Unknown Soldier

Overview
After their towering achievement with Bad Reputation in 1977 and the blistering live album Live and Dangerous in 1978, Thin Lizzy were back on the road again in 1979 with their ninth studio album Black Rose: A Rock Legend. Brian Robertson was now no longer a band member, as previous sometimes band member Gary Moore was welcomed back to the fold, despite already having a solo career, in fact Phil Lynott had been a heavy contributor on Gary Moore’s previous solo album Back on the Streets (see albums that missed the cut for 1978) The album Black Rose: A Rock Legend would bring nothing new to the table for Thin Lizzy, but what it did do was to maintain their position in the rock hierarchy, as probably the most pop-orientated hard rock band around and still keeping their gritty hard rock credentials at the same time. The key to the album’s success, was surely the replacement of Brian Robertson with Gary Moore, as Gary Moore would prove to be the perfect fit for the band, despite the fact that he would leave the band after the recording of the album to resume his solo career once again. This surely gives the impression that his role in the band at this time was no more than being a familiar fill-in for Phil Lynott. Tony Visconti stays with the band as producer and produces his second album with band, and the album would go onto become their highest placed album to date, where it reached No.2 in the UK album charts. The albums two singles would be “Waiting for an Alibi” and “Do Anything You Want To” and would be two instantly recognizable Thin Lizzy tracks. Also there are contributions on the album from a certain Midge Ure, who of course before going onto to lead Ultravox in the 1980s would feature as a guest musician on a couple of Thin Lizzy albums and he also features on a song-writing credit on this album as well. The album also features guest spots by session man Mark Nauseef on drums and Huey Lewis on harmonica (of who I didn’t know had featured on this album) It always seemed that Phil Lynott had a great knack for getting talented artists to feature as guest musicians on his album, which demonstrates just how repected he was by his fellow artists.

Phil Lynott- Bass/Vocals
Scott Gorham- Guitar
Gary Moore- Guitar
Brian Downey- Drums

Production- Tony Visconti

Album
Do Anything You Want To- With its distinctive drumming start, of which the video for the single had all four band members banging the drums together, the song then moves into familiar Thin Lizzy melodic fare and sets the tone for the rest of the album. The Toughest Street in Town- Starts with a rocky guitar intro and it’s a song that demonstrates nicely the melodic rocky style of the album and it’s also the only song on the album that features a Gary Moore writing contribution. S&M- A funky influenced track, that then tones down the speed so that Phil Lynott can account one of his lurid tales. Waiting for an Alibi- The lead single from the album, which doesn’t bring anything new to the table and is largely what the listener would expect to hear by the band. Sarah- Probably the most heartfelt song in the Phil Lynott catalogue and it regards his new born daughter. A previous song with the same name had been on the earlier Thin Lizzy album Shades of a Blue Orphanage. Got to Give It Up- A heartfelt song told in rocking fashion, about Phil Lynott’s need to give up his addictions, of which he refers to them on this song as ‘that stuff’. Sadly he didn’t and they would take his life a few years later! Get Out of Here- An album track that was written by both Phil Lynott and Midge Ure, and probably ranks as the weakest track on the whole album. With Love- A slowish paced Phil Lynott track and the type of track that shows the in-depth quality of the album. Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend- The 7 minute title track where Gary Moore incorporates a complex playing style, which in turn incorporates celtic themes into the song.

