The 40th anniversary reissue of Motörhead’s seminal first album. Pressed on white vinyl with an embossed silver Motörhead logo on the cover, just like the original release, plus a fully illustrated inner bag.
England’s fervent rejoinder to the MC5 and the Stooges, Motörhead’s potent brand of full-on, amphetamine- and hard liquor-fuelled rock’n’roll was openly embraced by the leading lights of the mid-1970s punk explosion in the UK. They were one of the few bands with a past to be accorded any respect at all by the Damned or the Sex Pistols, and would subsequently inspire bands such as Napalm Death, Discharge, Naked City and Metallica.
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister formed Motörhead in 1975. Rock’n’roll coursed through every fibre of his being. He was raised on 1950s rock’n’roll (Little Richard was a big favourite), played in cult 60s band the Rockin’ Vickers (with the boards manned by Who/Kinks producer Shel Talmy), worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and was a member of Sam Gopal’s Dream shortly before playing bass with psychedelic space rock merchants Hawkwind. It was Lemmy who sang lead vocals on Hawkwind’s ‘Silver Machine’, a Top 3 hit in the UK in 1972.
A drug bust at the Canadian border in 1975 caused the cancellation of a number of Hawkwind gigs and resulted in Lemmy’s dismissal from the band. But you can’t keep a good man down. Back in London, he formed Bastard with Pink Fairies guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. After a friend told him that Bastard wouldn’t secure many appearances on Top Of The Pops, Lemmy changed the band name to Motörhead. The name was the title of his final composition for Hawkwind – a no-holds-barred account of one wild night at the Continental Hyatt Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, which was originally released on the B-Side of their ‘Kings Of Speed’ single.
After Larry Wallis left the band and Lucas Fox was fired, Lemmy and new recruits, guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal”Taylor, recorded the definitive version of the song with producer Speedy Keen. Other Motörhead anthems, including ‘White Line Fever’, ‘Keep Us On The Road’ and a blistering reading of Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s 1956 version of Tiny Bradshaw‘s ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’’, were recorded in a two-day session at Escape Studios. The album would ensure the band would have a career until Lemmy’s death in 2015. The maximum rock’n’roll of “Mötorhead” still takes no prisoners, 40 years on.
IAN JOHNSTON
