DOREMI FASOL LATIDO

Welcome aboard Lemmy.. the first studio album with Lemmy on bass. A true original in the crowded field of characters, and scoundrels that rock has no shortage of. This album from 1972 is not often regarded as the definitive album of Hawkwind but it isn't too bad an album. Forget Floyd.. this is the definitive Space Rock/Acid Rock/Qualude Rock/ pick your adjective band. Pick this up and check them out. Hawkwind may not be 'complex' or high browed enough for some.. but Hawkwind is prog enough by 10.

The album begins with the ..errr.. Sonic attack .. ahahaha.. of 'Brainstorm'. A monsterous heavy riff that bludgeons you for 5 or 6 minutes and then in true Hawkwind style takes flight into the atmosphere into a catatony of Dik Mik's electronics, Lemmy's bass, and Nik Turners Sax. Great stuff. After taking a proverbial splash in the ocean and returning to earth. The main riff is picked back up and the song draws to an end with some far out spacey ramblings. Classic Hawkwind. The next song 'Space is Deep' sort of threw me at first. Space Ritual was my entry point into Hawkwind and the live version of Space is Dark was one of my favorites on that. This one has prominent accousic guitar and Lemmy's bass is much more understated on this studio version. Not as brutal as the live version.. yet more sparce.. and maybe even more effective as a vehicle for space travel. Side one closes with 'One Chance' a short (less than a minute) electric piano piece.

Side 2 kicks of with another classic Hawkwind track, 'Lord of Light' Featuring Lemmy's melodic bass playing. A surging driving beat powers the song and brings the song to conclusion after a insturmenal section of rather average quality. The accoustic 'Down through the Night' is next up with swirling winds like synth tones. Pretty much a throw away track on it's own but it works better in conjunction with the next track 'Time We Left This World Today' which it sort of seques into. A nice heavy riff with a call and responce vocal section that takes into a rather odd section led which sounds really disjointed. Being Hawkwind though.. it's no big deal. Thankfully before too long Lemmy's massive bass and Nic's sax bring us back to the main riff. Where of all things.. we get a Lemmy bass solo bit. Chris Squire he is not.. but it is effective. The album closes with 'The Watcher, ' an accoustic piece with Lemmy singing.

Some strong songs.. and some not so strong ones. Pretty much an average prog album in my book

For myself and the site 3 stars. What is good is some killer stuff.

Michael (aka micky)