mysticism. --- ### **Production** As a live recording from 1972–73, the production is raw and unpolished by modern standards. The album was assembled from performances at the Liverpool Stadium and the Brixton Sundown (now the Brixton Academy) in London. **Production characteristics:** - **The mix prioritizes energy over clarity**. Bass and guitar frequently blur together in a wall of distorted sound; the drums remain relentless and forward in the mix. - **The sound is intentionally overwhelming** — there are no quiet moments, no acoustic interludes, no dynamic range for the sake of listener comfort. It is meant to be experienced as a continuous assault. - **Flow is seamless** — songs bleed into one another without gaps for applause, creating an uninterrupted 88-minute journey. The audience is present but rarely intrusive, occasionally surfacing as a distant roar. - **Electronic interludes** like “The Awakening,” “The Black Corridor,” and “Electronic #1” serve as atmospheric bridges, maintaining the trance state between full-band assaults. Some critics have noted that the engineering is “terrible” by studio standards, with instruments occasionally out of tune and a generally murky sound quality. However, defenders argue this rawness is precisely the point — the album captures the visceral, unvarnished reality of the live experience in a way that a pristine studio recording never could. --- ### **Influence & Legacy** *Space Ritual* stands as one of the most influential yet under-acknowledged albums in rock history. Its impact spans multiple genres and decades: **On Punk & Proto-Punk:** Hawkwind was one of the few “prog” bands that punk rockers embraced rather than attacked. The album’s raw aggression, repetitive simplicity, and anti-virtuoso ethos anticipated punk’s year-zero mentality. Stephen Morris of Joy Division/New Order noted that Hawkwind’s extensive touring in the early ’70s effectively “seeded a few weirdos in every normally ignored town” across Britain, laying groundwork for punk’s nationwide explosion. The Stooges’ *Fun House* is a frequent comparison point for Brock’s guitar and the overall sonic violence. **On Space Rock & Stoner Metal:** The album essentially codified “space rock” as a genre — not the dreamy, ambient space music of later years, but a heavy, propulsive, drug-fueled voyage. Direct descendants include Ozric Tentacles, Monster Magnet, Queens of the Stone Age, Orange Goblin, and The Sword. **On Krautrock & Experimental Music:** Hawkwind were one of the few British bands actively listening to and being influenced by Can, Neu!, and Amon Düül II. The motorik rhythms and trance-inducing repetition on *Space Ritual* place them in direct conversation with their German contemporaries, yet with a distinctly British heaviness. **On Dance & Electronic Music:** The relentless grooves and electronic textures have been cited as precursors to various strains of electronic and dance music, with some listeners drawing parallels to The Chemical Brothers. **On Live Albums as an Art Form:** Alongside *Made in Japan* (Deep Purple) and *Yessongs* (Yes), *Space Ritual* is frequently cited as one of the definitive live albums of the 1970s, proving that live recordings could transcend their studio counterparts. --- ### **Pros** 1. **Definitive Versions of Songs** — Nearly every track here surpasses its studio equivalent in power, weight, and energy. “Master of the Universe” and “Brainstorm” in particular are transformed into something monumental. 2. **Unmatched Atmosphere** — The album creates a genuinely immersive, otherworldly experience. The combination of heavy rock, electronics, poetry, and seamless flow produces a unique trance-like state. 3. **Lemmy’s Bass Playing** — This is arguably the finest recorded showcase of Lemmy’s pre-Motörhead bass work: melodic, ferocious, and utterly distinctive. His sound here is foundational to his later style. 4. **Conceptual Cohesion** — Unlike many live albums that are simply collections of songs, *Space Ritual* functions as a unified journey with a consistent sci-fi narrative and atmospheric through-line. 5. **Historical Importance** — It captures a singular moment in music history: the intersection of psychedelia, heavy rock, prog, punk, and electronic experimentation, performed by a band at the absolute height of its powers. 6. **Raw Energy** — The live setting liberated the band from studio constraints. The performances feel dangerous, unpredictable, and thrillingly unhinged. --- ### **Cons** 1. **Excessive Length & Repetition** — At 88 minutes across two LPs, the album can be exhausting. Several tracks overstay their welcome, and the relentless repetition that makes the album hypnotic can also make it monotonous for some listeners. 2. **Uneven Production Quality** — The raw sound is part of the appeal, but there are genuine technical flaws: instruments occasionally out of tune, muddy mixing, and a generally unpolished sonic character that can alienate listeners expecting studio precision. 3. **Calvert’s Spoken-Word Segments** — While many fans cherish Robert Calvert’s poetic interludes, others find them campy, pretentious, or disruptive to the musical flow. Tracks like “10 Seconds of Forever” and “Sonic Attack” divide opinion sharply. 4. **Not All Material is Essential** — Some of the shorter electronic pieces (“Electronic #1”) function more as atmospheric glue than compelling standalone content, and “Upside Down” has been cited as comparatively weak. 5. **Accessibility Issues** — This is not background music. It demands full attention and a willingness to surrender to its unconventional structure. Listeners seeking traditional songs with verses, choruses, and hooks will likely be frustrated. 6. **The “You Had to Be There” Factor** — As with many live albums, some of the magic depended on the total sensory experience: Stacia’s dancing, the light show, the communal drug experience of the audience. The audio recording can only preserve a fraction of this. --- ### **Verdict** *Space Ritual* is a towering achievement — messy, pretentious, gloriously dumb, and absolutely singular. It is simultaneously one of the heaviest, most psychedelic, and most conceptually ambitious albums of the 1970s. For those willing to surrender to its unrelenting groove and sci-fi absurdity, it offers one of the most immersive listening experiences in rock music. For others, it will be 88 minutes of tuneless, repetitive noise punctuated by embarrassing poetry. It is, in the end, an album that **rewards the right mindset**. Play it loud, in one uninterrupted session, preferably late at night. Do not expect polish. Expect a journey — clanky, handmade, and piloted by lunatics.
