Yule Ritual

by François Couture There are so many live recordings of Hawkwind on the market now that words like "best" or "essential live album" simply have lost any signification. The double-CD set Yule Ritual presents the better part of the seminal space rock group's performance at the Astoria (London, England), the venue chosen for its annual year-end show in 2000. The lineup consisted of Dave Brock, Richard Chadwick, Ali, Tim Blake (also of Gong), Simon House, and Jerry Richards. Ron Tree, Mike Moorcock, and Capt Rizz walked on-stage to sing a few songs. Heith Hniveton contributed some EMS synthesizer lines, Jez Huggett touches of saxophone and flute. The whole band was in good shape and positive mood, giving a good, slightly higher than average performance. The set is a cross section of the group's career (three decades by then). Some songs were inevitable and if "High Rise" and "Spirit of the Age" have known better days, "Assassins of Allah" still packs enough energy to make a worthy show-closer and Moorcock delivers an excellent performance in "Sonic Attack." "Hurry on Sundown" (from the group's infancy) and "Space Is Deep" are nice inclusions. In short, good moments abound, there are many examples of interesting jamming, but nothing out of the ordinary and no reason to recommend this live album over other ones. A safe bet.