Doremi may not be Hawkwind's most renowned album, but it carries the
same type of prog rock spaciness as their first two releases. Even though
the keyboard playing is trimmed down just a tad, the introduction of Ian
Kilmister, otherwise known as Lemmy of Motörhead fame, makes up for
it. With Lemmy's hard-lined guitar playing and Del Dettmar's synthesizer
stabs, tracks like "Space Is Deep" and "The Watcher"
are infused with elaborate instrumental meanderings in perfect Hawkwind
fashion. The longer tracks, both "Brainstorm" and "Time
We Left This World Today," have Lemmy getting settled in the band's
extraordinary milieu, but end up being the album's strongest cuts. There's
a harder feel to the songs all the way through, with the guitar and drums
coming to the forefront ahead of Dik and Mik's "generators"
and "hot electronics." Doremi is the inaugural album for drummer
Simon King, and with guitarist Dave Anderson and percussion man Terry
Ollis now departed, Hawkwind still manages to muster up a firm intergalactic
space-metal atmosphere...only with a more rugged thrust.
(by Mike DeGagne, AMG)
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Hmm... well, it sounds exactly the same way as does its predecessor,
but something actually makes me choose Doremi over In Search Of Space.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Dave Anderson had left
the band and was replaced by Ian Kilmister, yeah, yeah, it's the Lemmy
of future Motorhead fame. Not surprisingly, certain tracks on here now
sound like early Motorhead - or, well, it's more correct to say that early
Motorhead sounds a bit like some of the tracks on here. Can't you hear
the echoes of 'Time We Left This World Today' in, say, 'Iron Horse'? You
sure can.
In any case, one might poke fun at the poor Hawkwind for their tired 4/4
beats - how's that for ten-minute long songs that don't shift key or tempo
even once? - but if ye try to deny the trancey charm induced by the tattooed
potheads on some of the tracks, you're sure one nasty little sucker. Relax
and let the music get to you, I say, trying to imitate some of the flamers
who tell me the same things. Actually, I could have given the record four
stars - what's it to me? - except that I don't feel at all partial to
'Brainstorm'. I understand that it's actually shorter than its previous
analog by a whoppin' four minutes, and, once again, the vocal parts of
the song are fine and cool, but everything else is just... eh, I mean,
it sounds as if In Search Of Space never ended and they decided to re-record
it once again. Yeah, yeah, it's really soothing to be able to mount upon
Lemmy's unerring bass riff and watch the keyboardish comets and guitarish
meteors swish past in all of their trippy glory, but Christ! Is it really
necessary to double your efforts in such a blatant way?
However, the rest of the songs, which all more or less fit into six or
seven minutes, or even less, are excellently crafted - I really really
dig that stuff. 'Space Is Deep' opens with a lengthy acoustic section
that is equally trippy and visionary but doesn't pound so heavily on your
brain, and then transforms into yet another 4/4 shuffle which is far less
gloomy than the usual Hawkwind stuff, mainly due to some anthemic synthesizer
solos in the "daddy be proud of your planet" style. 'The Lord
Of Light' is an absolute stunner: you gotta hear that hellish rumble that
Lemmy produces, and while I think that Brock could have had refrained
from reciting the stupid lyrics three times in a row, they don't bother
me at all. Actually, what I'd like to state here is that Hawkwind lyrics
aren't really stupid. Hawkwind lyrics, just like the lyrics of Rush several
years later, are just primitive - and that's a different thing. Primitive
lyrics are lyrics derived from pocketbook fantasy, and since we all know
that the music of Hawkwind was initially presupposed to be pocketbook
fantasy soundtracks, we all know what to expect. But they're actually
well-constructed and not idiotic in their essence, like, say, something
like Uriah Heep's 'Magician's Birthday'. Here's 'Lord Of Light' for you:
'The elements that gather here upon this hill shall cast no fear, of lines
that match across the world for travel which no man has ever heard'. Eh?
Blah blah blah, I really don't care. 'Let's all go down to the magician's
birthday' irritates me far more.
Anyway, who the heck cares, they sing their lyrics as if they had no teeth
- you can't make out anything anyway, and so much for the better. Hawkwind
songs are essentially meant for the listener to bring in his own interpretations,
and that's the best part of it. 'Down Through The Night' creates excellent
winterish imagery, with loads of white noise descending upon Brock's melancholy
singing and acoustic strumming; and the lengthy 'Time We Left This World
Today' is a groovy bluesy jam that has more things going on it than the
entire Uriah Heep catalog. And Kilmister's 'The Watcher' ends the album
on a quiet, yet menacing note - Lemmy sings in such a strange 'negligent'
but dark tone, as if saying, 'we'll come back ya hear'.
It would be useless trying to analyse this stuff in details. Heck, it
would be useless trying to analyse this stuff AT ALL! This is just the
kind of record that doesn't fit into any logical scheme: according to
every parameter and criterion, it should suck balls, but on the gut level
it turns out to be incredibly cool. Does this mean that logic fails? No,
of course not! says I displaying some brand new positive thinking. If
logic fails, time to expand logic's boundaries. Or create a new logic.
Ergo, if you wanna create yourself a new logic, you gotta buy Doremi Fasol
Latido, dig it, dig it twice, dig it thrice, and then try to rationally
explain your feelings.
One, two, three, go. Good luck to you. Oh and, by the way, for some strange
reason, a large part of Hawkwind fans don't like this album at all, saying
that it was uninspired and formulaic. EH????!!!???? Now this is the kind
of logic that completely escapes me.
(George
Starostin, Rating: * * * 1/2)
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