Just wasn’t for me at all. Far too long, repetitive and full of drawn out spacey jams that never really seemed to go anywhere. This felt more focused on atmosphere and weird noises than actual memorable music. Ended up being a complete slog to get through. 1/5 starts for me
I've avoided Hawkwind for years because I thought it was hippy bullshit, mostly beacuse of Neil and The Young Ones. My loss. 70s Psych Rock done right. I'll even overlook my stance on live albums on the list for this one.
it's not that i terribly mind the fuzzy stoner rock crunchy guitar droning but it just really meanders with nowhere to go; the killer album art suggests better material, but perhaps an eventual re-listen whilst high may make it all click 3/5
A lot of forgettable tracks but that bass groove on Lord of Light was 🔥
A little too trippy and too much talking
Lemmy has that thick bass
Two hours? It’s just too much. I can handle this in small doses. One or two tracks per day
Didn’t have high expectations for this one after reading the reviews. I was pleasantly surprised. Sort of like if black sabbath did hero doses of LSD
Never heard of this before. Some interesting stuff but some of it gets a bit noodly and long.
Idk I know some people like these crazy drugged out riff frenzies live but it’s just not my thing. Maybe if this was all a studio album I’d feel different. This album leans more into the drugs than the rock n roll so there’s not much to grab onto here. I think these dudes can shred but damn let’s get some actual songs going. Just another sabbath rip off with nothing to take away tbh. I swear If the 1001 gods end this week on some red hot chilli peppers shit I’m gonna KMS.
Yikes guys this album is nothing to me I do not want to hear this I am bored move on ya know I DNF this tired of random nonsense in this list
The fact that this is Caro's least favorite album ever makes it automatically hilarious to me as I imagine her distaste. That being said, I don't hate it. Lemmy's bass playing is good (yes, THAT Lemmy) and although some of the tracks border on utterly ridiculous, it is live and the jams are not terrible. Some of it is awful. Some of it is not. There's a Hawkwind song on a space rock compilation I own and I love it. Drugs are bad, mmkay. Don't do drugs. Even on drugs I thought Hawkwind were pretty silly. Now, sober for 28 years, I still agree. but it's not all bad. Sometimes it legit rocks for a while. The last track is the best by far.
Every second I hate it more. Like being abducted by aliens and the sound itself is also shit
Una sorpresa! No lo conocia. Me gusta esaa mezcla de sonido sucio y letras voladas.
Long instrumentals. Boring lyrics
It would be easy to call this album boring but I think it's a great record. I would have loved to be at the show. Psyche Rock like this sounds better when it's hifi so the live recording doesn't really help with anything but what it does do is act as great background music for hanging out. Chill dudes no exactly what this music is for, it's a mood setter to fill some of the silence when you're hanging out with the boys. You put it on and forget about it, the vibe is set for the next two hours. You need this kind of thing when you are partying all day, lest you hear the same playlists over and over again.
I like the idea for this album but it probably came out too late to be innovative at all and it's too stuck in the 60's/70's to have the really hard rock stoner aesthetic that would suit the subject matter and theme a lot better. As it is, it's just a winding, unremarkable, decidedly average psychadelic rock album. Nothing really sticks out, but as a whole it's not that bad. There are plenty of other albums of this type I'd rather listen to. None of the instrumentalists really seem as talented as they may actually be; you'd never know because the songs are simplistic despite having plenty of improvised soloing. Really didn't need this to be live, it adds nothing and the recording quality actively makes it worse. I might end up listening to a studio album from these guys because the potential is there but it isn't shown in this.
