Soundtrack4Life: The Best Albums of 2017 - #07 Under Cöver - Motörhead (2017)

With the inclusion of this album at #7 I broke my normal protocol for the third time and actually twice with this particular album. I have tended not to include albums of Cover Versions in my Best of the Year posts and this is the third one (the others being Shelly Lynne and Allison Moorer's album Not Dark Yet and Southern Blood by Greg Allman. A case could also be made for the QSP album by Quatro, Scott an Powell but that does include at least half an album of songs written by them so maybe it doesn't fit as a "covers album" as such). The second way of breaking my own protocol was the inclusion of a Compilation (something I don't think I have ever actually done - though I am willing to be proved wrong on that!) because that is essentially what Under Cöver is, a collection of cover versions recorded at various points in time by Motörhead. There's lots of links down below to hear more music from Motörhead and others.

The day after Lemmy's death in 2015 drummer Mikkey Dee confirmed that Motörhead would not continue, stating, "Motörhead is over, of course. Lemmy was Motörhead. We won't be doing any more tours or anything. And there won't be any more records. But the brand survives, and Lemmy lives on in the hearts of everyone."

I guess some folk were not thinking too hard about what the drummer had said - "there won't be any more records" - and were thinking of the possible opportunities to make some cold hard cash (I am a bit of cynic about these things! 😲) as the live Clean Your Clock (which I thought was pretty poor) was released in 2016 and then Under Cöver this year.

Motörhead were renown for playing Cover Versions throughout their career and quite a few have been recorded as singles, albums tracks, as part of tribute albums etc. I'm not sure who was responsible for putting together this particular album but I do have a feeling that we might see an Under Cöver Volume 2 at some point!

Enough of the cynical comments though and onto the positives.

Under Cöver shows that Motörhead could be incredibly diverse when it came to doing cover versions. Lemmy of course had released a couple of albums of Rock and Roll Standards under the banner of The Head Cat (Listen to Walk The Walk...Talk The Talk Here). There are nods to the band's contemporaries with Breaking the Law (Judas Priest), Starstruck (Rainbow), Hellraiser (Ozzy Osbourne) and Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent - though I can't bring myself to add a link for that bitter and twisted man!). Also there's a spotlight thrown on a couple of the "newer" bands who were/are battling for their crown - Shoot 'em Down (Twisted Sister) and Whiplash (Metallica) alongside two covers of The Rolling Stones (Jumpin' Jack Flash and Sympathy For The Devil - which could be the standout track on the album were it not for another that I'll mention in a moment). 

Then there is a highlighting of Punk with covers of God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols) and Rockaway Beach (Ramones). Motörhead were always a bit special to Punks and Lemmy had of course been the bass player when The Damned were about to make their first come back and had played some live shows with them (and recorded Ballroom Blitz with them). The inclusion of a track by the Ramones was a great call as Lemmy had a lot of love for the New York foursome (he even wrote a wee ditty in their honour - R.A.M.O.N.E.S. and played it at their final show).

The most surprising Cover Version on the album has to be David Bowie's Heroes. They had recorded it during sessions for their 22nd and final studio album Bad Magic that was released in August 2015 but it was not included in the release. Anyway, I think they did a pretty good job with it and Lemmy rather than his usual growling through a song actually tries to sing it (and not to shabby if I may say so). It's the best track on the album for me.

Under Cöver - Motörhead

WEA/Silver Lining Music

 Produced by:
    Cameron Webb (tracks 1, 3, 4 and 7 and mixing on track 9), Bob Kulick and Bruce Bouillet (tracks 2, 6, 10 and 11), Peter Solley (track 5), Billy Sherwood (track 8)

Released 1st September 2017

UK Chart #19

German Chart #4

Listen To The Album Here:

Tracklisting/Original Artist/Year Recorded

1. Breaking the Law (Judas Priest) 2008
2. God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols) 2000
3. Heroes (David Bowie) 2015
4. Starstruck (Rainbow) 2014
5. Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent) 1992
6. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones) 2001
7. Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones) 2015
8. Hellraiser (Ozzy Osbourne) 1992
9. Rockaway Beach (Ramones) 2002
10. Shoot ‘Em Down (Twisted Sister) 2001
11. Whiplash (Metallica) 2005

