Rock N Roll
Silver Lining Music
Line Up:
Lemmy – Bass/Vocals
Phil Campbell – Guitar
Mikkey Dee – Drums.
Guest –
Brian May – Guitar on ‘The Devil’
Tracklist:
1 – Victory Or Die
2 – Thunder & Lightning
3 – Fire Storm Hotel
4 – Shoot Out All Of Your Lights
5 – The Devil
6 – Electricity
7 – Evil Eye
8 – Teach Them How To Bleed
9 – Till The End
10 – Tell Me Who To Kill
11 – Choking On Your Screams
12 – When The Sky Comes Looking For You
13 – Sympathy For The Devil
Bonus Tracks
14 – Heroes
15 – Bullet In Your Brain
16 – Greedy Bastards
Live At Mt Fuji Rock Festival 2015
1 – We Are Motorhead
2 – Damage Case
3 – Stay Clean
4 – Metropolis
5 – Over The Top
6 – String Theory
7 – The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
8 – Rock It
9 – Lost Woman Blues
10 – Doctor Rock
11 – Just ‘Cos You Got The Power
12 – Going To Brazil
13 – Ace Of Spades
14 – Overkill
It’s eight years since the release of Motorhead’s 23rd and final album ‘Bad Magic’ and here it is re-released with a couple of extra tracks, a live CD of their performance at The Mount Fuji Festival, Japan in 2015 and if you’re so inclined the vinyl issue comes with a Motorhead Ouija board – so maybe you can contact Lemmy direct.
Motorhead was always a live band. Lemmy stated that if a band doesn’t play live then they’re not a true band, so producer Cameron Webb got the trio to play live on the floor for the first time in the existence of the Lemmy/Campbell/Dee line-up, and boy does it pulse with that live energy.
Lemmy’s legendary gnarly voice, abused by decades of abuse from Marlboro Reds and Jack Daniels greets us before the band kicks straight into ‘Victory Or Die’ – classic Motorhead rock n roll, dirty, fast, and nasty then shit gets faster on ‘Thunder And Lightning’ with Lemmy putting his point across like only he can. ‘Fire Storm Hotel’ brings it down a bit on a true slab of greasy rock n roll before the fast and vicious ‘Shoot Out All Of Your Lights’ then we get the chugging drive of ‘The Devil’ which features Dr. Brian May no less. ‘Electricity’ rattles along on a classic Motorhead banger then ‘Evil Eye’ gets the Mikkey Dee treatment to begin before Phil Campbell gives it some large. I don’t know why Campbell is never considered one of the best rock guitarists because he is, His riffs are dirty and catchy and his lead playing is world-class. ‘Teach Them How To Bleed’ is another rattler that has its dirty-soled boots in punk then we get a ballad – ‘Till The End’ – something that Motorhead became quite adept at. Lyrically Lemmy is up there with the best, especially when writing about war or the friends he’s lost over the years. On the other hand, Lemmy also knew how to write about the darker side of society like in ‘Tell Me Who To Kill’ and ‘Choking On Your Screams’.
‘When The Sky Comes Looking For You’ is back to the dumb-ass rock n roll then we get the cover of the Stones ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ which talks about right for the part. Here we go with the bonus tracks – a cover of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ which appeared on a covers album a few years ago then the punk/metal of ‘Bullet In Your Brain’ and the bluesy diatribe of ‘Greedy Bastards’ where Lemmy puts his feelings across about his perennial enemies – politicians!
‘We are Motorhead – and we play rock n roll!’ – gets the ball rolling on the live recording from Mount Fuji Festival. The band knocked out newer tracks plus favorites and classics that have to be played. Unfortunately, the sound quality is like a bootleg so it’s a bit disappointing.
‘Bad Magic’ was a great send-off for Lemmy. An album chock full of his vitriolic stance and his view on life which he lived on his terms. Dee and Campbell were truly exceptional and playing the songs live in the studio gave them an energy that grabbed you through the speakers. If you haven’t already got a copy, then I urge you get obtain one because it’s one of their best.
Score: 9/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
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