Doremi Fasol Latido [Remastered] - Hawkwind > Reviews > Battle Hymns & Stellar Songs Of Praise

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Keeps Me Away from Tonka Trucks
Disadvantages:	I Like Tonka Trucks

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In 1972 I was smashing Tonka trucks into my cousins head which required many stitches and Hawkwind were releasing this classic album, their sound by this time had been beefed up by the addition of Ian Kilminster (Lemmy) on Bass, all of these events are linked as Tonka Trucks, Stitches, Hawkwind and Lemmy have all played important roles in my life………………

Anyway I digress in 1972 The spaceship Hawkwind was continuing its travels through the cosmos albeit with a different crew to those that started off the voyage, and here in 1972 you had a great crew, possibly the best crew that they ever had:-

Dave Brock: vocals, lead guitar
Nik Turner: vocals, saxophone, flute
Lemmy: vocals, bass guitar
Dik Mik: audio generator, electronics
Del Dettmar: synthesiser
Simon King: drums
Robert Calvert: vocals (track 8 & 11 only)

The rhythm section of Simon King, Lemmy and Dave Brock was the engines that kept the craft on course the rest of them added the characteristic swirls and swoops that boosted these engines and what a great voyage this album was starting off with “Brainstorm” a classic piece of space rock, the rhythm section provides a relentless trancey punk backbeat whilst Synths and the other electronics swirl and swoop creating an almost impenetrable barrier of sound, this song has remained a regular part of their set for the last 30 odd years, the version played now is a frenzied punk blast compared to this but this version is a classic demonstrating that trance music is not a generic form of dance music. Brainstorm slowly fades into “Space is deep” which is possibly progressive rock but with Dave Brocks simple strumming on a lone acoustic guitar and haunted vocal surrounded by a myriad of electronic bubbles and swoops providing the listener with a feeling of weightlessness. As the song progresses it transforms as lemmy’s bass rumbles through a mid paced piece of atmospheric swirling electronic psychedellia until the ending where Dave’s guitar sets off almost alone into the cosmos as the electronic bubbles and swoops gradually fade……………

“One Change” sees Del take the helm of the ship for a mere 50 seconds of strange synthesizer warbling, before we are thrown before the “Lord of Light”. As ever the electronic noises provide atmosphere to a blast of trancy space rock, Dave’s rhythm guitar playing is superb as Lemmy’s heavy bass drives the song backed up by Simon King’s drumming, here you can see why they have such a large heavy metal following, even though they are not a metal band. Dave’s vocal again sounds haunted, this is not music for having happy peace and love trips to at all.

“Down Through the Night” takes us back to a bit of prog rock with added psychedelic effects, not surprising considering it is 1972 and Hawkwind were described as being the only 3 chord prog rock band. On this number Dave’s acoustic guitar takes the helm whilst the electronics and Nik’s flute swirl around it, Dave’s vocal is as ever haunted and raw absolutely classic stuff. After this we are then blasted into “Time We Left This World Today” driven by a trancy reparative riff and tribal drumming accompanied as ever by all the psychedelic electronic noises, and for a change chanting vocals, this gradually builds up tension. A young man named Alan Davey apparently took this track into a Music Shop saying that he wanted the instrument that made a sound he heard on this song that sound was Lemmy’s bass solo and Alan would later join the band in the 80’s where he is still today. The amount of truth in that story is debatable……. But the Bass Solo is an amazing piece of playing with an amazing fuzz sound in my book anyway…………. The album finishes off on track 7 with the watcher written by Lemmy and is a haunting piece of trancy acoustic rock, Lemmys voice sounds strained and fragile something you don’t expect from the man who has fronted Motorhead for the last 30 years, there is also a brooding sense of purpose on this song as it builds in intensity and it is a great way to finish off the album…………

However this is the special remastered edition with extensive packaging which is very weird and FOUR bonus tracks:-

“Urban Guerilla” – The follow ups singe to silver machine that was deleted due to the nature of the lyrics, a great piece of proto-punk with the opening line of “I’m an urban guerilla, I make bombs in the cellar”. Here we see Robert Calvert at his satirical best and a classic piece of rock and roll.

“Brainbox Pollution” – I always think of this as the sister or brother to Brainstorm as the two songs fit so well together, a great piece of psychedelic trance, with Dave and Lemmy working vocal harmonies together, another classic piece of rock and roll.

“Lord of Light (Single Version Edit)” – pants because it is 2 minute shorted that the version on the album proper great because you don’t have to hit the CD remote control to hear it again………..

“Ejection (Previously Unreleased Version)” – The original version of this song appeared on Robert Calvert’s album Captain Lockheed and The Starfighters, which was a wonderful satire on the military aviation industry and the Lockheed F-104G also know as the widow maker. This song is about Ejection from an aircraft about to crash a very sensible idea in my book…… and it is another great piece of proto-punk from the Robert Calvert.

DOREMI FASOL LATIDO is another one of the classic Hawkwind albums from the early 70’s and is the first to feature what a lot of people say was the best line up of the band, I have varying opinions on that as each line up had it’s strengths and weaknesses. However this album saw them cement and define their heavy psychedelic space rock sound which you either love or hate, no middle ground on this one at all.