Doremi Fasol Latido

Hawkwind open their third album (their first with Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister on bass and backing vocals) with the nearly 12-minute “Brainstorm.” It’s a manic marathon built around a hard-charging Dave Brock riff, miles-thick bass from Lemmy, a pre-motorik beat from drummer Simon King (another new recruit) and spiraling synths and other electronics from Del Dettmar and Dik Mik, with Nik Turner’s sax wafting in and out in between lines about not wanting to turn into an android. It’s a fantastic take-it-or-leave-it performance; by the time “Brainstorm” is over, Hawkwind are either For You or Not For You, and nothing will ever change your mind again, whichever side you land on. The album maintains this surging energy on tracks like “Lord Of Light,” “Time We Left This World Today,” and “The Watcher,” with “Down Through The Night” and “Space Is Deep” providing gentler, acoustic guitar-driven moments of respite.