The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 14 – Snake Bite Love (1998)

1. Love For Sale
2. Dogs Of War
3. Snake Bite Love
4. Assassin
5. Take The Blame
6. Dead and Gone
7. Night Side
8. Don’t Lie To Me
9. Joy Of Labour
10. Desperate For You
11. Better Off Dead

This is a much stronger album than Overnight Sensation. Even the slower numbers feel just a bit more special than the majority of the tracks on its predecessor. The triumvirate of ‘Love For Sale’, ‘Dogs Of War’ and ‘Snake Bite Love’ kick things off with aplomb and it’s only the song ‘Assassin’ which brings the album down as I just don’t like it. In fact I’d probably say it’s terrible. Wow, never thought I’d ever describe a Motörhead song as terrible but there you go. ‘Dead and Gone’ is a bit of a highlight, starting off quite slow but getting louder and heavier as it goes on, as are the very rock’n’roll influenced ‘Don’t Lie To Me’ and ‘Better off Dead’. All in all a very good album that perhaps I haven’t listened to as much as I should.

Next Album: WE ARE MOTÖRHEAD

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 13 – Overnight Sensation (1996)

1. Civil War
2. Crazy Like A Fox
3. I Don’t Believe A Word
4. Eat The Gun
5. Overnight Sensation
6. Love Can’t Buy You Money
7. Broken
8. Them Not Me
9. Murder Show
10. Shake The World
11. Listen To Your Heart

The first full album with Motörhead back as a three piece after Wurzel’s leaving is a reasonable affair. Not bad in anyway but also not massively memorable. ‘Civil War’ is a good loud and heavy opener and would sit on my favourites list. The title track ‘Overnight Sensation’ is also pretty good stuff too. Even the slower songs ‘I don’t believe A Word’ and ‘Listen To Your Heart’ are pretty good but they are not what I would call great. A decent album but I want something better.

Next Album: SNAKE BITE LOVE

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 12 – Sacrifice (1995)

1. Sacrifice
2. Sex And Death
3. Over Your Shoulder
4. War For War
5. Order/Fade To Black
6. Dog Face Boy
7. All Gone To Hell
8. Make ‘Em Blind
9. Don’t Waste Your Time
10. In Another Time
11. Out Of The Sun

Well, well, well, Motörhead seem to have broken from their pattern of following up wicked albums with duff ones as this is a really good listen. The final album of their time as a four piece is a pretty strong affair. ‘Sacrifice’ is a bona fide classic, ‘Sex And Death’ is two minutes of fast and funness and ‘Over Your Shoulder’ is a real heavy classic. ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’ is a really good rock’n’roll number with some piano (?) in the mix and the album closer also has a real rock’n’roll feel about it. All in all a very good album and one that’s good for multiple listens.

Next Album: OVERNIGHT SENSATION

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 11 – Bastards (1993)

1. On Your Feet Or On Your Knees
2. Burner
3. Death Or Glory
4. I Am The Sword
5. Born To Raise Hell
6. Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me
7. Bad Woman
8. Liar
9. Lost In The Ozone
10. I’m The Man
11. We Bring The Shake
12. Devils

The trend definitely continues with this album, the first full one with the new line up including Mikkey Dee on drums, which is absolutely terrific. It’s another album where pretty much every song is really good and is a much heavier affair than the last couple of albums. ‘On Your Feet Or On You Knees’ is a loud and heavy opener that sets the pace for what follows. Other highlights include one of my all time favourite Motörhead numbers ‘Born To Raise Hell’ that I can listen to on a continuous loop, yes it is that f*cking good (live it is AWESOME). ‘Bad Woman’ is also pretty good fun. ‘Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me’ is a very slow, almost acoustic song about child abuse and again highlights the bands versatility and is a very good gentle song amidst all the heaviness that surrounds it. I’d probably rate this up there with the albums ‘Ace Of Spades’ and ‘Orgasmatron’. Great stuff.

On a side note I have to mention the bonus track, which I know was something I said I wouldn’t do (sue me lol) but as it’s a cover of ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ by the Rolling Stones and is actually pretty bloody cool I thought it was worth a mention.

