Hawkwind "Space Ritual" UA UAD 60037/8 2XLP UK 1st giant fold-out+inners 1973

	£		16
	$		21

Hawkwind ? "Space Ritual"  United Artists Records ?UAD 60037/8  UK 1st press 2 × Vinyl, LP, housed in printed inner sleeves with psychedelic patterns, which, in turn are in a giant fold-out sleeve. 
Both LPs appear to have been lightly played and, some slight surface scuffs aside, are in great shape. They played through beautifully on my elderly stereo - no hop, stick or jump. The albums are housed in their original inner sleeves, both of which are i good order - no rips or writing. The incredibly complicated sleeve shows some signs of use, but it is intact and, again, free of rips and writing. The spine is intact and legible. Matrix/Run Out Side 1 : UAD 60037 A-2U RAYS Matrix/Run Out Side 2 : UAD 60037 B-2U Matrix/Run Out Side 3 : UAD 60038 A-2U Matrix/Run Out Side 4 : UAD 60038 B-2U
"The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London" is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album, reached #9 in the UK album charts and briefly dented the Billboard Top 200, peaking at #179.
The album was recorded during the tour to promote their "Doremi Fasol Latido" album, which comprises the bulk of this set. In addition, there are new tracks ("Born To Go", "Upside Down" and "Orgone Accumulator") and the songs are interspersed by electronic and spoken pieces making this one continuous performance. Their recent hit single "Silver Machine" was excluded from the set, and only "Master of the Universe" remains from their first two albums.
The Space Ritual show attempted to create a full audio-visual experience, representing themes developed by Barney Bubbles and Robert Calvert entwining the fantasy of Starfarers in suspended animation traveling through time and space with the concept of the music of the spheres. The performance featured dancers Stacia, Miss Renee, Jonathan Carney (later of the V8 Intercepters) and Tony Carrera, stage set by Bubbles, lightshow by Liquid Len and poetry recitations by Calvert. On entering the venue, audience members were given a programme featuring a short sci-fi story by Bubbles setting the band in a Starfarers scenario returning to Earth.
The original release featured edits and overdubs, the sleeve notes explaining that "We had to cut a piece out of Brainstorm and Time We Left because they were too long".
"Sonic Attack" had been written by science fiction author Michael Moorcock, who often performed with the band when convenient and Calvert was unavailable. Here it is recited by Calvert and it was scheduled for single release, promotional copies being distributed in a cloth sleeve, but it never did receive a full release.
The sleeve was designed by Barney Bubbles and came in 3x2 panel foldout, the outer 6 panels being colour, the inner 6 panels being monochrome, the discs in psychedelic patterned orange & yellow inner sleeves were folded into this. It made Q Magazine's 100 greatest album covers list.
The outer foldout features an illustration of Miss Stacia flanked by the hounds of King over stage shots of the band. The inner foldout features three panels of a photograph of outer space with three illustrations on each panel headed by lines from a Hawkwind song. Inner panel 1: features a vintage photograph of a naked woman with listed credits. Inner panel 2: chac bacab – features an image of a female nipple as a planet, and a legend of the Earth as a living entity. Inner panel 3: kan bacab – features an image of a foetus suspended in space with the legend "The Universe resounds with the joyful cry I AM. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Naked I came out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither." Inner panel 4: Features a mandala with the legend "Everything exists for itself, yet everything is part of something else. The One and the many contain in themselves the principles of time and space. The way up and the way down are one and the same." Inner panel 5: Features a dedication from Lemmy to John the Bog, Supernova and Sue Bennett. zac bacab, tec bacab and bac bacab expounds upon religious and cosmological myths and sciences, starting with the William Blake poem "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour", ending with the Alfred Whitehead quote "Give up illusions about ideas of order, accept nothing of inherited norm. Spread joy and revolution. It is the business of the future to be dangerous." Inner panel 6: features a winged superhero grasping an electrical cable and lightning bolts, perched upon an Earth situated in a void.