HW: My Top 10 Space albums

[Stephan Forstner]

Here's a list of some of my favorite space and spacerock albums. I've
divided them into loose categories, with primary selections and alternates
in each category. They are not in any particular order, except that number 1
is number 1 and number 10 probably shouldn't be there at all so it is number
10. I'm sure I'm missing some titles, and next week the list will
undoubtedly be slightly different, as it will the week after that, and some
of what's there might have its positioning argued with, but what the hey,
this is just an excuse for me to list some stuff I like. Read it and then
give your own choices. Or don't.

1) ----------------------------------------
Hawkwind - Space Ritual
   ----
Hawkwind - X In Search of Space
Hawkwind - Doremi Fasol Latido
Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill
Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time

Was, is, and probably always will be my number 1 pick. Mention should also
be made of Complete Live 79, Levitation, Palace Springs, and IITBOTFTBD.

2) ----------------------------------------
Heldon - I Electronique Guerilla
Heldon - III It's Always Rock n Roll
Heldon - IV Agneta Nilsson
Heldon - VII Stand By
   ---
Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting
Richard Pinhas - Chronolyse

Heldon started fairly mellow, with guitar lines over synth backing,
sometimes sounding much like Fripp & Eno, then moved into krautrock, avant
prog, quasi-industrial, and finally full-on prog overload on VII. Pinhas
solo albums at this time were more minimalist keys and synth affairs, but
the half-hour side-long 'Paul Atreides' track on Chronolyse is one of the
all-time great spacerock tracks.

3) ----------------------------------------
Circle - Zopalki
Circle - Pori
Circle - Prospekt
   ---
Pharaoh Overlord - #1
Ektroverde - Ukkossalama

Finnish collective centered around Jussi Lehtisalo, playing space / psych /
drone / kraut / punk / industrial / soundscape / jazz / metal / minimalist /
hypno / experimental / kitchen sink music. Best band(s) of the 90's.

4) ----------------------------------------
Ash Ra Temple - Ash Ra Temple
   ---
Acid Mothers Temple - La Novia
Acid Mothers Temple - In C
Agitation Free - At the Cliffs of the River Rhine
Pharaoh Overlord - #1
SubArachnoid Space - The Sleeping Sickness

Intense, layered, mostly instrumental, guitar-based spacerock. SubArachnoid
Space is a US band with a back catalog you can reach into pretty much at
random and pull out a winner. I like the Pharaoh Overlord so much I wanted
to make it a primary selection, but ended up unable to give it a slot of its
own, so to make up for that I've listed it as an alternate twice, here and
with Circle.

5) ----------------------------------------
Magma - Mekanik Kommandoh
Christian Vander - Wurdah Itah
Magma - Kohntarkosz
Magma - Hhai / Live
   ---
Weidorje - s/t
Universal Totem Orchestra - Rituale Alieno

Prog rather than space, and fairly avant prog at that, but its all about
space flight to distant planets and the struggle for peace against both
human and alien foes so its here. Some of the most intense and,
occasionally, beautiful, music ever made in a rock(ish) context. Magma's new
release K.A. promises to merit consideration for inclusion as well.

6) ----------------------------------------
Tony Conrad with Faust - Outside the Dream Syndicate

Perfect rock minimalism. The 30th anniversary CD edition gives you 40 extra
minutes.

7) ----------------------------------------
Amon Duul II - Yeti
   ---
Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei
Farflung - So Many Minds, So Little Time
Farflung - The Belief Module
Pressurehed - Explaining the Unexplained

Most space and spacerock music seems to be defined by long-form
instrumentals but the occasional band (like Hawkwind) will structure their
work mainly around songs. Nevertheless, these songs often have unusual
formats and non-standard structures, and extended instrumental takes, both
within songs and on their own, are pretty much a requirement.

8) ----------------------------------------
F/i - Space Mantra
Vocokesh - Paradise Revisited

Yin and yang, two sides of the same coin. Possibly the peak of American
spacerock. Vocokesh's recent The Tenth Corner may end up on this list as well.

9) ----------------------------------------
Klaus Schulze - X
Tangerine Dream - Zeit
Tangerine Dream - Atem
Tangerine Dream - Rubycon

Analog synths in space.

10) ----------------------------------------
Synaesthesia - Desideratum
    ---
Delerium - Spheres 1 & 2

In the 80's, space music started being made with digital rather than analog
synths. As time went on there were good space music discs made with
digisynths, but to my ears the level of goodness seemed proportional to how
close they came to emulating the old analog sounds. Music made with digital
synths that explicitly displays its digital-ity usually just doesn't do it
for me. So here are 2 releases that maybe aren't exactly 'best', but which
are at least representative.

11) ----------------------------------------
Hawkwind - Text of Festival
Parson Sound - s/t
Pharaoh Overlord - The Battle of the Axehammer (live)
Faust - Land of Ukko and Rauni
Neu! - '72 Live
Amon Duul - Psychedelic Underground
Marble Sheep - Whirl Live

Had to add one more category - lo-fi, sludgy, droning, repetitive hippief*ck
jamming! Not actually recommended listening, at least to most, but I love
this stuff and had to include it.

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The above only scratches the surface of course. Here are a few more that may
have just missed inclusion, or that maybe are not quite space/spacerock, but
which need to be mentioned anyway.

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Blue Oyster Cult - B/W trilogy, Imaginos

Sci-fi rock rather than spacerock. But required listening nevertheless.

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Chrome - Alien Soundtracks, Half Machine Lip Moves

Out-there experimental punk psych industrial spacerock.

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Final - Solaris

Isolationist ambient space sound sculpture. From the Godflesh crew.

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Gravitar - Edifier

Another US band where random selection from the back catalog pretty much
guarantees a winner. Edifier was their last and best release - possibly my
favorite free / experimental / noise rock record ever. And it grooves like a
bastard.

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King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King, USA

Court is sci-fi prog rock rather than spacerock, but still pretty much
required listening. Later on the band would do lots of extended instrumental
improv work, much of it being really excellent spacerock - The Great
Deceiver boxset offers some great examples, but USA will give you a
condensed version. Also, Earthbound, though usually considered the band's
nadir (and from a strictly prog-rock viewpoint, rightly so) is actually a
fairly good, slightly funky spacerock record.

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Loop - Fade Out, Wolf Flow

Layered psych-drone-rawk. Richard Hampson would later work as the
experimental / ambient Main.

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Ozric Tentacles - Erpland, Strangeitude

Mention should also be made of Steve Hillage - Fish Rising, and yes, I know,
Gong should be in here somewhere, I promise I will be picking up their
classic albums at some time in the future!

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Pink Floyd - early '70s live material

Together with Hawkwind, PF pretty much codified the spacerock sound in the
early 70's. The band has basically given their permission for fans to freely
distribute old live recordings, so try to pick up some live sets from '70
and '71.

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Skullflower - Ruins, Last Shot at Heaven, Carved Into Roses

Heavy noise / free rock pioneers. Matthew Bower would later work as Total
and Sunroof! before recently starting up Skullflower again.

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ST 37 - Spaceage, Nunavut

Yet another US band with a deep and satisfying back catalog. Their releases
more or less alternate between song-based collections (Spaceage) and
instrumental improvs (Nunavut). Their most recent release (The Insect
Hospital) is a collection of older material and contains examples of both,
so would make a good introduction to the band.

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Nik Turner - Past or Future?

Should perhaps be in the Hawkwind slot, but I don't begrudge Nik his own
section, as long as he doesn't try to appropriate the Hawkwind name.

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That's it for now,
Stephan