Next Album: SACRIFICE

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 10 – March Or Die (1992)

1. Stand
2. Cat Scratch Fever
3. Bad Religion
4. Jack The Ripper
5. I Ain’t No Nice Guy
6. Hellraiser
7. Asylum Choir
8. Too Good To Be True
9. You Better Run
10. Name In Vain
11. March Or Die

It’s starting to get to be a habit with Motörhead, that everytime they do a good album they follow it up with, not necessarily a bad one, a fairly unmemorable one and sadly that is definitely the case with this one. Phil Taylor was only on one track, ‘I Ain’t No Nice Guy’ before he was sacked and Tommy Aldridge came on as the drummer in a session artist capacity except on the song ‘Hellraiser’ which features the new and still current drummer Mikkey Dee. In fact ‘Hellraiser’ is pretty much the highlight for me of this album. Even ‘I Ain’t No Nice Guy’ with guest vocals from Ozzy Osbourne and a guitar solo by Slash fail to make it a particularly good or memorable song. A very ho-hum album. Still if the trend continues the next one should be a good un.

Next Album: BASTARDS

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 9 – 1916 (1991)

1. The One To Sing The Blues
2. I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care)
3. No Voices In The Sky
4. Going to Brazil
5. Nightmare/The Dreamtime
6. Love Me Forever
7. Angel City
8. Make My Day
9. R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
10. Shut You Down
11. 1916

A stronger album than Rock’N’Roll this is still a bit of a strange mix. We have a great opening song, followed up with the terrific ‘f*ck you’ number ‘I’m So Bad (Baby I Don’t Care)’, then we have the fun ‘Going To Brazil’ which then goes into a very odd, almost psychedelic tune ‘Nightmare/The Dreamtime’ which is a pretty big departure for Motörhead. What follows next is a ballad which is even more different, but in a good way. There are a couple of good but forgettable tracks and then we finish with the triumvirate of ‘R.A.M.O.N.E.S.’ which is a minute and a half of tribute to the punk band The Ramones and is great (it’s even better live), the terrific ‘Shut You Down’ and then the quite gobsmacking ‘1916’ which is probably the slowest most un-Motörhead song they have ever recorded. There’s very basic light musical accompaniment and Lemmy’s lyrics about soldiers fighting and dying in The Battle of The Some in the First World War are very moving. A very strange mix but it seems to work and this is definitely one of the better Motörhead albums.

Next Album: MARCH OR DIE

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 8 – Rock ‘N’ Roll (1987)

1. Rock ‘N’ Roll
2. Eat The Rich
3. Blackheart
4. Stone Deaf In The USA
5. The Wolf
6. Traitor
7. Dogs
8. All For You
9. Boogeyman

Drummer Pete Gill didn’t last long in the band and it wasn’t too long before Phil Taylor came back to resume his place for this rather unassuming record. There are some good songs on it, mainly ‘Rock’N’Roll’ which has plenty of great guitar work on it and ‘Eat The Rich’ but other than an appearance of Michael Palin on the intro to ‘The Wolf’ the rest of the songs are pretty amiable but not particularly memorable. Disappointing that Motörhead followed up such a great previous album with this rather lacklustre attempt.

Next Album: 1916

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 7 – Orgasmatron (1986)

1. Deaf Forever
2. Nothing Up My Sleeve
3. Ain’t My Crime
4. Claw
5. Mean Machine
6. Built For Speed
7. Ridin’ With The Driver
8. Doctor Rock
9. Orgasmatron

After the last album both Brian Robertson and Phil Taylor left the band. Lemmy recruited a new drummer in the form of Pete Gill and got two guitarists in the shape of Phil Campbell and Wurzel and so this is the first album where Motörhead were a four piece. After the disappointing last couple of albums this feels and sounds like a band revitalised. It’s great, all the songs are terrific and it’s just a real buzz listening to it. ‘Deaf Forever’ is a great song, would go on my favourites list anytime as does ‘Doctor Rock’ which is still to date the set opener when Motörhead play live, a real “f*ck you we’re having fun” number. The ‘Claw’ is rather amusing too with Lemmy’s near hysterical lyrics in the chorus making this one guaranteed to put a smile on your face. The final and title track is an odd one. This is a song that for years I didn’t like, in fact I much preferred the Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura’s cover version, but I guess I have grown to love it. The music is thunderous and the lyrics are big and epic and fantastical and now probably my favourite tune from the album. Great to hear this band sounding so fresh and full of GGGGGRRRRRRR.

