Hawkwind - Leave No Star Unturned

 
 

Easy Action Records in the UK have released some pretty incredible live recordings of The Stooges, Iggy Pop, MC5 and Sonic's Rendezvous Band the past few years and now they bring us this monumental live Hawkwind document. Leave No Star Unturned captures them in January 1972 headlining a show that also featured performances by the Pink Fairies and Syd Barrett at a venue called the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Pretty cool line up. I can only imagine how fried everyone was but their lids must have really flipped once Hawkwind blasted into their intro song "Technicians Of Spaceship Earth." A minute of space rants and noise before launching into a powerful, 12 minute version of "You Shouldn't Do That" (3 minutes shorter than the studio version).

In 72 Hawkwind had one of their best line ups with Captain Dave Brock (guitar, vocals) leading the charge with Nik Turner (sax, vocals), Lemmy (bass, vocals), Terry Ollis (drums), Robert Calvert (lyrics, insanity) and the keyboard/noise generating duo of Dik-Mik and Del Dettmar. Later in the year Terry Ollis would be replaced by Simon King and that line up would record the classic Space Ritual album in December. Leave No Star Unturned finds them in very good form but they have not yet achieved the ignition they would have on the nights the recorded Space Ritual. Still, live Hawkwind from the classic era is always a good thing, especially since the set lists are pretty different. Only 4 songs are repeated on both albums - "Born To Go," "Earth Calling," "Master Of The Universe" and "Welcome To The Future." The basic framework of the songs are similar but Hawkwind were never afraid to experiment night after night. The version of "Silver Machine" from this show with Robert Calvert singing was later overdubbed with Lemmy's voice and turned out to be a big hit single for them. The version they released was definitely an improvement but it's still cool to hear it the way it went down on this night.

"The Awakening" is a tripped out 2 minute instrumental bridge setting up a very tripped out "You Know You're Only Dreaming." Those songs would definitely make you feel warm and fuzzy if you're dosed but "Paranoia" would totally freak you out. The studio version on their first album is pretty nuts but this one makes that one seem tame. Lemmy really hammers away at a repetitive bass line while the band creates all sorts of swirly chaos around him. Listening to this really loud when sober might make your stomach a little queasy. Just think of the poor hippies getting bombarded with this noise and a bunch of strobe lights pointed right at them! Genesis never did this.

The limited edition version of the CD comes in some very cool packaging, about the size of a DVD box. There's a booklet with rare photos, including a couple nudies of dancer Stacia, and informative liner notes. If you're new to Hawkwind, Space Ritual remains the definitive document but more experienced travelers will want to embark on this trip pronto.


--Woody

http://www.easyaction.co.uk/detail/EARS041

Head Cat - Walk the Walk...Talk the Talk

There are a handful of music icons simply known by one name. Some of these mononymous people include renowned legends Bono, Elvis, Madonna, Prince, Flea, Slash, Ozzy and of course, Lemmy. Every time you utter Lemmy it’s hard not to imagine the legendary badass lead singer and bassist of Motorhead rocking out on stage. His larger than life persona has only been catapulted by Pop Culture like in the movie Airheads with the now famous question “Who would win in a wrestling match: Lemmy or God?”



Despite never changing his act or regiment, Lemmy appears to have never aged a day and can still be found hanging out at The Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip when he isn’t touring with Motorhead. As even the documentary film, Lemmy: 49% Motherf**ker 51% Son of a Bitch, illustrates, Lemmy is just a down-to-earth rockstar who continues to live life the way he wants.

Recently I was turned onto the rockabilly supergroup Head Cat, which consists of Lemmy (Motorhead), Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) and Danny B. Harvey (Lonesome Spurs, 13 Cats and The Rockats). The name Head Cat comes from the combination of Motorhead, The Stray Cats and 13 Cats. The band formed while recording the Elvis Presley tribute album Swing Cats: A Special Tribute to Elvis. The trio stuck around after the recording session and goofed around by playing classic rock songs they knew. In 2006, Head Cat released their first album Fool's Paradise and their second album, Walk the Walk…Talk the Talk was released earlier this year and contains original Head Cat material.

Lemmy (vocals, guitar, bass, and harmonica), Slim Jim Phantom (drums, percussion and additional vocals), and Danny B. Harvey (double bass, guitar, keyboard) deliver a delicious and delightful album filled primarily with cover tunes along with two new awesome rockabilly songs, “American Beat” and “The Eagle Flies on Friday.”

