DOREMI FASOL LATIDO

Despite hunting down any 70's prog-related album that I could take hold off in the 80's, it wasn't till 1993 that I got to know the phenomena called Hawkwind, through an excellent cover of Brainstorm by Monster Magnet. I was sold on the spot and with the patience of a saint I tracked down their albums in the ensuing years.

By the time I found Doremi Fasol Latido, I had come to know all featured songs through their superior live versions on Space Ritual, so it is hard to measure this album's importance and relevance, especially with the terrible production here. It is very badly balanced, it is hard to make out what anybody is playing and for a kind of music that is so much relying on it's hypnotizing effect, the muffled drum and bass sound is largely unsatisfying.

On the other hand, it boasts the original versions of some of Hawkwind's best tunes, be it that only the studio versions of Space Is Deep and Down Through the Night differ enough from their live renditions to justify a purchase. Lemmy's The Watcher is pretty lame, especially compared to its later Motorhead version.

To make my quibbles with the album complete, the re-issue added a number of fun tracks that could have boosted my rating to 4, but for the original CD edition I can't go higher then 3 stars. By compensation I'll be a bit generous with Space Ritual