Space Rock: An Interstellar Traveler’s Guide box set

An offshoot, perhaps, of progressive rock, the genre known as “space rock” is the Rodney Dangerfield of classic rock music…it just doesn’t get any respect! That’s unlikely to change with the November 18th, 2016 release of Space Rock: An Interstellar Traveler’s Guide by Purple Pyramid Records, a Cleopatra Records imprint.

A six-CD box set, Space Rock: An Interstellar Traveler’s Guide is packed with jams from legendary bands like Hawkwind, Gong, Can, Tangerine Dream, Ozric Tentacles, Nektar, and Amon Düül II as well as lesser-known but no less talented artists like Popol Vu, Faust, and Guru Guru, among many others. The bands included on the six discs of Space Rock span the globe, ranging from England, Germany, and Scandinavia to New Zealand, Russia, and Italy, the box truly representative of the entire spectrum and diversity of space rock bands. The set also includes a spacey Alice Cooper (!) track, “B.B. On Mars,” as well as an unreleased Nik Turner song and a 1975 interview with the former Hawkwind member and space rock pioneer.

Each disc comes in its own individually-designed jacket, and all six are packaged in a deluxe 7”x7” box with an oversized booklet featuring liner notes by my colleague – esteemed music journalist and historian Dave Thompson (who literally wrote the book on space rock!) – that includes band bios, photos, and freaky lysergic-inspired artwork.

Check out the set’s complete tracklist below and then get on over to Amazon.com and order your copy of Space Rock: An Interstellar Traveler’s Guide!

Space Rock: An Interstellar Traveler’s Guide track list:

DISC 1
1. Can – “All Gates Open”
2. Hedersleben – “Gulf of Lost Souls”
3. Øresund Space Collective – “The Trichophantic Spire”
4. Popol Vuh – “Steh Auf, Zieh Mich Dir Nach”
5. Joel Vandroogenbroeck – “Sign From Space”
6. Ozric Tentacles – “Space Out”
7. Secret Saucer – “Lift Off”
8. An Emerald City – “Seizuretron”
9. Nik Turner – “Out of Control”
10. Melting Euphoria – “Flying Eyes Like Saucers”
11. Guru Guru Groove Band – “UFOlove”
12. Maat Lander – “The Comet Rider”
13. Gong – “Fohat Digs Holes In Space” [Live Paris 1972]

DISC 2
1. Tangerine Dream – “Ultima Thule, Part 1”
2. Brainticket – “Watchin’ You”
3. Faust – “Parasiten”
4. Pyramidal – “Black Land”
5. Shawn Lee – “Low Riders In Space”
6. Hydravion – “Passadena Airport”
7. Pressurehed – “Altitude”
8. Het Droste Effect – “You Know That I Knew”
9. German Oak – “Shadows of War (A. Rain Of Destruction / B. B1 To London)”
10. Daevid Allen Weird Quartet – “The Cold Stuffings of November”
11. Omega – “Don't Keep On Me Waitin’”
12. Kalutaliksuak – “What Are Your Feet Eating?”
13. Oranssi Pazuzu – “Reikä Maisemassa”

DISC 3
1. Steve Hillage & William Shatner – “Rocket Man” [alternate mix]
2. Black Rainbows – “Hawkdope”
3. Guru Freakout – “Notre Dame (Mothership)”
4. XYNN – “Lost In Space” [English version]
5. The Spacelords – “Pyroclastic Monster”
6. Aqua Nebula Oscillator – “Human Toad” [Live]
7. Magic Wands – “Jupiter”
8. Atomic Simao – “Descending”
9. White Manna – “We Pretend Space Isn't There”
10. Yuri Gagarin – “At The Center Of All Infinity”
11. Federico Farnè – “What Illuminates The Night”

DISC 4
1. Guru Guru – “Spaceship” [edit]
2. Hawkwind – “Seeing It As You Really Are”
3. It’s Not Night: It’s Space – “Vibration Eater”
4. Earthling Society – “EA1729”
5. Robert Calvert – “Lemmy & I Swallowed Massive Amounts of Drugs”
6. Gilli Smyth – “What Do You Really Want” [live]
7. The Re-Stoned – “Faces of Earth”
8. The Dunes – “Badlands”
9. Exxasens – “Helios”
10. Oranjjoolius – “Tiki Sleep Cycle”
11. Equations – “SSSUUUNNN”
12. Secret Symbol Society – “Canes Venatici”
13. Lord Fuzz – “The Freak”

DISC 5
1. Amon Düül II – “Archangels Thunderbird”
2. Naxatra – “Space Tunnel”
3. Celestial Bums – “Child of the Moon”
4. Dark Buddha Rising – “L”
5. My Education / Theta Naught Sound Mass – “End Masse”
6. Sun Araw – “Deep Temple”
7. Hidria Spacefolk – “Kaneh Bosm”
8. Dasputnik – “Orbitary Volcano”
9. Ava Cherry – “Highway Blues”
10. Orlando Monday – “Moonchild”
11. MKM – “Retorn Al Planeta Imaginari”
12. Sons of Hippies – “Spaceship Ride”

DISC 6
1. Nektar – “Astronaut’s Nightmare”
2. Chrome – “Eyes In The Center”
3. Space Debris – “Phonomorph”
4. Leroy Powell and The Messengers – “Weightlessness”
5. Electric Orange – “Meals of Confusion”
6. Floorian – “Overruled”
7. Alice Cooper – “B.B. On Mars” [Live 1969]
8. Gdeva – “Autobahn”
9. Vespero – “Vision 7. Kidish Hail”
10. ST 37 – “The ‘In’ Crowd”
11. Nik Turner – “1975 Interview”