OTHERWORLD

Sadly, I have to say that, three plays in, I don't like this album very much at all.

It was with eager anticipation that I bought it, having heard great things about it from others who were hailing it "as good as Hawkwind have ever been" and such like. Unfortunately, for my taste, this album of "space-rock" falls well short of anything that Hawkwind themselves have ever done.

Space Ritual are a band led by Nik Turner, an ex-Hawkwind icon, and made up of other ex-Hawkwind members, most notable in my memory is Del Dettmar who was in with the band in its 70s heyday.

Whilst it is peculiar to review an album by making constant comparisons to another band, in this particular instance it is probably justified, as many of the potential fans thinking of buying this will also be fans of Hawkwind.

So, space-rock it definitely is but, like I say, for me it falls well short of the Hawkwind standard. The least pleasing aspect of the album is the singing, or lack of it! Most of the lyrics are recited as poems, on some songs we get sing-speak and very rarely, perhaps on one song, is there what I would call "singing". I tired of this style. It is reminiscent stylistically of parts of one of Hawkwind's most celebrated albums, "Warrior on the Edge of Time" - in particular as some of the lyrics are written by Michael Moorcock himself - but on that brilliant album the recitation was interspersed with some glorious music which, alas, is lacking here.

"Otherworld" has none of the driving rhythm, beat and urgency which hallmarks much of Hawkwind's soundscape and that is the factor that ultimately makes the album such a disappointment for me.

The album is not totally without interest - Nik Turner's sax playing is enjoyable on a number of the songs but, unfortunately, isn't sufficient to raise the music overall to the highest levels.

Having said all that, given other Hawkwind fans' differing views, perhaps you'd better make up your own mind on this album's qualities!

Now this is a good album as its got everything youd want from a album with nik turner in it its got flute saxaphone and the sax on this is just what i thought it would be like sounds great and good to,this starts just how it should i think with an instrumental which is just like hawkwind there are tracks on here which are like poems with bits which remind me of warrior at the edge of time and they are the black corridor and arrival in utopia which i love the black corridor because it just sounds just like 70s hawkwind and niks voice here is kind of treated with a kind of good treatment i think makes him sound like he has jumped from how he sounded in the 70s to now,atomik is acoustic guitar and with the weird noices in background and the acoustic guitar here sounds good to a nice bit of guitar i think its mick slattery he sounds here a good guitarist this song is really nice i think,well the rest of the album is just brilliant the whole of this album is so hawkwind well more hawkwind sounding than hawkwind,this actually is better than hawkwind anyday now as new albums go that is cause if u know hawkwind now theve got mr dibs from spacehead in the band and he sounds and looks awful hes fat and his voice is crap at least this album is good and sounds well sounds great sounds bettter than the new hawkwind album thast they will bring out,this is a gem if you like that hawkwind sound with nik turner in as its very 70s hawkwind,i ive this 4 stars as this must be heard by all hawkwind fans for sure.

Maybe I am one lucky sod after all. Whilst I am a long term PROG(?) fan my collection stretches from the Avante styling of Arthur Brown's Strangeland to the rather Triumph like sounds of Zebra and all things in between. I had never heard of Hawkwind until I began to research Motorhead back in 1981. Noted and forgotten until I saw the Documentary a couple of years ago. So unlike a lot of the people here I can take Space Ritual-Otherworld as a stand alone without the baggage of an entirely separate entity.

I can sum up my review pretty easily, since every word I type on here I no longer own as it hits the screen.

Buy this if you like great music, pretty simple stuff, no comparisons to Hawkwind. If you want to listen to a Hawkwind LP-put one on. The past is a strange and wonderful place, perhaps you should journey with the rest of us to the future.

As a musician, lyricist, poet and dreamer I highly advise adding this to make your mind happy.

8/31/2013 MichaelLeeSmyth