Hawkwind - Space Ritual WDvd (21 tracks) +Album Reviews

Excellent re master of a rock milestone

G Marcus Sherwin | NORTH GRAFTON, MA USA | 09/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was surprised to discover this sounds significantly better than the 2001 re master. This live album has always had a muddy mix, but a quick comparison of the opening bass line in "Born to Go" leaves no doubt that the individual instruments can be heard much more clearly in this new re master. The extended mixes are also a welcome addition. The DVD is very nice, I appreciate the visuals although it's a shame that there's no actual video of the show (is such a thing available?). Just don't forget the DVD is in PAL format, not playable by most North American DVD players. There are many cheap players on the market that will play PAL (most Philips do)."

Hawkwind - 'Space Ritual - Collector's Edition' (Caroline)

Mike Reed | USA | 09/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Reason I'm giving this 2-CD, 1 DVD repackaging of the landmark Hawkwind live 1972 album is because of the asking price. I already own copies of the One Way 2-CD reissue as well as the later EMI import reissue with the concert's two encore songs. So, what do I need with this pressing? The twenty song DVD is packed with Hawkwind classics like "Space Is Deep", "Orgone Accumulator", "Brainstorm" and so on but sadly enough there is no actual concert footage, as some would have been nice. The provided graphics that accompany these tunes are 'okay' at best. This newly re-packaged release of 'Space Ritual' would do more for a fan that's never had this record on CD, or perhaps a new Hawkfan {do many even exist?}. I would hope so. Mainly aimed toward the extreme die-hard collectors."

Very excellent packaging...

Eddie Frehley | Los Angeles, CA | 07/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is packaged in a clear slipcase and 8 panel fold-out digipack, similar to the legacy or universal deluxe re-issues that have been released lately. The DVD worked in my DVD player even though it's PAL, and I don't have any fancy player, it was some 80 buck radio shack thing.. great art, great booklet and cool visuals on the DVD. the 5.1 mix isn't that radical, but it's good to hear it all at once instead of on 2 dvds.."

5 Star Music, Dissapointing Remaster

Fritz Gerlich | admin@audioetc.info | 12/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"********Personnel:

* Robert Calvert - vocals

* Dave Brock - guitar, vocals

* Nik Turner - saxophone, flute, vocals

* Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) - bass guitar, vocals

* Dik Mik (Michael Davies) - Synthesizer

* Del Dettmar - Synthesizer

* Simon King - drums

Recorded at Liverpool Stadium, 22 December 1972 and Brixton Sundown, 30 December 1972 by Vic Maile and the Pye Mobile.

******Technical Stuff:

This album was remastered in 1996 by EMI when they remastered their Hawkwind catalog. I wish I knew who mastered those so I could give him some props here as he did a magnificent job compared to the original mastering. The early Hawk albums were recorded and mixed poorly, so the fact that the '96 remasters sound so good is testament to the skill of the engineer. So this 2007 edition had a tough act to follow, but the potential was there as the tech is so much better today.

Unfortunately the 2007 remaster is a dud. The engineer did the old lazy trick of jacking up the bass and using dynamic compression to make it louder and that's it. So the 07 remaster has way too much bass, the mids and highs are swamped. And the dynamic range has been reduced by about 50%...Really really disappointing. So I'd recommend tracking down the 1996 EMI remaster as the sound quality is so much better, and if you get the original digipak there is a very cool reproduction of the concert's program.

The 2007 version though comes with three bonus tracks not on the '96 version (which has 2 tracks not on the 07 version). There are decent alternate night's versions of "Orgone Accumulator", "Time We Left the World Today", and "You Shouldn't Have Done That"...nice but hardly necessary. The one thing that is fantastic about the 07 package is the restoration of 3 minutes to Brainstorm.

The big selling point is the inclusion of the DVD in the package. The dvd is a regular PAL dvd (NOT dvda as some websites claim) and contains 5.1 dts and ac3 tracks, and a 24 bit 48 kHz lpcm stereo version of the concert set to some graphics, and two very short promo films. There is NO concert footage, which is a shame because from what I hear it was a stunning concert visually. The 24/48 is the exact same as the music on the cds, only in 24/48. I don't notice any improvement at resolutions above cd redbook standard 16/44.1 so I did not care for the lpcm tracks. I was really disappointed with the 5.1 version as well because it was not remixed for 5.1, it was upmixed for 5.1. What that means is they take the 2 channel master, copy the left channel to the left front and left rear, then they copy the right channel to the rf and rr. Then they fold the stereo mix into a mono version and put that in the center channel. Then they run a high freq filter on the mono track, and put whats left over in the low freq channel. Finally, they apply a few studio tricks to each channel to make them a little different from each other. It is kind of like the fake stereo process used by some companies to turn mono recordings into really bad stereo recordings during the 60's and 70's. And just like there is no substitute for a real stereo mix, there is no substitute for a real 5.1. So the 5.1 is a very poor 5.1.

The short promo films are good though, but not worth the purchase price.

*********The Music:

This is the greatest live rock record ever released, imho. And if you only want to sample Hawkwind, or just want one release of theirs this is all you need. It is Hawkwind at the peak of their powers, with their best line up, playing the cream of their music. The versions on this record are more powerful, tighter, and more raw then their studio counterparts.

Some highlights: There is the gloriously over-the-top "7 X 7" segueing into "Sonic Attack/Time We Left This World Today" where Michael Moorcock being channeled through Calvert really lays out some killer dystopian sf poetry, then the band engages a relentlessly hypnotic groove, with Lemmy doing a mind altering bass solo just before the song winds down. Lemmy's bass work is inspired on this disk, and is undoubtedly the pinnacle of his career. Lemmy wasn't playing bass in this set, he was playing lead bass. "Master of the Universe" puts the studio version to complete shame. "Brainstorm" in its restored version is a maniacal delight (with a rare Brock solo) as is "Lord of Light" with Lemmy giving it all he's got while Nik Turner and his sax merge.

I should also mention that in 2005, Space Ritual Sundown V.2 was remastered and re-released. The original Space Ritual is a live record that had a lot of studio work done on it; new vocal tracks, rework guitar pieces, lots of edits, etc. Space Ritual Sundown V2 presents an hour+ of the music from The Space Ritual as a strait runthrough, no overdubs, mistakes and all. There is only one detectable tape edit in the hour plus of music. That disc gives the listener an experience that is much closer to actual live music Don't get me wrong, it is no replacement for Space Ritual, but it is a vital accompaniment. Space Ritual Sundown, Vol. 2 Oh, and don't buy the older version of Sundown, as the sound quality is terrible.

***********Summary

3 stars for sound quality

5 stars for music

"

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