Motörhead: Overkill (half-speed remaster, turquoise, blue & green vinyl) [BMG]

Why you'll love it

This half-speed remaster comes on turquoise, blue & green vinyl with a 60 x 30 cm fold-out poster. Kerrang! ranked Overkill No. 46 among its 100 greatest heavy metal albums of all time.

This edition

• Half-speed remaster
• Turquoise, blue & green vinyl
• Fold-out poster
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

The title track began with Phil Taylor alone in the rehearsal room, practising a beat on two bass drums to get his feet in order. Lemmy and Eddie Clarke walked in, told him not to stop, and Motörhead had the song that would stop their shows for decades.

Overkill was their first album for Bronze Records, cut in London over the winter of 1978 and 1979 with Jimmy Miller co-producing. "Overkill" and "No Class" both came out as singles, "Stay Clean" and "Damage Case" rattle along at full speed, and "Metropolis" slows things to a menacing crawl. Lemmy, Clarke and Taylor play as a three-piece, and here they sound like a single, very loud machine.

It reached No. 24 in the UK and went silver, and AllMusic notes some fans rate it above Ace of Spades. Two bass drums, it turns out, is precisely the right number.

Also at Kops: more Motörhead on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Bronze / BMG (cat# 964126931), a reissue of the 1979 album.