Next Album: ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 6 – Another Perfect Day (1983)

1. Back At The Funny Farm
2. Shine
3. Dancing On Your Grave
4. Rock It
5. One Track Mind
6. Another Perfect Day
7. Marching Off To War
8. I Got Mine
9. Tales Of Glory
10. Die You Bastard!

After Eddie Clarke left Lemmy and Phil Taylor recruited Brian ‘Robbo’ Robertson to that band and this album, one that really divided people for years, was the result of that collaboration. It’s a really odd album to talk about as it just doesn’t really sound like a Motörhead album. It’s no where near as ‘heavy’ as the earlier albums and is a lot more melodic than you are used to with this band. Which certainly can be seen as a good thing, they’re trying something different, they are not just trying to churn out that same old stuff over and over again which a lot of bands fall into that terrible trap. There are some good numbers in here too. Despite starting with a really sound like ‘Ace of Spades’ the opener ‘Back At The Funny Farm’ is a good song. Also ‘Dancing On Your Grave’ and ‘Rock It’. One thing that is very noticeable about this album is the sound of the guitars, they are much stronger and more prominent that ever heard on the previous records. Brian Robertson is a terrific guitarist, better than Eddie Clarke and it shows but I still don’t rate this album that highly. It was a very good thing to do, to try something new but I don’t think it quite pulls off what it wanted to do. Still I’d argue it’s a better album than ‘Bomber’ and ‘Iron Fist’.

Next Album: ORGASMATRON

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 5 – Iron Fist (1982)

1. Iron Fist
2. Heart of Stone
3. I’m The Doctor
4. Go To Hell
5. Loser
6. Sex & Outrage
7. America
8. Shut It Down
9. Speedfreak
10. (Don’t Let ‘Em) Grind Ya Down
11. (Don’t Need) Religion
12. Bang To Rights

Well after the immense ‘Ace of Spades’ album you would have thought the follow up would have been as good if not better but sadly, this, the final album featuring the original line up of Lemmy, ‘Fast’ Eddie and ‘Philthy Animal’ is a big disappointment. Maybe it was due to the falling out between Lemmy and Eddie but whatever the problem was you can hear it in the music. It’s a shame as the album starts off pretty well. The first three tracks are really good. ‘Iron Fist’ is a nice and fast number, ‘heart of Stone’ has that unrelenting rhythm that has become synonymous with Motörhead and ‘I’m The Doctor’ is a typically fun tune. After that it gets a bit wishy-washy with only ‘Sex & Outrage’ and the album closer ‘Bang To Rights’ being in anyway memorable. The other songs are all pretty forgettable. A big shame after the previous album.

Next Album: ANOTHER PERFECT DAY

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 4 – Ace of Spades (1980)

1. Ace of Spades
2. Love Me Like A Reptile
3. Shoot You In The Back
4. Live To Win
5. Fast And Loose
6. (We Are) The Road Crew
7. Fire Fire
8. Jailbait
9. Dance
10. Bite The Bullet
11. The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
12. The Hammer

Within the first two tracks of this, the fourth album, you know you’re in for a treat. The absolute classic ‘Ace of Spades’, a song that for most people IS Motörhead, kicks things off with aplomb. It still is a great song, has a great sound, is lightning fast and will get even the most tone-deaf person (i.e. me) foot tapping along to it. ‘Love Me Like A Reptile’ is also a cracking number with a great guitar solo in the middle. Absolutely none of the songs on this album are bad; in fact they are all bloody terrific. ‘Fast And Loose’ has a really nice Bluesy feel. ‘(We Are) The Road Crew’ is a great homage to the unsung heroes of touring bands and is well known for making roadies cry as it pretty much sums up everything they do when on the road, having a far less glamourous life than the rock stars. ‘The Chase Is Better Than The Catch’ is a slightly slower number but is also rather good fun. The album closes out on the fast ‘The Hammer’. All in all this is probably the first GREAT Motörhead album where pretty much every song is superb and you just can’t really see how the album could be any better. I think I’m gonna listen to this one again, right now in fact.