Personnel
Motörhead
    Lemmy Kilmister – lead vocals, bass
    Phil "Zööm" Campbell – guitars, backing vocals
    Michael "Würzel" Burston – Guitars, Backing vocals on track 5 and 8
    Mikkey Dee – drums

Guest musicians
   Biff Byford – lead vocals on track 4

***************

Ian Fraser 'Lemmy' Kilmister

24th December 1945 - 28th December 2015

Lemmy's Grave

Forest Lawn Hollywood

Photo by Arthur Dark

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 301 - Motörhead

Bomber - Motörhead

Bronze

Produced by Jimmy Miller

Released 27th October 1979

UK Chart #12

Motörhead
    Lemmy Kilmister – lead vocals, bass
    "Fast" Eddie Clarke - guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Step Down"
    Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor - drums

Single on Bomber

A-Side Bomber

Released December 1979

UK Chart #34

B-Side: Over The Top.

Was released in Blue Vinyl

*********************

Bomber

TV Performance 1979

Motörhead are one of those bands that were loved by Rockers and Punks and a lot of that probably had to do with Lemmy's embracing of bands like Ramones and The Damned.

Bomber was their third studio album and their second of 1979 (Overkill had been released in March and reached #24 in the album charts). Lemmy had thought that if the band had the opportunity to road test these songs before recording them the album might have been better, but nevertheless the album became their highest placed of their first three long players reaching #12.

Producer was Jimmy Miller who had worked with the Rolling Stones between 1968-73. He was let go by them due to his heroin habit. So Bomber was a bit of a comeback for him but it wasn't too long before he was back on the smack! It's interesting that the opening song on the album, Dead Man Tell No Tales, is specifically an anti-heroin song!

Critics felt that the songs on the album weren't as strong as those on Overkill but there's a few on it that are considered classics by Motörhead fans (Stone Dead Forever, Dead Men Don't Tell Tales and Bomber in particular).

The title track was recorded by Girlschool in 1981 and released on the  The St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

The Head Cat - Rock 'n' Roll Riot on the Sunset Strip (May 2016)

Rock 'n' Roll Riot on the Sunset Strip - The Head Cat

Released 11th May 2016

Get It Here!

Apologies for any bad language that can be heard in the following video!

Rockin' The Cat Club

Live on the Sunset Strip

The Head Cat

Setlist

01. Good Rockin' Tonight
02. Lawdy Miss Clawdy
03. Talkin' 'Bout You
04. Something Else
05. Reelin' And Rockin'
06. Fool's Paradise
07. Bye Bye Johnny
08. Sick And Tired
09. Bad Boy
10. Matchbox
11. Back In The USA
12. Baby What You Want Me Do?
13. Blue Suede Shoes

I had said in the previous post that I was going to be looking at something that I think shows Lemmy Kilmister in a better light than the new Live Album Clean Your Clock by Motörhead and this is it.

It was filmed and recorded originally back in 2004 but did not get released until 2006. The Audio of the show got issued back in May of this year (though I only recently stumbled upon it) though it had been released as a Limited Edition Vinyl along with the DVD of the show.

It's such a great set loaded with songs by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino and Eddie Cochran - probably the soundtrack to a young Lemmy's life.

 
Lemmy, Slim Jim Phantom and Danny B. Harvey are The Head Cat. When their debut album, Fools Paradise, was released back in 2006 very little notice of it seems to have been taken (you can listen to at the link near the bottom of this piece).

The second album contained a couple of original songs as well as some rock and roll classics. It's one of my favourite albums.

Walk The Walk...Talk The Talk - The Head Cat

Released 2011

Fools Paradise - The Head Cat (2006).

Lemmy reckoned that The Head Cat were not actually that much different from Motörhead and said in an interview with Classic Rock that he wanted to go out and tour properly with the band - "There's no reason why we can't aim to do an album a year. It's not as if we are short of songs to cover. There must be a 1,000 of them at least. And because hardly any are more than two minutes long there's no time for people to get bored. That's Rock 'n'Roll."

