Hawkwind - 1972 - Doremi Fasol Latido

Quality: 4 out of 5

Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Another year, another Hawkwind album. But it's really not quite that simple. Here the band is clearly settling into it groove, with the necessary piston power provided by the arrival of Simon King on drums, and rock god Lemmy on bass - ripping out the notes on his bass guitar whist being pulled in his black chariot across the brimstone of hell by a host of demons. The band begins to probe the further depths of psychedelic space

So here's the deal - your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to program the monster, acid metal barrages of "Brainstorm," Lord of Light," and "Time We Left the World Today" in a repeating loop and play it until your head explodes like that dude in "Scanners." "Space Is Deep" is also a very groovy mid-tempo psychedelic number with a catchier hook that you can dance to as you pick up the clumps of grey matter from the floor. Lemmy surprises us all with his quiet, down-tempo tune "The Watcher." I guess he hadn't yet consumed his first steak and whiskey for the day. There are again some great bonus tracks following the proper album. The single version of "Lord of Light" is relatively inessential, but "Urban Guerilla," "Brainbox Pollution," and "Ejection" all find the band rockin' away at their wild, club-smashing best. Science-fiction grand wizard Robert Calvert also shows up with some songwriting credits here, so I suppose it's the start of fusing Hawkwind with the cosmic soul with Michael Moorcock (ding dang, now that's a family name to have).

Almost all the pieces have fallen into place for Hawkwind on this disc. The band brings it all together on their next couple releases, but "Doremi Fasol Latido" is still solid enough to earn a spot as one of Hawkwind's first classic album. If you want to travel interstellar space as loudly as possible, then these are your old school homies.