Search - Hawkwind :: Doremi Fasol Latido

Another mighty Hawkwind classic!!

R. Recchia | blodgett mills, ny | 09/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For review number 200 on Amazon (do I get a prize or something?), I thought I'd write a review for an album by one of my all time favorite bands.......Hawkwind!!! My brother John originally bought this on vinyl sometime around 1980, and my biggest memory of it was the story that appears on the back cover, which has Hawkwind and it's road crew as super heroes who were called upon to fight evil on distant planets and/or universes, or something like that! When I finally bought Doremi on CD in 1991 (on ONE WAY RECORDS, whose version did not include the story), I was initially not overwhelmed by how GOOD this album was, but how LOUD it was. As a matter of anti-fiction, I first thought that other than the song 'Space is Deep' that this album was horrible! After a another listen or two, however, I grew to love this album.



As stated earlier, this is an extremely LOUD album, with much emphasis on drums and bass guitar. This was the 'Winds first album with drummer Simon King and bassist Lemmy, the band's tighest and heaviest rhythm section up to that point (and maybe their heaviest rhythm section ever). This album and Space Ritual were Hawkwind's first two (or maybe only two) heavy metal albums. Lemmy was a great addition to the band..not only was he a great bass player, he could also write songs, play guitar and sing...if you consider what Lemmy does singing, that is! Given all this, it is pretty odd that Lemmy provides the album with it's most quiet and laid back song, with the acoustic guitar ballad 'The Watcher'. Personally, I prefer the version of this song that would later appear on Motorhead's On Parole album. Synthesizer and audio generator player Del Dettmar provides the album's other truly quiet moment, the 49 second synthesizer and piano instrumental ' One Change '.



The album gets off to an overwhelmingly loud start, however, with Nik Turner's 11 and a half minute spacy , three chord hard rocker ' Brainstorm ', one of the most well known Hawkwind tunes of all time and one that would remain in their live set for the rest of their career, which in 2006 is still going strong. Certainly not Turner's best set of lyrics, but the song has a powerful and very catchy guitar riff, and some very prominent backing vocals from Lemmy. The best way to enjoy this song (if, like me, you don't do drugs) is to just turn the volume all the way up and let the song overwhelm and surround you and take you in. Next up is my favorite song on the album, Brock's acoustic guitar led ' Space is Deep ', which I think is the one of the more melodic songs here. I love Brock's vocals (he has always been my favorite vocalist for this band), the acoustic guitar riff, and particularly the synthesizers...the best use of synthesizers on a Hawkwind album up to that point.



The second half gets off a very strong start with the fast-paced and heavy riff rocker 'Lord of Light'. Great song, but not the best mix, with way too much wind effects (or should I say just to be clever, 'Hawkwind' effects?) on Brock's guitar. Still, this song has more powerful drumming and bass playing from King and Lemmy. 'Down Through The Night' is another acoustic guitar and snthesizer driven number, quite listenable like most of this record. I like the version of this song from Space Ritual, which has more electric guitar on it. 'Time We Left This World Today ' is another hard rocker, though I think it is one the weaker and more sloppy tunes on the album. Still, it is very catchy and has more of Lemmy's prominent and distinct background vocals.



As for the bonus tracks, well...I haven't bought this remastered version, but two of the tracks, Urban Guerilla and Brainbox Pollution, show up on the compilation by Cleopatra Records, 'Psychedelic Warlords', 'Lord of Light' shows up on another Cleopatra Records Hawkwind compilation LORD OF LIGHT, while 'Ejection' originally popped up on Bob Calvert's wonderful Captain Lockheed album. All four of these are great songs, but if you own these three albums (and One-Way Records Doremi) then I guess getting this remastered version would be redundant, even though I bet it restores the story on the back of the LP (the pun wasn't intended!) and probably includes some pics, so maybe it isn't a waste of your time getting it!



In either form...this is certainly not the best SOUNDING Hawkwind album, but it is still one of their best in terms of songs and definitely their loudest album. I like it a bunch!

"

Another purchase I don't regret

Dylan Madeley | Woodbridge, Ontario Canada | 10/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My first Hawkwind purchases were "Hall of the Mountain Grill" and "Space Ritual". With that in mind, I had high expectations. Not only because I was impressed with every single Hawkwind album I had purchased so far, but because live versions of some of the songs on this album appear on Space Ritual, so I was anxious to see if the studio songs were as worthy as their live counterparts. I've come to the conclusion that the studio versions are more than worthy--they just might be better than the live versions on "Space Ritual", which is saying something.
"Brainstorm" is not my favourite Hawkwind album opener, but a great one nonetheless, a nice long rocker with lyrics you can hear well enough to tell that they make sense, yet not well enough to discern exactly what they are without good ears. Then, it gets better: "Space Is Deep" opens with a fantastic intro of plucked notes, supported by a firm foundation of hot electronics and spacey sounds. "One Change" follows, brief, wordless, as if the album were shifting gears. Then, suddenly, you hear the opening screeches of "Lord of Light", another good rocker equal in stature to "Space Is deep", and moving seamlessly into the beautiful "Down Through The Night", which in turn leads to "Time We Left This World Today" and "The Watcher". There is not a single bad cut on this album, not a single track I would define as filler, not a single good reason why any Hawkwind fan wouldn't add this to their collection if it were readily available and they could afford it.
In sum, I absolutely love "Doremi Fasol Latido". It's brilliant."