(Off) space ritual get it now or forget it. "Naked" reviewed

[EliPXR5 at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 12/14/07 5:16:51 PM, judge48 at HOTMAIL.COM writes:
> and i see (as usual) that no one has posted anything positive about NAKED 
> yet, apart from my lovely BLESSED ONES.
> 

Well, Judge, let's rectify that right now. I just received my copy of Space 
Ritual "Naked" from you a few days back, (thanks to my good friend Mike Coleman 
for arranging it), and I've finally had time to sit down and listen to it. 
And I'll say right off that I totally enjoyed it. This CD is a live recording of 
Space Ritual in Freiburg, Germany on their 1994 European tour. But other than 
front man Nik Turner this band is an entirely different line-up than the 
group that consists of several former Hawkwind members that have been touring for 
the last few years. Instead this line up contains Judge Trev Thoms of ICU on 
lead guitar, Rik Welsh (a frequent Turner cohort) on trumpet, Commander Jim 
Hawkman on synths and vocals, Joe Blake on drums, and two American based space 
rockers Tommy Grenas (who iirc is originally from Ireland) on rhythm guitar and 
Paul Fox on bass. Grenas and Fox were also part of Nik Turners two American 
Space Ritual bands in 1994 and 1995. The duo were also a recording and touring 
act under the name The Brain in the nineties, supporting a reunited Cluster on 
tour in the U.S. Grenas and Fox were also half of the band Pressurehead, and 
Tommy Grenas also was a member of Farflung, The Anubian Lights, a latter day 
incarnation of Chrome with Helios Creed, and has performed and recorded with the 
Damo Suzuki Network. So their space rock pedigree is pretty firmly based. 
This is the first full length document ever released of this line up. Two songs 
by this band (Thoth and Ejection) from a peformance on this same tour from a 
gig in Holland appeared on the Nik Turner double CD set Transglobal Friends and 
Relations, but its nice to have this full length recording available after all 
this time.
The CD is titled "Naked" because it is a straight from board tape to CD 
recording, no overdubs or tweaks. That being said, the audio quality is quite 
excellent throughout. The only problem with the sound is that owing to the neeed to 
flip sides on the board tape the very end of "Ejection" gets slightly cut, as 
does the beginning of "Brainstorm". However these two defects really don't 
significantly detract from what is otherwise a very nicely balanced and clean 
recording. The performance however is the thing...and the band does rock out. As 
the great Judge threatened...his guitar shredding does perfectly fill the 
void left by the absence of the also great Helios Creed from the American tour 
that preceded this European tour. Where Creed's sound was more evocative of 
distress cries from broken down space ships (intended as a compliment), Judge Trev 
comes on with a much more ferocious, metallic kind of approach and is just 
scorching for most of the set. The set list includes some Hawkwind favorites 
like Watching the Grass Grow, a nice take on Sonic Attack with some cool synths 
and background effects. Masters of the Universe, Orgone Accumulator, the 
previously mentioned Calvert classic Ejection, Brainstorm, and a long jamming 
rendition of Silver machine. But the highlight of the show for me is a great version 
of Thoth, from Nik Turner's Sphynx project which just crackles and sizzles 
with cosmic energy, and the nice jazzy feel of the Roland Kirk instrumental 
Serenade to a Cuckoo.
So thanks very much Judge Trev. Nice one. If you've got any more recordings 
from this tour lying around don't hesitate to get them out. I'd be very happy 
to hear other shows from this tour. And for fans of Nik Turner, and people who 
enjoyed his live releases from the nineties I would think this is as essential 
as "Space Ritual '94" or "Past and Future".   
Eli Friedman (a real person, not a Judge Trev alias.swear.)



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