Verdict
Once the album starts Thin Lizzy quickly go into familiar territory, with proceedings being competently started off by the percussion driven “Do Anything You Want To” which was also the second single off the album. Melody and rock never come together any better than they do on the album’s second track “The Toughest Street in Town” and this strong trilogy is then completed by the lead off single for the album “Waiting for an Alibi” which again melds both rock and melody together in a tasty sandwich. The band then cover typical Judas Priest subject material on a song like “S&M” but in a far more easeful style and it has a funky beat thrown into mix things up a bit, but sadly the song tends to drag along and never lights up. Then there is the touching jewel of a song “Sarah” followed by the rocking morbidity of “Got to Give It Up” a song that would account the gradual end of Phil Lynott! Then we have the breezy “With Love” which is the type of quality song that the band were always able to write with real ease. The most complex song though is saved till last, in the title track “Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend”. Throughout both Downey and Moore’s dual guitar attack doesn’t miss a beat and Phil Lynott’s songcraft is as consistent as ever. and the album Black Rose: A Rock Legend would also prove to be the end of the band’s classic run of albums that had started right back with Fighting in 1975. Despite being regarded as their last classic album, the listener can’t help but feel that nearly all the material here, guitar riffs and musical ideas have already been covered before by the band, which certainly shows that their originality had well and truly dried up. But where the album does come into its own and earns its spurs, is that the band were still able to do what they’d always done previously and that was give us another consistent and polished album of highly enjoyable melodic rock. To be fair the chances of the band duplicating Bad Reputation were always going to be a hard act to follow anyway, so whilst not being to the height of that album, we still have an essential album for any Thin Lizzy fans here.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
After the crudeness of their official debut album Motorhead two years earlier (official as their earlier debut On Parole had not been released) this trio of gritty rockers would see their mean and raw sound all come together on one album and that album would of course be Overkill. The album would make Kerrangs “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time” and usher in one of the most iconic rock acts of their generation and in frontman Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister they would have one of the most recognizable and volatile frontmen around. He would be a figure that would quickly become synonymous with all kinds of vices as far as British and international audiences were concerned, and his hard living and hard drinking band mates weren’t far behind either! Lemmy had formed Motorhead as far back as 1975, after his departure from space rock weirdos Hawkwind and he had quickly formed the breakneck and cruder sounding Motorhead. Original members had included Larry Willis (Pink Fairies) and very briefly Lucas Fox, but both of these were short lived, as with the the arrival of Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke’ and Phil ‘Philthy’ Taylor the infamous trio would be formed. When it came to categorizing the band, it was obvious that Motorhead were not interested in name tags or any other kind of label for that matter and were just concerned with playing their own brand of rock ‘n’ roll that sounded downright mean and was often played at breakneck speed. Before 1979 bands of course had sounded both fast and even nasty, but none quite did it as authentically as Motorhead did and just one look and listen of the band would confirm this fact. In many ways Motorhead’s ethos was certainly in stark contrast to Lemmy’s previous band Hawkwind, who had provided us with a batch of in-depth and overly complex musical arrangements, along with an even more demanding subject matter to go with it (well they were a druggy space rock band!) Lemmy himself had apparently been thrown out of Hawkwind, because he did different drugs to the rest of the band and his face just didn’t fit there anymore (it’s one of several reasons given) So whatever he was taking, it was certainly as far removed as you could get from the weird meanderings of Hawkwind and Hawkwind’s loss would eventually be the metal’s gain! Success though had initially been painfully slow for the band, who despite forming back in 1975 had seen their record label not releasing their On Parole album and then their following Motorhead album hadn’t really cut it quality wise either, Overkill of course would rectify these setbacks with an ugly blast of rampant rock!

Lemmy- Bass/Vocals
Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke- Guitar
Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor

Production- Jimmy Miller

Album
Overkill- With its heavy percussion intro the title track would be an archetypal Motorhead son. The song is fast, mean and loud and takes no prisoners where it counts, and the song closes out with a heavy percussion and a blistering guitar finale to end an epic 5 minutes! Stay Clean- The band take their foot slightly off the accelerator here for the second track and again the track is a great example of the quality in depth on the album. There is also some great guitar work here by Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke. (I Won’t) Pay Your Price- Lemmy starts off with the line “I’m so drunk” and the song is an uptempo track that really harks back to the band’s earlier 1970s hard rock influences. I’ll Be Your Sister- Another great track and it works as a perfect pair with the previous song, but is probably the more accomplished of the two songs on offer. Capricorn- One of the band’s few attempts to go for a more ambitious sound and also the use of a slightly more atmospheric backdrop. Overall the track comes off as neither great nor bad and best assessed as being average. No Class- The song has a pacey rock start to kick-off the b-side of the album and it’s a solid track throughout. Damage Case- One of the more punk orientated tracks by the band and the track demonstrates a more typical rock approach overall, it’s also a song which is very strong b-side album material. Tear Ya Down- Another punk orientated track which is punctuated by some great guitar work. Metropolis- A totally different pace here and a more traditional rock orientated track by the band and the line “I Don’t Care” certainly resonates the vibe and spirit of the band. Limb from Limb- A more traditional 1970s blues orientated hard rock track and the band probably work it better than some of the other slower based tracks on the album, but then the band throw everything up and gives the speed based finale that they really excel on! Some versions of the album with bonus tracks have “Louie Louie” which is a cover of the Richard Berry song, which was also a single and the first time the band appeared on Top of the Pops.

