MOTORHEAD - Bomber LP review

MOTORHEAD - Bomber LP
label: Bronze Records
released: 1979
track listing:
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


COMMENTS:

How do you get a room full of MOTORHEAD fans to fight each other? Ask them which is the best MOTORHEAD LP. Once again I believe it all falls on which one you got into first. Sure Overkill was a raw introduction and Ace of Spades placed them into Rock's history books. But I got Bomber first although a year after it came out. And even to this day when I'm in need of a MOTORHEAD beating. I will always reach for this one which I now have on CD with the extra bonus tracks. Now there's something else important to note. Obviously if a vote was taken then more people would choose Ace of Spades as the band's best record. And by no reason am I saying it's not. But the fact is that the title cut is MOTORHEAD's most famous and familiar song to date. It's the first cut on two Best of releases I also have. It's the one MOTORHEAD song that everyone loves. But it would not have come about without Bomber preceding it.

This was my first MOTORHEAD record and the main reason for liking it so much is simple. I had never heard them before but friends told me to check them out. So when I got home and dropped the needle down on the vinyl. The sound which emanated from the stereo speakers was absolutely nothing I had heard before. I was already getting into alot of Punk Rock at the time, the New York and English scene stuff. But what was on the stereo was beyond that. This was the new sound of Hard Fuckin Rock, raw and punishing. "Dead Men Tell No Tales" basically attacks the listener with Lemmy's bass riffage, Fast Eddie Clark's firery lead guitar and of course Phil Taylor's maniacal drumming. Listening to MOTORHEAD in 1980 for me was like someone in the 1950s hearing their first Rock n Roll record and going "Holy Fuckin Shit"! "Lawman" comes next and it's here when Lemmy's distinctive dirty bass sound hits you. Plus the vocals because up to this point in time Hard Rock singers had somewhat of a decent voice. Here was Lemmy basically rasping out the melody on the slower tunes. "Sweet Revenge" follows the same suit. Plus the all too obvious references to the American Wild West run through this LP. The opening cut, "Lawman", "Sharpshooter, with it's bass and guitar rhythm smashing up against your noggin. Then there's "All the Aces" and "Stone Dead Forever" which also invoke images of cowboys, card games and guns. The dirty bass riff which opens "Stone Dead Forever" is probably the second most famous song with a bass riff opening ever. Can you name the first? Yeah Lemmy, much like the WHO's John Entwistle, turned the bass from a background rhythm section instrument into a fuckin weapon of mass destruction. He plays the bass with more of a style suited for lead and rhythm guitarists. On some songs he's using an eight string bass, so there you go.

If "Ace of Spades" is the band's signature hard rockin song of all time then the title cut of this LP is their second. Literally it's the sound of a bomber attack. It's as if MOTORHEAD has declared war on you the listerner and you'll never forget it. But the one thing this release is famous for is that it features the first (and last time) Fast Eddie Clark sings on a song. "Stepdown" is a total raunchy blues metal cut that doesn't fit the freewheeling frenzy of other songs on Bomber. It sticks out like a rusty bent nail but then that's the beauty of it. Plus it gives Clarke a chance to really let loose. Yes this LP was brutal in all respects and sure what would follow topped it. But to sit back and turn up the volume, especially the bass, to "Stone Dead Forever", "All the Aces" or the title cut. It's MOTORHEAD-DAMAGE!

I'll go far enough to say this, MOTORHEAD reinvented Hard Fuckin Rock n Roll to and for the masses. Their music appealed to Punks and Metalheads, which at the time was a first for genre crossover appeal. Another point for me personally is that I'm one of "those" people who only likes the Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Phil era. I could never really get into their post Fast Eddie releases. Sure the original three piece line-up was a volatile bunch but then their music showed that in spades.


RECOMMENDATIONS:

All of MOTORHEAD's early work is essential. There's plenty of "best of" crap out now but forget them. Buy all the early stuff.


WEBSITES:

http://www.imotorhead.com/
http://www.myspace.com/motorhead
http://www.motorhead.ru/