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TUMBLING DICE - 1972
Your All-Genres Guide To Exceptional
CD Reissues and Remasters
Classic Albums, Compilations, 45s...
All Detailed Reviews Taken From The Discs Themselves
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"...Greetings From Space Mother..."
Following on from the breakthrough of October 1971's "X In Search Of Space" LP and June 1972's 45-single "Silver Machine" (a worldwide hit) was always going to be difficult for a band as uncompromising as London's Space Rockers HAWKWIND. But our favourite flavoursome five reprobates delivered a worthy successor in the November 1972 sonic mayhem that was and is "Doremi Fasol Latido" – even if countries outside of Blighty didn't seem to notice much.
But if I'm truthful - "Doremi Fasol Latido" is a four-star Hawkwind album - all sonically drunk and Production disorderly and falling over itself on the way to an undoubtedly rank toilet. It's a wee beastie for sure (probably why I like it so much). But this March 1996 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster elevates that four-star scamp into a five-star rocking thoroughbred, especially given four bonuses actually worthy of the name.
So, let's go forth my Thorasin Blood Brothers because our Space Mother is calling her Hawklord offspring into the sorcerer’s cauldron for a bit of a brainstorm (if you catch my stellar drift)...
UK released 20 August 2001 - "Doremi Fasol Latido" by HAWKWIND on EMI Records 530 0312 / 7243 5 30031 2 8 (Barcode 724353003128) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (59:06 minutes):
1. Brainstorm [Side 1]
2. Space is Deep
3. One Change
4. Lord Of Light [Side 2]
5. Down Through The Night
6. Time We Left This World Today
7. The Watcher
Tracks 1 to 7 are their third studio album "Doremi Fasol Latido" - released November 1972 in the UK on United Artists UAG 29364 and December 1972 in the USA on United Artists UA-LA001-F. Produced by DAVE BROCK and DEL DETTMAR - it peaked at No. 14 in the UK (didn't chart USA).
BONUS TRACKS:
8. Urban Guerrilla
9. Brainbox Pollution
Tracks 8 and 9 are the non-album A&B-sides of a 22 June 1973 UK 45-single on United Artists UP 35566
10. Lord of Light (Single Version Edit)
Track 10 was not a 45 in the UK; however, Amon Duul's Peter Kramper and Stefan Michel remixed it January 1973 in a Munich studio for the German market, reducing the LP cut of 6:59 minutes to 3:59 minutes. United Artists UA 35 492 was issued around about March 1973 in a picture sleeve with a remixed and edited version of "Born To Go" from "The Greasy Truckers Party" double-album on the B-side.
11. Ejection (Previously Unreleased Version) - Written by Dave Brock, Produced by Roy Baker
There are two variants of this release – the first appeared 22 March 1996 in a multi-flap card digipak on EMI Premier HAWKS 3 / 7243 8 37554 2 4 (Barcode 724383755424). If you want that version, you will need to seek it out in a separate entry. That was in turn replaced with this more common 20 August 2001 reissue that comes in a standard jewel case (EMI Records 530 0312 is easily available for about a fiver or less – new or used).
Fan nerds will know that the original Barney Bubbles-designed LP famously came with a silver foil on black card design and a space art inner sleeve. The gobbledygook commentary printed on the back sleeve which starts with “Blood greetings O brother, from our great space mother...” is reproduced in the 1996 foldout card digipak version, as is the inner sleeve. But so also is the rare ‘Street Rats’ poster that only came with some original vinyl LPs in England. I mention this poster because although the 2001 reissue has exactly the same liner notes and credit details as before (same 1996 Remaster too) – someone forgot to display the poster in the 12-page booklet of the 2001 reissue. It’s a small mishap, but one worth mentioning.
The 1996 Audio Remaster (carried over into the 2001 reissue) is care of long-time Abbey Road associate PETER MEW aided by PAUL COBBOLD and a name many will know from Universal Remasters – KEVIN REEVE. Those expecting Supertramp or Dark Side Of The Moon will need to look elsewhere. This is sloppy, grungy, heads down Space Rock with a grandiose dollop of Rock Psych thrown in. At times the band seems to be fighting to be heard in the heady mix – lead vocals distant, backing vocals in another room altogether. But this Remaster delivers the power and the muscle. And then just when you think you have Hawkwind pigeonholed to a wall of sound and volume – they whomp you with Acoustic beauty like Dave Brock’s "Space Is Deep" or Lemmy’s ethereal and eerie "The Watcher". Suddenly it feels beautifully produced even if the later half of the song might again descend into that drum vs. guitar drone. The transfer is grubby and dirty when it needs to be and soft as a baby's bum-bum when restraint is called for. I love it.
The dirtiest grittiest guitar ever greets the listener as Side 1 begins with "Brainstorm" - standing on the runway for 11:32 minutes of heads down Space Rock. The vocals are still lost but the gutbucket wallop of it is undeniable and a hoot. After the sheer eardrum assault of "Brainstorm" - the six-minutes of Dave Brock's "Space Is Deep" comes across as pretty - like an Acoustic Yes session mated with an exploratory Uriah Head whig-out, leaving both exhausted but proud Hawklord parents beaming down at their new gangly offspring. "Into the void we have to travel..." – he sings. Fairly sure I’m not alone in saying that "Space Is Deep" is my fave track on the album - a great vibe and now a fabulous remaster that fills the room as the crescendo builds. Fifty seconds of "One Change" ends Side 1 - a very cool piano instrumental that feels like it should be featured on the soundtrack to "Baby Driver 2: Second Gear" – the babe drives again – etc.
Side 2 opens with "Lord Of Light", a seven-minute Dave Brock guitar-shimmer accompanied by panned cymbals. It soon melts into a guitar riff similar in some ways to the might "Silver Machine" - probably why it was remixed in Germany in early 1973 and issued as a 7" single there. And again with another surprising acoustic opening to "Down Through The Night" - space vibes with echoed Nik Turner flute moments. Surely another fan crave is "Time We Left This World Today" - 8:43 minutes of pure Hawkwind grind. With other room vocals and whacking drums anchoring the wall of guitars, synths and flute warbling - you can just so see that 'strapping cohort Stacia' (as she is described in the commentary) giving it some bounce for the boys on stage as he singer chants 'today' like a mantra. Future Motorhead legend and Bass player Lemmy gets his moment as he finishes the album with the surprisingly restrained "The Watcher".
But the extras have me jumping up and down in the living room with a Spalding tennis racquet - my missus with yet another worried look and the Nurse Ratched cast on speed-dial. I've always liked "Urban Guerrilla" but my poison is the fantastic 5:42 minutes of its B-side "Brainbox Pollution" - a track that I'm certain should have been the "Silver Machine" follow-up. What a tune. Throw in two great extras in the tighter single edit for "Lord Of Light" and a cool unreleased Rock tune in "Ejection" - and it’s a groovy listen overall.
There will be those who listen to "Doremi Fasol Latido" and wonder did Daddy and Mummy take too many magic mushrooms in 1972 when they assure their already alarmed sprogs in 2020 that Hawkwind is the dogs bollox. I miss them and the sheer couldn't give a cobblers freedom of it all. Enjoy, you children of Nik Turner, Dave Brock, Del Dettmar, Simon King and the mighty Kilmister Kid...
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