All right then, time to get this show on the road. And who should we start with? Well, surely there's only one place? Someone whom many of us, though we may never have met him, considered a friend and a part of our growing up, a hero to many, an idol to many, an ordinary guy who did extraordinary things and advanced the cause of Heavy Metal more than perhaps anyone I can think of. The passing of Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister just as 2015 drew to a close shocked and saddened us all. There will never be another like him, and so it's fitting I believe that I begin my journey through multiple discographies by first looking into the debut album of
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“Hawk Bastard Head”?
Could easily have been. As probably everyone knows, Lemmy began his musical career in psychedelic/space/metal/progressive rock/whatever-you're-having-yourself icons Hawkwind, but was kicked out of the band for doing drugs. Or, more specifically, for doing the wrong kind of drugs. Lemmy was more into speed and “street drugs” while Brock and the boys were on more “sophisticated” mind-expanding pharmaceuticals. And so he left, or was pushed out, and created a new band, which he called, with the bluntness with which he would become identified and for which he would be loved, Bastard, perhaps as a middle finger to Hawkwind. But like Judas Priest before them, it looked very much like the fledgling band would not survive, and would go under, forgotten and unwanted.
Luckily though, that didn't happen, and their second album brought them some of the recognition and fame they deserved, while their third would break them commercially and provide them with a song which would reverberate down through history, and not only that of music. But for now, the rechristened Motorhead were working on their debut album, which was, ironically, meant to be their farewell album as they broke up, having realised they were not going to make it.
Album title: Motorhead
Artiste: Motorhead
Genre: Heavy Metal
Year: 1977
Label: Chiswick
Producer: Speedy Keen (seriously!)
Chronological position: Debut album
Notes: The first appearance of the War-Pig or Snaggletooth, the tusked monster that would go on to be the band's mascot and their emblem throughout all their long career. Credit for this must go to Joe Petagno, who also designed Led Zeppelin's iconic swan logo.
Album chart position: Unknown
Singles: “Motorhead”
Lineup:
Lemmy (Ian Kilmister): Bass, Vocals
“Fast” Eddie Clarke: Guitars, Backing Vocals
Phil “Philty Animal” Taylor: Drums
Review begins
The first thing you hear as the album opens is that iconic bass of Lemmy's, then Phil Taylor's drums rumble through like a storm breaking before Eddie Clarke's guitar growls into the mix and their signature song (until “Ace of Spades”) hits like a hammerblow. Lemmy's voice is gravelly and rough, but certainly understandable. Great solo from Eddie and you can be sure these guys can play, despite the muddy production which makes it hard for them to really shine. I remember seeing them live in Ireland's only all-metal gig in I think 1983, and they were basically just a wall of noise. You actually had to stand away from the stage, up a hill about three or four hundred yards away, just so that your ears didn't bleed. And we loved it! Subtlety was never in Motorhead's locker, and you won't find any clever songwriting or intricate passages here, at least on the debut, but it's unapologetic metal almost before there was metal; it's raw, it's ugly, it's in your face and fu
ck you if you don't like it! “Vibrator” is certainly tongue-in-cheek, and rocks along with its head down and hair flying left and right, with a great grinding riff from Eddie, Lemmy a little more restrained in his vocal, while “Lost Johnny”, like the title track and one other to come, are holdovers from the Hawkwind days, and this one actually appeared on a Hawkwind album (
In the Hall of the Mountain Grill, I think): we will be checking out Hawkwind too, later, but for now this is Motorhead and Lemmy has brought these songs with him.
You can see the difference in “Lost Johnny” though: it doesn't quite work as a Motorhead song. Great bass intro but you can hear the ghost of progressive rock in the breakdown. In fairness, it marches along nicely on this album, but it's not a Motorhead track. It's almost slowed down too much for their style. Lemmy gets a chance to put his vocals through their paces though. Sweet solo from Eddie. Much more like it is “Iron horse/Born to lose”, which later appears on the superb live album
No Sleep Till Hammersmith (which we won't be looking at: studio albums only) and it powers along with the menace of Black Sabbath coupled with the guitar chops of Free and the metal godhood of Judas Priest. Clarke really enjoys himself on this one, throwing in some real blues licks, then we're back to grinding rock for “White line fever” with more than a hint of Steppenwolf, Lemmy's vocal (or the production, probably) sounding quite hollow and weak. Taylor's thundering assault and Clark's sharp, biting riffs see him right though.
“Keep us on the road” has much clearer production thankfully, and rocks along like a Harley heading down the freeway in the sun. With a few exceptions though, while these songs are mostly good there's little indication of how heavy Motorhead would get over their next few albums, and how they would almost define a sound which would later emerge as thrash metal. This is more seventies hard rock, pumped up yes, but still not really all that much what you would call metal. Very fluid guitarwork from Clarke, and Taylor has yet to learn to hate his drumkit in the way he punished it during standards such as “Ace of spades”, “Overkill” and “We are the road crew”. Even less metal is the psych rock “The Watcher”, another carryover from Lemmy's Hawkwind days, and while a great song, it's not something you could really have seen them integrating into their set once their star began to rise. Maybe they did, I don't know: I only saw them the once as I said, and there was no way to make out what they were playing. But I don't see it standing alongside the songs that went on to become live staples for them. Finishing then on a classic, their version of “Train kept a-rollin'”, which was claimed by, among others, Zep, just kind of pulls them further from the metal road they were destined to tread, and even lay down in years to come. It's a great song, sure, but it ain't Motorhead.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
Motorhead
Vibrator
Lost Johnny
Iron horse/Born to lose
White line fever
Keep us on the road
The Watcher
The train kept a-rollin'
Afterword: There's no doubt this is a good album, but the best was certainly to come, and when you listen to this album with 1977 ears (what? You don't have them? I do. I was fourteen) it seems, yeah, a good album, but not one destined to give birth to a legend in metal music. Rather like Priest's first two albums, it's hard to see where the icons rose from when you look back at their first effort. Luckily they improved in leaps and bounds on their second release.
As far as this album goes, I'd say it's a good Motorhead album, but far from a great Motorhead album. And as for metal? In places, yeah, you can hear it, but in others, no: it's just more a hard rock one for me.
Rating:
