Motorhead: Motorhead (silver vinyl) [CHISWICK]

Why you'll love it

This silver vinyl pressing comes in a sleeve with a debossed silver foil logo, like the original, plus an illustrated inner bag. It's the first album by the classic three-piece and reached No. 43 on the UK Albums Chart.

This edition

• Silver vinyl
• 40th anniversary edition
• Debossed silver foil logo
• Illustrated inner sleeve
• Pressed in the EU
• Stereo mix

About the album

Motörhead's first album came close to being their second. United Artists shelved the band's original recordings, so in 1977 the small London label Chiswick stepped in as a favour to Lemmy, and Lemmy, Fast Eddie Clarke and Phil (Philthy Animal) Taylor cut this as a power trio instead.

John (Speedy) Keen, best known from Thunderclap Newman, produced, keeping it loud, fast and close to the band's live sound. The title track, which Lemmy carried over from his Hawkwind days, sets the tone, "Vibrator" and "White Line Fever" barrel along at full throttle, "Iron Horse / Born To Lose" slows to a heavy rumble, "Lost Johnny" and "Keep Us On The Road" keep the engine running, "The Watcher" crawls along menacingly, and the closing "The Train Kept A-Rollin" shows where the roots of all that noise lie.

From here came Overkill, Bomber, Ace Of Spades and more than 25 million albums sold, and Clarke stayed until 1982, by which time the trio had topped the UK chart with No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. Silver vinyl suits it nicely; it's roughly the colour of the band's bullet belts.

Also at Kops: more Motörhead on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Chiswick (cat# WIK 2), a reissue of the 1977 album.