THE WORLD IS OURS - VOL 2 -
Anywhere Crazy as Anywhere Else
There is a certain advert on the TV with the strap line
"Does just what it says on the tin". Having listened to
this double CD, I think it's safe to say this could equally apply
to MOTORHEAD.
Unbelievably formed back in 1975, the band have been on a one man
quest ever since to deafen the rock loving audience of the world.
Step forward and take a bow, Ian Fraser Kilmister, better known to
all and sundry as Lemmy.
Now I can't claim to be an expert on this band and my knowledge really
only extends to the assistance he gave the Damned in the late 70's,
when yet another bassist had abandoned ship. Whilst typically pigeon
holed as heavy metal, his fusion of punk rock into the genre later
helped to pioneer speed and thrash metal Indeed Lemmy has been quoted
as saying he has more in common aesthetically with The Damned, than
bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
However, I did read his autobiography "White Line Fever"
and thoroughly enjoyed the romp through the booze and drugs excesses
and wanton debauchery that became the band's trade mark, especially
in the days of drummer "Philthy Animal" Taylor and guitarist
"Fast" Eddie Clarke.
This CD is the follow up to last years unsurprisingly named "The
World Is Ours - Vol 1". Encompassing 38 live tracks taken from
live gigs in locations all over the world including Germany, Brazil
and the Sonisphere festival in good old blighty. I guess if you are
already a fan of the band then you have got the majority of these
tracks somewhere in your collection of the twenty studio albums, seven
live recordings, five compilation albums and five EPs that the band
has released to date! Still you can never have too much of a good
thing.
I think its fair to say that they've never deviated
too much from a winning formula. But listening to these as a novice,
I've got to say it's quite pleasing to hear echoes of a time when
British rock music ruled the globe (Led Zep, Deep Purple, Priest,
Maiden, Sabbath etc). There are the obligatory screeching guitars,
the almost lost art of the drum solo and, over the top, the ever present
vocals of Lemmy, sounding like he just had his larynx sandpapered.
Whilst never having been darlings of the uber cool music press they
still write songs on a diverse range of subject matters including
war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance
abuse, and, most famously, gambling on their signature tune "Ace
of Spades".
Whilst not recognizing many of the tracks, I was obviously
previously acquainted with the aforementioned "Spades",
as well as "Bomber" and "Overkill". But in the
overall scheme of things it doesn't really matter if you've not heard
the rest before, Motorhead are Motorhead and if you are a fan of loud,
dirty, bad arse rock'n'roll you gonna love them anyway!
Bones
TRACK LISTING:
WACKEN OPEN AIR
GERMANY, AUGUST 6th, 2011
01 Iron Fist
02 Stay Clean
03 Get Back In Line
04 Metropolis
05 Over the Top
06 One Night Stand
07 Rock Out
08 The Thousand Names
SONISPHERE FESTIVAL UK, JULY 10th, 2011
01 Iron Fist
02 I Know How To Die
03 In The Name of Tragedy
04 Killed by Death
05 Ace of Spades
06 Overkill
ROCK IN RIO
BRAZIL, SEPTEMBER 25th, 2011
01 Stay Clean
02 Over the Top
03 The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
04 Going to Brazil
05 Killed by Death