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 208 Motörhead

Clean Your Clock - Motörhead

UDR

Produced by Motörhead

Released 10th June 2016

UK Chart #36

German Chart #2

Motörhead Personnel
    Lemmy Kilmister – lead vocals, bass
    Phil Campbell – lead guitar, backing vocals
    Mikkey Dee – drums

Some Footage from the DVD

Clean Your Clock

Clean Your Clock is the thirteenth Live Album release from Motörhead and was recorded on their last tour in November over two nights (21st and 22nd) at The Zenith in Munich.

I have a couple of reservations about this album. Firstly, the day after Motörhead had announced the death of Lemmy drummer Mikkey Dee had issued a statement of his own: "Motörhead is over, of course. Lemmy was Motörhead. We won't be doing any more tours or anything. And there won't be any more records. But the brand survives, and Lemmy lives on in the hearts of everyone." 

Did you notice that "And there won't be any more records" bit? I realise that UDR were in an interesting position and had not only recorded the two nights and filmed them but surely they must have wondered to themselves if the decision to release them was a good thing or not!

The second thing I have a concern about with regard to this album is: I'm not sure that this exactly how I wish to remember Lemmy Kilmister, as it is very apparent right from the start of the show that Lemmy is not on his best form vocally and seeing some of the film footage he was looking a shadow of his former self. Yes, the band sound pretty tight and play an interesting set (oddly enough featuring only one song from the latest album Bad Magic that had been released in August 2015), but Lemmy's vocals are pretty poor by his high standards. Personally speaking I would rather have settled for Bad Magic being the last thing released by the band than have to watch this performance. I have to say I felt very sad watching it, not just because the fact that he is no longer with us but because it is a poor reflection of the man he once was.

The vocals on the CD seem to be lacking the usual volume, maybe they have done this to try and disguise the fact that Lemmy seemed to be struggling.

I don't know what other fans of Motörhead think about this, I'd be interested to know.

The post that follows this one will maybe show a better way to remember Lemmy Kilmister at his best.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

45RPM: #74-75 Motörhead (1977)

Motörhead had originally planned to release their debut single White Line Fever / Leaving Here on Stiff Records (BUY9) in December 1976 but United Artists put a block on it but it did come out in 1977 on French label Skydog. The French release swapped the sides around so Leaving Here was the A-Side and White Line Fever was relegated to the B-Side. In 1980 they would release the song Leaving Here as part of The Golden Years Live EP and even managed to get on Top of the Pops!

 Leaving Here/White Line Fever

Skydog (France)

1977

Motörhead / City Kids

Chiswick Records

June 1977

Motörhead was the last song that Lemmy wrote for Hawkwind was released as a B-Side to their Kings of Speed single in March 1975, after being fired from the band he took the song title and made it the name of the band.

Tormorrow is the funeral of Lemmy Kilmister and it's being streamed live on You Tube. Here's a link for it if you are wanting to watch - CLICK HERE!

The Soundtrack4Life Concert Series: Motörhead & The Head Cat

The S4L Concert Series continutes today with a Lemmy Double Bill

A wee word of warning that there is some strong language at various points in the shows.

Motörhead at The Rock amRing 2010

The Head Cat

Live at The Cat Club

Lemmy Kilmister 24/12/45 - 28/12/15

(Picture by Roberts John)

When The Sky Comes  Looking For You - Motörhead (2015)
 

Motörhead Frontman Lemmy Kilmister passed away four days after his 70th Birthday (24 December). Reports say that two days before his death (26th December) he was diagnosed with an extremely agressive Cancer. He died at his home in Los Angeles on 28th December 2015.

 

As part of The Rockin' Vickers Lemmy released three singles in the 1960's:

1965 – "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" / "Stella" (7" single)
1965 – "It's Alright" / "Stay By Me" (7" single)
1966 – "Dandy" / "I Don't Need Your Kind" (7" single)

In 1969 he joined Psychedelic band Sam Gopal (formerly known as Sam Gopal's Dream) and released the album Escalator and single Horse / Back Door Man.

