Metal Overview: Motörhead (Part 4/Post Mortem)

Hello fellow Otaku & Metalheads, and Happy New Year!

It’s ironic that I started out so happy with that opening line, when my first post this year is a bit more on the serious side. Just a few days ago, it was the two-year anniversary of the death of iconic Motörhead frontman, Lemmy Kilmister. With the ripples of his passing still felt heavily within the Heavy Metal community, it feels like there’s a hole in the patchwork of metal that may never be mended. However, even with the dissolution of Motörhead, motes of brilliance can still be felt in the aether. Though part 3 of my look at Motörhead in late November of 2016 was the end of the band, 2 records have been released since they broke up, and it seems only right to give them a look at. So join me will you, as we take one last glimpse at the iconic discography of Motörhead. Let’s begin.

Clean Your Clock (2016)

With the death of Lemmy Kilmister in late December of 2015, the death of a legendary band came not long after. Ask yourself: how can Motörhead go on without it’s head? The answer is it can’t! However, even with the group put to rest, echoes of former glories still ring out for anyone to listen, and the first of these is the 13th live album Clean Your Clock! Released on the 10th of June 2016, Clean Your Clock was recorded during the band’s 40th anniversary tour in Europe, with the music compiled from their two sold-out shows at the Zenith in Munich, Germany, on the 20th and 21st of November 2015. Unknown to their label company (UDR Records), these two shows would be the last that Motörhead would ever perform live. Adding further to the sadness was that both shows were filmed, but only the November 20th concert was ever put to DVD. For the most part, I enjoyed this album! Despite one personal hiccup (More on that below), this is a hell of a live album, and acts as a final live glimpse into one of Heavy Metal’s biggest founders.

Best Track? This was a little bit tough to decide. Not only is this a great live album, but a lot of songs from different albums were covered on Clean Your Clock. However, I have to go back to my old standby from when I talked about Overkill, and say that Overkill the song is my favorite. Appropriately concluding this album, Motörhead still proves that even though they’re going on 40, songs like Overkill still stand the test of time.

Overkill

Worst Track? In some way, I was kind of reminded of Queen’s final album, Made In Heaven. Mainly, it’s the fact that I’m listening to the final words of a dead man. At the same time, I’m nowhere near as sad when I listen to this, as Lemmy has little to none of the finality that Freddy Mercury had.

Clean Your Clock. A little bit haunting, but a lotta bit badass! If you missed out on the band’s final show, then it’s only right to give this a listen to. Next album!

Under Cöver (2017)

Though Clean Your Clock from 2016 was the final live album from Motörhead, even that wouldn’t stop the group from getting out one last piece of material for the fans, and Under Cöver would be that last album. Released on the 1st of September of last year, Under Cöver is a compilation of cover songs that Motörhead has done over the decades. It’s a pretty impressive collection of songs, and despite my issues with this record (More on that below), it’s a lot of fun to listen to. These songs are classic enough from their respective bands already, but with that Motörhead twist, makes them just a little bit better than before.

Best Track? Bit of a time between the David Bowie classic that is Heroes, and Rockaway Beach, which was original done by the Ramones. For starters, both of these covers were never released on any prior Motörhead album, and as such are prized & rare tracks. In the case of the cover of Heroes, there’s still some of that triumphant feeling shine through from Bowie’s original version, but thank’s to Lemmy’s grizzled voice & guitar playing, gives the song are rougher edge. As for their cover of Rockaway Beach, it’s haunting at how similar Lemmy and the gang sound to the Ramones as far as instrumentation is concerned. Lemmy’s voice is remarkable clear in this cover, as there’s only a faint hint of his later-day gravely vocal work. Despite being a short song, Motörhead did Rockaway Beach justice!

Heroes

Rockaway Beach

Worst Track? While there isn’t anything bad on the album, I find Under Cöver to be a bit of a cash grab. With Clean Your Clock I understand why it was released, but this album? I can only assume that either the record company or the remaining band members (Probably the record company) wanted to get a little bit of extra money. The only other gripe I have would have to be with the years that Under Cöver looked at. Despite being a diverse group of songs, the compilation only has songs from the 90s all the way till 2014 on it. This doesn’t quite bug me as my other issues with this compilation, as I can assume that maybe Motörhead didn’t do covers as much in the late 70s to 80s.

Under Cöver. Maybe released for greedy reasons, but at the same time the quality of the songs shine through. Certainly recommended, but maybe not as much as the previously mentioned album.

So this was the true ending of my look at Motörhead. It was a little depressing to do, but I had to conclude the band’s story on my blog somehow. Hopefully, Lemmy’s looking down from Heaven, and is happy with the work I’ve done. I’ll see you all later on this month with more beginning of the year goodies. Until they, enjoy a glass of Jack why don’t you!



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If you haven’t seen my look at Motörhead, or haven’t read them in a while, then the links below will help out:

Metal Overview: Motörhead (Part 1)

Metal Overview: Motörhead (Part 2)

Metal Overview: Motörhead (Part 3)