Head Cat celebrates rock’s roots with new interpretations of classic songs from the 1950s and 1960s. This celebration of songs from yesteryear feels and sounds like a perfect fit for Lemmy as his distinctive voice oozes appreciation for these classics such as Larry Williams’ “Bad Boy”, Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” and Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else.”

Walk the Walk…Talk the Talk also includes the delightful “Say Mama,” “I Ain't Never,” “Shakin' All Over,” “Trying To Get To You,” the John Lennon/Paul McCartney “You Can't Do That,” “It'll Be Me,” and “Crossroads.” For half an hour, these 12 songs will entertain you from beginning to end. It’s truly remarkable how well Lemmy’s voice accompanies Head Cat’s sound and is the perfect fit as the lead singer for this rockabilly band.

--Brownstone

The Single Life - 7 Inches of Fun; featuring Nostalgia 77, Trent Fox & the Tenants, Fatal Figures, and Motorhead

Singles stacking up.  Time to get cracking.

Belleruche -3 Amp Fuse

London trio Belleruche delivers another stellar song “3 Amp Fuse.” It’s a beautiful throwback track that balances traditional techniques and electric beats. Lead singer Kathrin deBoer’s soothing voice echoes classic jazz and blues over a catchy beat making it hard to define.

Reminiscent of a classic 1970s music video, “3 Amp Fuse” is everything you want in a good music video- an awesome song with killer visuals that don’t detract from the song. The simple structure is compelling, creative and most of all, charming. Belleruche delivers another magnificent music video that captures your eyes and ears effectively without doing too much. In the age of nano-second attention spans, take notice because this is one helluva video.

--Mr Brownstone
 

Nostalgia 77 - Simmerdown b/w Skin and Bones

It's fitting that on my iTunes library, Nostalgia 77 is alphabetized right next to Nouvelle Vague.  Both bands mine a way-cool, retro lounge-ready vibe.  Where Nouvelle Vague specializes in jazz samba versions of classic 80's songs, Nostalgia 77 explores their own muse of downtempo, reggae-jazz inflected goodness.  "Simmerdown" is the first single from Nostalgia 77's 4th studio album and it's one to cherish.  Featuring the sexy, downright smoky vocals of German singer, Josa Peit, "Simmerdown" is what Bob Marley may have sounded like if he'd gotten into martinis, not herb.

Best as I can tell, Nostalgia 77 is the work of one producer/musician extraordinare, Benedic Lamdin, and together with vocalist Josa he's hit paydirt here.  "Simmerdown" is a lush yet ethereal must-play song for the end of the working day.  A song to lead in the nights romantic activities after the hectic pace has melted away.  Backside "Skin and Bones," brings a faint reggae pulse to the jazzy beat and plunks us down firmly in underground cool jazz lounge territory.  Again, Josa's voice is hypnotic and I'm falling deeply into her trance.

Trent Fox & The Tenants - Mess Around EP

Really an E.P., not a single but still, it made it's way to my player tonight, so there you have it.  Trent Fox and the Tenants crank the party up a couple of notches with some home-brewed, surf-laden, garage pop of the highest order.  "Mess Around" is pure garage-rock retro heaven with shrieks, "yeah, yeahs" and a damn singable chorus.  "Outta My Mind" is a time warp of amp-sliced fuzz and surf kicks with a stuttering beat and harmony vocal line straight outta 1964.  "Jokes!" ups the ante a bit with a The Beat-esque punk attitude and some killer surf guitar.  "Old Lady" and "Sounds Fine to Me" round out the set with the whole shebang clocking in at about 11 minutes playing time.

A brief burst of garage glory, like a flashing meteor.  Always cool when you when you catch one of those.

Fatal Figures - Blue Zed b/w Alright

Released earlier this year on Big Neck Records, the Fatal Figures are made up of Aaron, Tracy, and Scott from the Blowtops. After a decade of plowing one gushy vein of garage rock horror show after another with the Blowtops, the remaining members decided to move on and explore new territory.  While that sounds like something dramatic, in reality the Fatal Figures are doing what they've always done best.  This is pure garage punk-death rock n roll.  We got amped up, creeped-out Cramps here, some serious Pussy Galore and a whole lotta fun.

