After an initial false start which culminated in their debut album ("On Parole") not being released (a fate that would have crushed many lesser bands), Britain's bad boys of rock picked themselves up, gave the entire world a huge "fuck you" by refusing to give up, and went to work on their second release, the classic "Motorhead" album. For many, this was their first opportunity to sample from Motorhead's sonic wares - and what an introduction! Kicking in with Lemmy's trademark Rickenbacker bass rumblings on the title track's introduction, there was no room for doubt as to whether or not Motorhead was going to blow the roof off your particular place of dwelling - these guys meant some serious fucking business. The track itself epitomises everything about the band: harsh lyrics dealing with unsavory topics (in this case, meth/speed addiction) backed up by the most ungodly combination of Lemmy's warmachine of a Bass (and his equally distinct and gravely vocal approach), Fast Eddie Clarke's stylistic "rock'n'roll nightmare" lead guitar, and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor's skin pounding (which sounded like he was more intent on beating his drums into submission rather than trying to get any kind of rhythmic interplay). The rest of the album continue much along the same lines for the most part (the exception being the "lighter" tone and bouncier feel of the song "Vibrator") and therefore requires no long descriptive passages dedicated to each of the tracks - after all, anyone that considers themselves a fan of metal in any respect should already own this and have committed it to memory long ago. My personal favorites (for those that happen to be curious) are "Iron Horse/Born To Lose", "Keep Us On The Road", and of course, the title track ("Motorhead") itself, but the entire album is of the highest quality and there isn't a bad track among them. If you don't already own this (perhaps you were stranded on a desert island for the land couple of decades), do yourself a favour and grab it immediately...there are quite a few versions of this floating around on various labels (as is the case with much of Motorhead's back catalog), but I'd recommend you hold out until you find one of the pressings that features the "5 bonus tracks" (which if I'm not mistaken, originally made up the "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" EP)...

© 1999 chorazaim