Sometimes this album list really baffles me. At some point in trying to compile 1001 albums, does the author just run out of ideas? Does a devilish sense of humor make them try to sneak some piece of crap into the list to see if anyone notices? I ask in particular when I am struggling to get through Space Ritual by Hawkwind. I like a lot of off the wall stuff, and I generally get excited when I discover a cool band that I never heard of before. But this almost feels like a joke,but instead of just hitting it with a 1 and quitting it, I feel stuck trying to understand it. Having never heard them before, I got Black Sabbath vibes pretty much immediately from the first track. I didn't hate it, but it was hard to hear because this is a live album. That's the big problem I had this with this one. Live albums are already a bit of a tough sell. Either it is a masterfully recorded live album (like Eagles' Hell Freezes Over) or else it somehow captures of the live energy of a band in a way that a studio never can (like Grateful Dead or Phish). This album did neither. It's poorly recorded, often muddy, the lyrics sometimes indecipherable, sometimes the band skews out of key. It makes for a poor first impression of this band for me. I am wondering what their studio records sound like. I'm not sure I'm curious enough to go give it a listen. Ultimately, I am not leaving here a fan of Hawkwind (that's a dumb band name, btw), and truly wondering why this album merited a position on this list.
I really like the concept but at times the album meandered on a bit too much. Maybe I just wasn’t high enough.
Not my favorite, 3.1/5 Maybe I will change on further listens. Just very generic rock.
Orgone Accumator is the jam on here. The spoken word poetry is just silly stupid pretentious shit while also being unintentionally hilarious. Sounds like Alan Rickman on the poetry. Lemmy is on bass here. Is that the draw? Weird proggy metal to melt your face off though uneven. 3
6/10
Is ok, but meandering live psychedelic rock isn't really something that captures my imagination.
Ouch. Seriously guys. Well I guess in the 70s
I think I like "Space Rock" whatever that is, I keep thinking about the moon rock at the Smithsonian. Album is long. Better a few songs at a time.
Better than some other prog rock. This genre is apparently geared towards the length of the typical acid trip though.
One disc was enough.
Wtf is this? 2 HOURS. I’d never heard of space rock and hope never to again
What a trip!! Talk about your freak outs! Fierce & unapologetically in your face. I wish I could've been there to experience it in person. Wow!
a 2+ hour long psychedelic space-themed rock opera AND it's a live album? why is this challenge constantly putting me in worse and more torturous saw traps.
hawkwind's unique sci-fi prog rock sounds awesome on paper, but a TWO-PLUS-HOUR-LONG DOUBLE LIVE ALBUM is not the ideal on-ramp for new listeners. i'm not even sure how many existing listeners want this... favorites: down through the night, lord of light, master of the universe
I don't even know how to describe this. It was good but at the same time also not that enjoyable and it never seemed to fucking end. Overall okay.
Paikon ihan kelpo kamaa. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was ok I didn’t enjoy every second of it but there were some good time
3.5
This feels less like a live album and more like being absorbed into a continuous sonic environment. The repetition, the space rock drift, and the heavy rhythmic drive create a trance-like state that prioritizes atmosphere over structure. It can feel overwhelming or even monotonous depending on your tolerance for that hypnotic approach, but when it clicks, it becomes immersive in a very physical way. Not perfect, but deeply effective within its lane.
Enjoyed this! Would of loved this in the classic rock stage of my life
I guess this is my punishment for a few good albums in a row. This was an awful waffle.
Amé el concepto, me gustó la coherencia entera del álbum. Sabían bien lo que querían transmitir y lo hacen a cada nivel (letra/ instrumental/ portada). Es rock psicodélico/ espacial, que, si bien no es lo mío, logré apreciar muchísimo. En especial la guitarra en canciones como Space is Deep y Orgone Accumulator. Aprecié las distorsiones y experimentación con sonido (hacen la experiencia inmersiva). Peeero, lo que lleva el álbum a otro nivel es la letra y el lenguaje que usan. No solo hablan sobre este viaje cósmico y universos alternos, sino que usan un lenguaje poético y casi místico (a veces difícil de entender) que va muy bien con el concepto. En fin: not my thing, loved it anyway.
This could have been a bit shorter. But I enjoyed it.
Too electronic
Δεν μπορώ να πω οτι δεν μου άρεσε η μουσική καθόλου αλλά υπάρχουν δύο τεράστια αρνητικά. Το αλπμπουμ είναι απλώς το λαιβ χωρίς production μετά και επίσης κρατάει 2 ΩΡΕΣ. Η ποιότητα είναι μειωμένη και δεν έχω την υπομονή να ακούσω κάτι δύο ώρες με τέτοια παραγωγή ...
ok this'll be a trip for sure. not a fan of the intro, but the beat of the first actual song is good. not sure about the vocals yet. talk about a concept album, damn. even cutting the remaster bonus tracks, it runs an hour and a half. with seamless transitions on every track. the songs are jams orgone accumulator--zz top vibes on this one the spoken word is ... something. sonic attack--oh. my. 1.5 hour space rock opera. ok. that was an experience. props for having a strong concept and carrying it through. very thorough, dare i say flawless, execution. tragically, this is not my vibe. the musical parts were fine. singing was hit or miss. spoken word, though... no thanks i'll pass on that one. 2.49 rounded to 2/5.