Verdict
By 1979 there was plenty of reason for Motorhead to feel both anger and frustration over their lack of previous success, but luckily both this anger and frustration would flow like a river for them in 1979 with the recording of their Overkill album! From the word go the band went for the jugular with the onslaught of the title track “Overkill” with its overdriven guitars and take no prisoners stance, the song remains one of the great signature hard rock tracks of its time and a track that even Motorhead themselves couldn’t always match! Other strong uptempo tracks include “(I Won’t) Pay Your Price” and “I’ll Be Your Sister”’ two excellent tracks that seem much longer than their sub-three minute listing times, possibly because they’re just such great tracks to listen to! Then we have “No Class” “Damage Case” and “Tear Ya Down” which are trilogy of tracks that have a strong punk vibe to them and were certainly contemporary for their time and provided the meat for the Motorhead bone. When the band took their foot of the accelerator, the quality luckily remained by and large on songs like “Stay Clean” which is certainly another stalwart Motorhead track, and then we have “Limb from Limb” where the first part of the song is about as near as Motorhead ever dared to get to Led Zeppelin. The album though has one or two weaker tracks like “Capricorn” and “Metropolis” two tracks that I’ve never really been exactly enamoured with, largely because these are two slower tracks that probably needed a bit more songcraft about them to really make them work, especially on a song like “Metropolis” which had the potential to be a really great song. As a band Motorhead could come across as sloppy and crude, two adjectives that would often denote a negative appraisal when it came to 1970s hard rock and metal bands, but in Motorhead’s case this turned out to be just the perfect description for them, as they would turn this sloppiness and cruidity into a fine art form on their Overkill album and on careful listening the intensity and focus of the band is spot on, and this focus though was certainly stronger on their faster tracks where the band’s true talent lay. So just what type of impact did Motorhead have around this time? Well if the classic Judas Priest album Stained Class (see 1978 review) had already given us the perfect blueprint for the NWOBHM a year earlier and the future blueprint for the 1980s technical-metal scene, it would now be the turn of Motorhead to provide all the energy for not just the NWOBHM movement, but also for the future extreme metal scene of the 1980s. This impact would be largely thanks to their exploits on both the Overkill and Bomber albums (higher on the list) along with their never say die attitude!

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Album Pick of the Year

Overview
Bomber would be the second of three albums released by these kick-ass rockers throughout 1979. The first of course was Overkill (see review) and the third was the official release of On Parole their actual debut album recorded by the band as far back as 1976. On Parole would now get a proper release by the end of the year, due to the storming success of Motorhead in the UK charts. So after the sensation that was known as Overkill, the heavy music industry now had a new major player in the UK and because this was the late 1970s, a quickly released follow-up by the record company was soon demanded and this came in the way of the Bomber album. Overkill Producer Jimmy Miller who was already a famed producer having previously dished out several of the Rolling Stones’ best loved albums over the years, was still around and would give us another gritty production to follow-up the one already laid down on the Overkill album earlier on in the year. It would also be this gun-rattling raw production approach of Jimmy Miller that would be the vital ingredient for Motorhead’s impact across both the Overkill and Bomber albums. As with the Overkill album cover, Bomber would also give us another no-thrills but yet vivid album cover that was certainly contemporary for heavy metal and hard rock around this time and despite their similarities they were designed by two different artists in Joe Petagno and Adrian Chesterman. Songwise the band were as tight as they would ever get and all the compositions here are written yet again by all three band members, as they nearly all had been on the previous Overkill album. Image wise the band looked every inch of how they sounded but in essence they weren’t going to shock British audiences as say the Sex Pistols had done a few years earlier, but whereas the Sex Pistols were largely a band designed to shock, Motorhead were just three bad-ass geezers who didn’t give a fuck about shocking and much like say the Stranglers they just went out to play regardless of what people thought. As a band they certainly embraced the ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ logo to the limit and both their attitude and honesty would be their calling card as far as the rock industry was concerned and Bomber as an album and statement just says it all.