"Blue Zed" is the highlight here with Aaron Adduci being a hypnotizing front man.  I don't know what this cat takes before a show, but lock it up, you don't want that getting loose in public.  His vocals are a sputtered death moan of Boris Karloff meets The Sonics hysteria.  The bottom end of this song is purely subsonic.  An intense, mesmerizing listen. "Alright" is a Pussy Galore cover and really holds place until these cats dawn the creepshow punk and blast out their next original.   Released on blood red vinyl, of course.

Motorhead - Louie Louie b/w Tear Ya Down

Yeah, yeah, I know it's gonna cost you $10 to track one of these down on ebay, but damn if it isn't worth every freaking penny.  Find the one on Bronze records with the picture sleeve.  Just seeing Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Philthy Animal caged behind that fence is worth the ten bucks alone.  Damn, it looks like Philthy Animal is gonna eat his way outta that cage!  Priceless.

Oh, yeah, the music.  What can I say, it's Motorhead.  It's "Louie Louie".  It's rough and heavy and the meanest "Louie Louie" you've ever heard.  Yet it still grooves.  If you ever wanted to know if Motorhead could groove here's your answer.  A fricking fantastic cover with heavy riffage, killer solo and Lemmy in fine form.

Backside "Tear ya Down" is simply one of my favorite Motorhead songs ever.  Fast as anything from prime Motorhead time period, this is a pre-Ace of Spades explosion of Lemmy fury, Fast Eddie adrenaline and Philthy Animal Taylor rampage.  A killer chorus and tight songwriting.  This is kinda like the Ramones of the Motorhead catalog, meaning if it wasn't so powerful, heavy and frightening, somebody else could almost make this a pop song.  Love it.

In the end, this single has special meaning around the Ripple office.  Not only was it the first Motorhead single I ever bought (brand new, off the shelf), but when Pope and I first met this was one of our first musical bonding moments.  At one point I even gave him my copy as a gift.  Regrettably, it melted in the sun, so I went out a got another.  Got one for you too, Pope.

So brother, this ones for you.

-- Racer

Ripple Theater - Lemmy: 49% Motherf**ker, 51% Son of a Bitch DVD

Ever since people stopped buying rock records in decent quantities, there’s been an increase in quality documentaries on classic artists like The Ramones and Rush as well as rescuing a band like Anvil from obscurity. Given the subject matter, it seemed like Lemmy: 49% Motherf**ker, 51% Son of a Bitch would be the ultimate portrait of rocks favorite ugly son but unfortunately this one falls pretty short of expectation. While definitely worth watching, the overwhelming feeling I’m left with is “what happened? How did they not get the job done?”

Granted, I’m a bigger Motorhead fan than most Motorhead fans. Motorhead’s music changed my life the first time I shoplifted Iron Fist from Caldors back in 1982, and when I saw them for the first time in 1983 my ears rang for 8 days afterwards. To this day, all live performances are measured against that high energy volume overkilldose. It’s obvious the filmmakers are fans but not stone deaf forever Motorheadbangers. They have stated many times that the movie is about Lemmy and not a history of Motorhead but we all know that those two things are one and the same.

Some of the better parts of the film are about Lemmy’s days before Motorhead, including a great segment about the Rockin’ Vicars, the band he played guitar for in the mid-1960’s. They managed to track down some of his band mates and even legendary producer Shel Talmy (The Who, The Kinks) who make it clear that Lemmy was pretty much the same guy back then that he is now. The section on Hawkwind is also good. Lemmy repeats his often told tale of how he got fired from the legendary space rock band, but you also get to hear Dave Brock and Nik Turner’s side of the story, too. Even the Amazonian dancer Stacia gets some screen time. Unfortunately, there isn’t that much discussion of Hawkwind’s groundbreaking music. No one mentions that everyone should own a copy of Space Ritual and there’s no information about the classic albums Lemmy made with them.

The formation of Motorhead takes up about 120 seconds of screen time. Guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke is on and off the screen way too quickly. Philthy Animal Taylor apparently did not want to be interviewed for the movie and he’s barely mentioned. Again, there’s hardly a word on the incredible run of albums that line up made. Wurzel, Pete Gill and Brian Robertson are written out of the script. Mikkey Dee and Phil Campbell wind up looking like mere sidemen of a band that they’re equal partners in.