Next Album: IRON FIST

The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 3 – Bomber (1979)

1. Dead Men Tell No Tales
2. Lawman
3. Sweet Revenge
4. Sharpshooter
5. Poison
6. Stone Dead Forever
7. All The Aces
8. Step Down
9. Talking Head
10. Bomber

Motörhead’s third album starts off with the catchy ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’, which is a much more polished sounding track than the ones on the previous two albums. After that, sadly the album for me goes rapidly downhill from there. None of the songs are particularly memorable with the exception of ‘Stone Dead Forever’ which is pretty good. ‘Step Down’ is worth a mention because it is the only track with Eddie Clarke on lead vocals which gives us a very different sounding song. ‘Talking Head’ I can’t even remember and I only just listened to it. The only real saving grace for this album is the final song, the title song, ‘Bomber’. This is a great song with a fantastic rhytmn that places it alongside Overkill and another tune I will be talking about in the next entry (bet you can’t guess what that is) as pure classic Motörhead tracks. Overall this is a very disappointing album with only a couple of good tunes on it. The rest are better best forgotten in my opinion.

Next Album: ACE OF SPADES

Parker first paragraph - A bit of fluff for the day

Just as a bit of fun for the day I decided, as I am reading one of Richard Stark's Parker novels to experiment with writing an opening paragraph to a Parker novel in the style of Stark. So I did.

I wrote a paragraph which I thought was pretty good. Then read it and decided that it wasn't quite right. Richard Stark's prose is, like his name, Stark. Striped of all the fat. He doesn't do much in the way of purple prose descriptions that go on and on and on and on for pages at a time. He doesn't waste words at all. It's like John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, everything striped back to the bare essentials. It's what makes his books such terrific reads, it's also why most, if not all of the books, are under 300 pages.

Anyway, here is my bit of fluff for the day. The opening paragraph to a Parker novel never to be written, in the four different attempts to strip the words back to get it closer to something Stark may have even approved of if he were still with us. Hope you enjoy.

1st attempt

When Parker heard the knock on the door he picked up his gun and buffaloed the man mid-knock. As the man tried to grab his face that was now a bloody mess Parker grabbed him by the hair and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind him. Parker then turned and moved quickly to the man who was on his hands and knees trying to pick his teeth up off the floor and clubbed him twice more around the face. He kicked him in the stomach, knocking him onto his back, then pointed the gun straight at his face and pulled back the hammer. “Who are you?” he asked.

2nd attempt

When Parker heard the knock he picked up his gun and buffaloed the man mid-knock as he opened the door. Parker grabbed him by the hair and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind him. He turned and moved to the man who was on his hands and knees trying to pick his teeth up off the floor and clubbed him twice more. He kicked him in the stomach, knocking him onto his back, then pointed the gun straight at his face, “Who are you?”

3rd attempt

When Parker heard the knock he picked up his gun and buffaloed the man mid-knock as he opened the door. He grabbed him by the hair and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind. He turned and moved to the man now on his hands and knees trying to pick his teeth up and clubbed him twice more. He kicked him in the stomach and pointed the gun at his face, “Who are you?”

4th attempt

When he heard the knock Parker picked up his gun and buffaloed the man mid-rap as he opened the door. He grabbed him by the hair and pulled him into the room. Parker turned and moved to the man, now on his hands and knees with a bloody face and clubbed him twice more, kicked him in the stomach and pointed the gun at him, “Who are you?”