Lemmy- Bass/Vocals
Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke- Guitar
Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor

Production- Jimmy Miller

Album
Dead Men Tell No Tales- Lemmy starts with the opening lyric “This is it” and the song generates all the energy that the band were able to muster and the track moves along at a mid-tempo and the perfect opener in every way. Lawman- Lemmy again starts with an opening lyric and this time it’s with the sombre word “Cancer” and the song is a somewhat sombre sounding metal based track and certainly one of the heaviest on the album and leads into… Sweet Revenge- This time the opening lyric is “Hello victims” and the song is literally a continuation in style from the previous “Lawman”. However the song drags more than “Lawman” but is still a good song with a great vibe. Sharpshooter- The whole pace of the album picks up again for its fourth track and the song is great fuel for the fire. Poison- A fast and melodic track and one of the stronger songs on the album and a song which would add real fire to the NWOBHM. Stone Dead Forever- The best known track from the album and also one of the fastest and a song that easily could’ve fit on the previous Overkill album and the song is really highlighted by its killer guitar licks! All the Aces- ‘Ace’ always seemed to be a word that the band liked to use in their lyrics and this time it appears in the song title and this is one of the faster tracks on the album and also one of the most infectious. Step Down- A heavy bluesy hard rock step down here in terms of speed and it’s a song that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the album and it’s a real oddity, but it’s still a good song anyway. Talking Head- We’re now back on track again and the type of the song now that the band were dishing out in their sleep. Bomber- The title track finishes the album with a blitzkrieg attack leaving the listener looking for more.

Verdict
Bomber would be another brutal bombardment unleashed by the band, which would actually see some deviation from the formula already perfected on the Overkill album, as the band would now dish out another ten overdriven tracks to fuel the hungry ears of awaiting fans. So with the release of Bomber they largely got what they wanted, but Bomber though would differ slightly from Overkill in the tempo of some of its songs. Bomber contained more of a mid-tempo metallic/punk vibe to it, despite the fact that it has some very fast songs. This was compared to the overall faster punk/speed metal approach of the previous Overkill, despite countering Bomber with its own slower songs and Bomber was probably the heavier of the two albums. Also never before had there quite been such a fusion of both metal and punk within a band, that also sounded so authentic as well! Motorhead to their credit were able to master this fusion over two albums in 1979 without missing a heartbeat and in turn gaining them a fanbase that still remains as strong today. The general consensus is that Bomber as an album probably doesn’t flow quite as seamlessly as Overkill does, but this is an opinion though that I actually disagree with, due to the fact that Bomber doesn’t have songs like “Capricorn” or “Metropolis” to break its quality and tempo factor. Also song for song Bomber probably has stronger tracks, but where Overkill does gain its greater plaudits as far as critics are concerned is surely in its impact at the time, whereas Bomber is probably more of an album suited to genuine metal fans. The stand-out tracks on Bomber are the jugular hitting album starter “Dead Men Tell No Tales” the mid-tempo and pulverizing “Lawman” and the heavy but even slower “Sweet Revenge”. Then there is the energetic melody of “Poison” which contrasts with the later breakneck energy of “All the Aces” then there is the sloppy gusto of “Stone Dead Forever” and finally the title track “Bomber” and these last two songs are without doubt two of the best songs in the entire Motorhead discography! Whenever I think of Motorhead at this time, I usually think of them as a hard rock band that were influential on numerous acts to follow, but the fact of the matter is that with songs like “Lawman” and “Sweet Revenge” etc the band had very heavy tracks that were distinctly metal in every aspect. Motorhead would go onto provide one of the strongest reference points for the future thrash movement in the USA, largely because they had the speed and crudeness that would later fuel that thrash movement. Thrash metal would be largely about marrying both metal and hardcore, and its seed was certainly laid with what would be called the proto-thrash of Motorhead back in 1979!

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

**** yeah Motorhead. "Bomber" is one of those few songs that I can pretty much just put on repeat for about ten minutes and never get tired of it. And "Limb from Limb" just has a perfect, totally badass riff.

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Unknown Soldier

I'm guessing then that you're a Bomber man rather than an Overkill one?

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Honestly I've always been lazy about listening to entire Motorhead albums ever since I bought a boxset back in high school so I'm not really familiar with the entire albums. Taught me to buy a boxset after you'd already listened to their discography.

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Unknown Soldier

Boxsets are always a ****ty way to listen to a band, as are those anthology albums as well. I always recommend that anybody should just pick out a couple of key albums to find out what a band really sound like, instead of n listening to greatest hits or best of albums.