In 1972 he joined Hawkwind as Bassist (which he had not played in previous bands). It was here he developed his famous stance and style of playing. He sung lead vocals on Hawkwind's huge hit single 'Silver Machine' (that reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1972). Lemmy was fired from the band in 1975.

Teaming up with Pink Faries guitarist Larry Wallis he set about forming the band that he has become most famous for, Motörhead. The name was taken from a song that Lemmy had written for Hawkwind's fifth studio album Warrior on the Edge of Time. The song did not make the album until it was reissued on CD.

Originally the name of the band was "Bastard" that but having been informed by his manager that they'd never get a slot on Top of the Pops with the name it was changed to Motörhead. They made their live debut in July 1975 at The Roundhouse in London, a recording of it exists, it's not brilliant sound by any means but it's worth a listen.

After their debut album On Parole (recorded between December 1975 and February 1976 - produced by Dave Edmunds!) was rejected by United Artists they released their debut single in 1977 on Stiff Records - Leaving Here/White Line Fever. Well, UA put a block on Stiff distributing the single but it did appear on French label Skydog and Swedish label Blitz Records. The original Stiff one is a bit of a rarity, it did finally get a release when Stiff issued a Limited Edition 10 disc Boxset of their first 10 Singles in 1979. The On Parole album would finally see the light of day in 1979 after the band had gained some success (typical record label cashing in!).

Chiswick Records signed the band and would eventually release the debut album, Motörhead (the band had basically re-recorded On Parole over a weekend, ditched two songs Fools and Leaving Here, and added were White Line Fever, Keep Us On The Road and a cover Train Kept A-Rollin'. There were some band changes with Fast Eddie Clarke (he had actually joined in 1976) on Guitar and Phil "Philthy Phil Animal" Taylor on Drums in what is now known as the classic Motörhead line-up.

Over the course of 38 years, and with various line-ups 22 Studio Albums , 9 Live Albums, 10 Compilation Albums, 4 EP's and 29 Singles would be released under the Motörhead banner. Their final album, Bad Magic was released in August 2015.

Lemmy also released a couple of albums under the name The Head Cat (Fools Paradise and Walk The Walk, Talk The Talk). The group included Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats and Danny B. Harvey of The Rockats. There's also an album Lemmy Slim Jim & Danny B from 2000 before they took the name The Head Cat (the album used to be up on You Tube but they seem to have taken it down. Here's a track from it though - Stuck On You).

He's guested and collaborated on loads of projects over the years and one of the most famous ones I guess is HeadGirl (Motörhead and Girlschool) for the St Valentines Day Massacre EP. It reached #5 in the charts. A brilliant cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates 'Please Don't Touch' and Motörhead performing Girlschool's Emergency and Girlschool performing Motörhead's Bomber.

Motörhead: Live Fast Die Old Documentary.*

* Warning: Does contain Strong Language

Lemmy wanted the music to be "fast and vicious, just like the MC5". His stated aim was to "concentrate on very basic music: loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speedfreak rock n roll ... it will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die".

Motörhead Live at Glastonbury 2015.

The August Album Challenge: 28. An Album You Play The LOUDEST!

An Album You Play The Loudest? Mmm...I wonder what that could be as I do play quite a few loud...

Will it be a copy of Simply Red's Greatest Hits that my friend Kenny didn't send me? (Kidding, Facebook on my mobile seem to think I should have that album but I can't stand 'em, and neither can my mate Kenny!) 

Will it be a copy of the latest Coldplay album that I don't know what the title is because I can't really stand them (and you were not really thinking that I had a Coldplay album were you! Oh and Kenny for the record doesn't like 'em either!)? 

Or maybe it will be something that is by nature very loud to begin with and totally deserves to be blasted out with a volume so loud that your ears bleed. It has to have guitars, drums, oh I guess a bassist as well (apologies to my four stringed playing friends!). My guess is that it can only mean...Motörhead!

Dedicated to Kenny Beaton!

  

The Best of Motörhead - Motörhead

Metal Is/Sanctuary

Released 26th August 2000

 Motörhead just today have released their 22nd Studio Album entitled Bad Magic, two tracks from it had been issued as a preview, the single Electricity and track two from the album Thunder and Lightning.