Way too much screen time is spent on pointless interviews with Billy Bob Thorton, Jarvis Cocker and the bass player from New Order. Who fucking cares what these clowns have to say about Lemmy? The usual VH1 talking heads like Scott Ian, Dee Snider, Dave Navarro and Henry Rollins have some good stories and there are interviews with all the members of Metallica except, surprisingly, Lars Ulrich. Dee has one of the funniest lines in the movie where he talks about not having seen Lemmy for a long time and goes backstage and it’s all the same roadies that he knew from ten years before. Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible of The Damned share some great tales from the insanity they participated in with Lemmy in the late 70’s. 

One thing that the filmmakers get right is showing just how dedicated Lemmy is to his music. This is someone that has literally sacrificed everything for rock n roll. He’s had some moderate success but lives in a rent controlled 2 bedroom apartment with his enormous World War II collection when he’s not on tour or at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in LA. He has one son that he has a good relationship with and another one he’s never met. When he’s not playing music, he’s reading or gambling but always drinking.

Luckily the DVD helps correct some of the problems with the feature film. It’s worth picking up just for the full interview with Fast Eddie Clarke. It’s up to him to tell the real story of how the band started and he’s the only one to mention original guitarist Larry Wallis by name. Eddie also gives insight into how Motorhead got their signature sound – speedy music played by guys on speed. He claims that speed is a great drug to take when you’re playing music since you don’t have to leave the stage every 20 minutes to re-up. His story on how they wrote their signature song “Overkill” is hilarious and inspiring.

Other cool extras include extended interviews with Lemmy and individual features on Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee. The movie could have used more of this and less ass kissing testimonials. Any movie about Lemmy is worth watching, and this one definitely is, but it should have been so much better.


--Woody


Buy here DVD: Lemmy: 49% Motherf**ker, 51% Son Of A Bitch 
Buy here Blu-ray: Lemmy: 49% Motherf**ker, 51% Son of a Bitch [Blu-ray] 



 

Motorhead - The World Is Yours

In the beginning there was Link Wray. The noise that he started has been used, abused and loved by many over the years since he started the Rumble heard round the world, but few have been willing to take it to maximum like Motorhead have. 36 years into it Motorhead deliver their 20th studio album and it’s much better than it has any right to be.

Since 2004’s Inferno, Motorhead has been on a roll of putting out strong albums to support their always killer live show. Are they the equal of all time stone get-off classics like Overkill and Ace Of Spades? No, but hardly anything does by any band ever will. The World Is Yours and 2008’s Motorizer are kick ass rock n roll albums from start to finish. What more could you ask for?

Producer Cameron Webb seems to be able to get the best out of Lemmy, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee and is insane enough to have done 4 albums with them. The band have praised him for not allowing them to write second rate songs and his ability to get a great sound and performance from the band. Anyone willing to endure their massive alcohol consumption, ear splitting volume, arguments and pranks deserves a lot of credit. He obviously knows what Motorhead fans want to hear.

“Born To Lose” starts things off in classic Motorheadbanging fashion – big drum fill, riff similar to their classic “Shoot You In The Back” and them Lemmy’s haggard growl. Sure, they’ve used the riff before and even the title way back in 1975 on “Iron Horse/Born To Lose” but who cares? By now you know where you stand with Motorhead – you love them or you cover your ears and retreat to the safety of your Wilco albums.

Most of the songs on The World Is Yours bear resemblance to some of their classic jams. “Brotherhood Of Man” is musically and lyrically an update of the world is doomed classic “Orgasmatron” and “I Know What You Need” reprises “Nothing Up My Sleeve.” The first single “Get Back In Line” is basically “Don’t Need Religion” part II. But that’s not to say that they only pinch from their own catalog. Lemmy was good friends with Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy’s classic brawl starter “Are You Ready” shows up in “Devils In My Hand.”

 Motorhead’s on tour right now in the USA playing to generations of fans and enjoying a big swell in much deserved popularity. Part of that is due to the new documentary of Lemmy’s life, but a more important part is that they play kick ass rock n roll and hardly anyone else does. If you haven’t bought a Motorhead album in awhile, don’t snooze on this one. If you can afford it, pick up the deluxe import version that comes with a special all Motorhead issue of Classic Rock Magazine. The album cover may not be denim jacket worthy, but you already have Overkill or the classic warpig logo done in acrylic on yours, right?

 --Woody


Buy here: The World Is Yours
Buy here vinyl: The World Is Yours
Buy here mp3: The World Is Yours

Official website
http://imotorhead.com/