Review Summary: The ultimate Motorhead offer.
You’re not familiar with Motorhead ? You want to get acquainted with their music, but you don’t know which album to begin with ? Then look no further. Out of the dozens of compilations released by this band over their 38 years of career,
No Remorse, their first Best-of collection, remains to this day the most definite one.
No Remorse summarises perfectly the blazing early years with classic cuts such as:
Ace Of Spades,
Stay Clean,
Too Late, Too Late,
Bomber,
Iron Fist,
Overkill,
(We Are) The Road Crew and
No Class, offering to the audience over 90 minutes of that pure thrust, a trademark of Motorhead’s sound.
This album also initiates a long period (1984-1995) where the band started performing with two guitarists for the first time since their conception, nine years beforehand. Eddie Clarke, the band’s original guitarist left his buddies and the reason was the recording of an EP titled
Stand By Your Man in 1982. Brian Robertson, former guitarist of Thin Lizzy, replaced Clarke and the new line-up recorded
Another Perfect Day. However his collaboration with the band didn’t last long, as his on-stage attire was not representative of Motorhead’s archetypal image. Furthermore, his refusal to play the classic standards during the concerts added insult to injury, which led him towards the exit. With his departure in 1983, the group held auditions for a replacement and the two prime candidates were the late Michael Burston, also known as Wurzel and Philip Campbell. Lemmy’s initial decision was to hire only one guitarist, but after hearing Wurzel and Campbell playing, he concluded to the recruitment of both.
Hence, the sound of Motorhead changed dramatically for better or worse. While their image and the principal elements, musical and lyrical, were retained, the band sounded different with two guitarists, more muscular and beefy. Campbell’s style is somewhat reminiscent to Clarke’s, and despite the fact that he doesn’t possess the same speed, he’s got a far more passionate way of expressing himself. On the other hand, Wurzel had a unique way of combining passion and speed and his cooperation with Campbell was solid as presented to us via the four new songs exclusively recorded for
No Remorse.
Killed By Death,
Snaggletooth,
Steal Your Face and
Locomotive, are four killer tracks, filled with raw energy, brutality and insanity. The band was apparently in high spirits because the recordings seem to be have been recovered from their golden age when they recorded
Overkill,
Bomber and
Ace Of Spades. For example,
Locomotive is sharing a similar introduction with
Overkill and
Steal Your Face has a comparable vibe with
Ace Of Spades. These tracks stand as a testimonial that Motorhead’s old spark hasn’t faded yet, even if their best years are behind them.
As a last note, I need to remind to all of you why it’s so hard to argue with this collection. It’s one of the few compilations out there that actually serves a real purpose and has some aim. It’s not one of these profiteering greatest hits/best of releases that are goalless and redundant. No, this album serves as the absolute introductory package for the newbies and as a simple reminder to the oldies; the reasons as to why Motorhead’s music could merely be described with two words as “no remorse”.
recommended tracks (from the new ones)
Killed By Death
Locomotive
