i'm a motorhead fan but i'm not overly impressed with this debut album. to me the sound isn't that great and lemmy is just starting to work on his growl. my favorite motorhead album is hammered but i discovered the bands years ago with ace of spades. there are a few good songs...iron horse being my favorite off this album...but i find the entire album to be lacking.
July 10, 2008 |  | One of the gnarliest debuts ever |  |
Hawkwind was a spacey drug band big in Britain, less so in the States. They did have a bass player named Lemmy Kilmister who exited the band and gave us one of rock's most caustic, bombastic and heavy outfits ever, the legendary Motorhead.
The self-titled debut is a raunchy sloppy loud affair, with the classic line-up featuring Lemmy and Philthy Animal Taylor on drums and the underrated Fast Eddie Clarke on guitar. Punky in spirit, metal in attack and just plain loud an obnoxious, "Motorhead" is one of the rawest debuts ever. Clarke is proficient - in fact, they all can play, but Lemmy's gargling with Drano voice, the full blast production and deep subjects like speed ("Motorhead", "White Line Fever") and an unbelievably sloppy cover of ZZTop's "Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers" give the world a band that has yet to be equalled in terms of balls-out rock n' roll.
While the material doesn't quite measure up evenly, compared to the successor, the fantastic "Overkill", the above mentioned cuts and "Iron Horse" are very strong and overall the CD is a must have for those wishing to own the entire catalogue from the classic line-up. What a great antidote this band was when it first appeared, alongside the turgid strains of Styx, Foreigner and other pathetic bloated arena bands of the day!
February 10, 2008 | | Only for the die-hardest of the diehard fans. | |
What's weird is that this album does have three completely stellar tracks: "Motorhead", "Iron Horse" and "The Train Kept a-Rollin'". These are absolutely worth having, so get them on No Sleep 'Till Hammersmith**. If you do, you'll not only get much better versions of these three songs, you'll have a great live sampler of early Motorhead. A debut album can be a good place to start for a collection, however the other tracks on Motorhead are nothing like what you'll find right after, on Overkill or Bomber, and the recording and production are as bad as it gets. Even "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" on this album just makes me cringe. You should be a rock solid veteran Motorfan before you consider buying this one. **Double check the edition. "Train Kept a-Rollin'" comes as a bonus track on the 2001 metal-Is Records edition.
September 16, 2006Motorhead's first and in my opinion best. It is raw, exciting, hard, fast, driving metal and has to be played REALLY LOUD with the bass cranked up to make any sense. It's darker, meaner, and somehow has a more sinister feel than the band's later and more popular stuff. It also has a cruder feel to it, which is part of its appeal. It seems to capture that energy that bands put into their debut albums - the first from The Clash springs to mind - though the two are completely different musically. However although I am giving it 5 stars I am not sure that American audiences will find it to their taste. It is one to take a chance on. But I recommend you do.
Technically the CD offers good quality audio - anything has to be better than my 27 year-old vinyl copy. I still can't make out what Lemmy is saying, but that is a reflection on his hoarse and gravelly vocals, not the CD. Lemmy is no typical screaming heavy metal frontman. As another reviewer said "Bon Jovi it isn't."
December 10, 2005 | | YESSSSS! GUTTER TRASH, ALLEY WAY, DUSTY DIVE ROCK! HARD! | |
This is MOTORHEAD's first album. It's raw and its dangerous. You absolutely should have this album. Its one of the greatest things ever put down onto wax. Sure, later albums have a much fuller sound, and I really can't think of a MOTORHEAD record that doesn't get your head spinnin' and your fists pumping- but this is a unique, old school, garage sound. Excellent. This is one of those discs where, the crappier the stereo is, the better it sounds! HIGHLIGHTS: The title track is simply the coolest, PLAY LOUD! LOUD-d-d-d-d! VIBRATOR, also very cool, with it's old school punk rock vibe. LOST JOHNNY and IRON HORSE make sure that you don't slow down. The whole thing just continues to rock, like a good old smoky bar would... and the blues covers round it out so that it can't be compared to nothing. Lemmy's voice is unmatchable, and it sounds so much better in these grit infested recordings of I'M YOUR WITCH DOCTOR and BEER DRINKERS AND HELL RAISERS. Nobody knows about this gem, but YOU are here reading this reveiw, and I think that YOU ought to dig up this artifact. The bottle may be dusty, but this liquor is still mean! PUT SOME FIRE IN YOUR EARS!
November 30, 2005More reviews at Amazon.com ...