Canciones eternas, no me gustó como suenan y el hecho de que sean las versiones Live no ayuda en nada porque hace que la calidad sea peor. Ademas demasiada instrumental que no me gustó.
Esperaba muchísimo más con esa tremenda portada. No me interesó nada del álbum
Eh
No live albums! The only redeeming part of this marathon album were some of the really heavy base lines and riffs.
i don't man all these rock albums with these crazy sounds just are not my thing i guess... some songs are decent but it's just a little too much, especially when some songs are completely random and dissonant noise. still better than frank zappas thing though, genuinely worse three songs i've ever heard in my life
Do you like Science-Fantasy Fiction from the 1960s/1970s? A little hit of Moorcock to ignite the nervous system and see through the doors of perception as you hurtle through space and time in the ritual alive? Motoring down the high(est)way of Hawkwind getting your relentless groove on with this sonic survival kit. Mesmerized, they take us inward in our travels. An intense two-hour journey into the spectacular through the earhole with the spacefarers of Chaos and Entropy...it's an unsettling soundtrack to found footage of imaginary youth freak outs and excess — prog, metal, and jazz set free — all for the takeoff and barely around for the comedown. Do Not Panic.
long. winding. enjoyed the music more than the lyrics. too long.
A little too long and repetitive but I did enjoy some songs
2/3
Not my cup of tea
I could not get into it, even as background music. The singer's voice was not pleasant to me neither.
Can see that this might get tedious for our ears today, but think back 50 years and it seems positively futuristic. The driving Lemmy base, the weird sci-fi interlude accompaniment, the Kraut-rocky psychy lead, what's not to love? Works for me.
I had a boyfriend when I was young that was a huge Hawkwind fan, I never was. It really seemed like teenage boy music. I can admire it a little more nowadays but it still doesn’t float any of my boats.
My friend DC said he likes the idea of Hawkwind more than the reality, and I have to agree. The Bevis Frond did it better. Plus, I can't help but think of Spinal Tap during some of this. Still, no hate. I'm sure it was a good time if you were there.
This album would have been a perfect one for teenage me to curl up and spin in the dark on my beanbag chair. I'd give it a 3.8
Nope
WTH did I just listen too? Weird but I was kinda digging it.. Like 70s C&C?
demasiado raro
Looks like it's regarded as highly influential, and I'm sure it is, but I think I need more context and more exposure to be interested.
This fucks, for sure. It has air of an alternate universe where there was a 1970s Star Trek series fueled by a lot of drugs and written in Berlin.
This album just seems to be completely unhinged jam workout! What's not to like?
doesn't get boring, great execution, nice ideas
Space rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, proto-punk, hard rock.
groovy shit
Good but long
To take a note from the album, you shouldn’t do that. Don’t make me listen to a 2 hour live album under any circumstances. And the songs are way too long and make no sense. The space crap is also just not my thing at all. Would give it a 1.5 if I could. Not totally unlistenable tho so a 2.
Em outras condições eu gostaria mais
Easy listen, pretty fun and commits to the theatricality in a fun way
so random that lemmy was playing bass for this live album... pretty awesome if you ask me but space rock and really quickly become cringe and sadly this became a bit cringe
Ha‘s irgendwänn halt ghört. Über 2h halt z lang
viiiel zu lang leider
painful, janky, over the top prog, urr "space" rock.
Album 84 and the second one I couldn’t listen to all of. Have always thought silver machine was terrible. This is like a double album of poorer versions of that
Interesting but long.
Down Through the Night // Lord of Light // Brainstorm // 2.5/5
One single drum beat over and over across an entire album full of 7+ minute songs, with uninteresting vocals, and a few solid guitar riffs. I definitely did not need to listen to this album before I died.
2 hours is always a tough sell - I don't feel the album quite earns it's length. I appreciated parts of the album, and feel that bands like King Gizzard and The Flaming Lips must love this shit, but I'm ready to listen to something else now. 4/10
Took "space rock" literally.. it's just endless cosmic traffic jams here. Every track feels like a jam session on autopilot with some psychedelic navel-gazing thrown in for good measure. It's exhausting, to be honest. Cool album art, though. Spins: 2 Playlist Additions - Down Through the Night - Orgone Accumulator
pretty interesting. had some cool riffs. Had it on in the background while working. I get its a live album but 2 hours is too long. maybe if i was still into shrooms