Strangely enough, I always thought you were a diehard Motorhead fan, it actually seems that I know more about them than you and they're nowhere near one of my favourite bands either!

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

I do love Motorhead. It's just that years of dial-up and spotty internet access and money issues have limited my access to music much of the time.

__________________

Unknown Soldier

Overview
Highway to Hell would be one of the most revered hard rock albums ever released and it would be without doubt the icing on the cake when it comes to the ‘Bon Scott’ era of the band. Highway to Hell would quite simply be the album that AC/DC had always strived to achieve right back from their earliest days and over the ensuing years they had furrowed hard to achieve this goal. They had certainly reached a pinnacle on the previous Let There Be Rock back in 1977 (see review) but you always felt that the band could do even better and Highway to Hell proved that they could. Sadly Highway to Hell would become the perfect album title for its hard rocking and even harder drinking frontman Bon Scott, who would become one of the most famous deaths in rock several months after the recording of the album. He would die at the age of 33 (yep not 27) due to alcochol poisoning after falling asleep overnight in a car in freezing temperatures in London on the 19th February 1980. There is of course as with any famous rock death, a number of different stories and concoctions but the above seems to be the most common reason given. Either way rock had lost one of its most iconic frontmen who went out at the height of his game. Another notable highlight of Highway to Hell must surely be the appointment of Robert John “Mutt” Lange as producer to replace the previous double act of Harry Vanda and George Young, who had produced every AC/DC album upto this date. In fact Mutt Lange was originally the second choice to replace the Vanda and Young team, as Kiss producer Eddie Kramer had been the actual first choice (It’s easy to see why he would’ve been chosen) but he was quickly fired and replaced with Mutt Lange. Mutt Lange would of course become one of the most important and most revered producers of his generation, with a reputation that was garnered from his perfectionist nature and his endurance in the studio which would push artists to their limits! He therefore made a big splash with his two AC/DC albums Highway to Hell and the following Back in Black in 1979 and 1980. Previously he had mostly worked with the UK punk and new-wave scene of the mid to late 1970s and certainly made his impact on the crisp sounding recordings that he gave the Boomtown Rats. He would of course go onto work with the likes of Def Leppard, the Cars and Foreigner, all bands who would have their biggest selling albums thanks to him. Highway to Hell would make Rolling Stone’s ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’ list along with countless others over the years.

Bon Scott- Vocals
Angus Young- Guitar
Malcolm Young- Rhythm
Cliff Williams- Bass
Phil Rudd- Drums

Production- Robert John “Mutt” Lange

Album
Highway to Hell- The integral title track shows a somewhat controlled tempo by the band, as they serve us up another one of the infamous beer drinking anthems and its main guitar riff written my Malcolm Young and performed by Angus Young is regarded as one of the most famous riffs ever put down on record. Girls Got Rhythm- The pace picks up immediately on this song and it’s a song that just seems to click in all the right places with its catchy rhythm and a stunning vocal performance by Bon Scott, and it’s another infectious band essential. Walk All Over You- After its sluggish start the song soon emerges into a surprisingly adept piece of melodic hard rock and despite having a number of AC/DC hallmarks throughout, the song has a classic anthemic chorus that would be much copied throughout the 1980s. The song though is superbly superbly highlighted with its contrast of melody and Angus Young’s guitar. Touch Too Much- Slow building, infectious and just so damn cool on the ear, as Bon Scott and the band deliver one of the crowning achievements. Beating Around the Bush- A manic and nifty song, that is a great album filler and a song fit for any great album. Shot Down in Flames- Similar in tempo to the album opener and title track and the song is carefully and carefully placed to start the b-side of the album. Get It Hot- Typical AC/DC album material here and nothing special. If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)- With a live album of the same name (see review) the band surprise us by putting out a song with the same name and it’s a solid track from start to end. Love Hungry Man- A somewhat offbeat track by the band and again they use the chorus style approach of “Walk All Over You” in certain places. Night Prowler- Supposedly based around the exploits of serial killer Richard Ramirez and a song which sees the band put out their most bluesy effort on the whole album. The song also finishes with the well known phrase “Shazbot, Nanu Nanu!”

Verdict
Highway to Hell is the perfect example of how a basic musical premise such as ‘hard rock’ could be taken and then stripped right back to its bearest bones, and then rebuilt to make it not just contemporary for its time but also as a timeless example of a hard rock album that was built to last. Part of the credit here surely goes to the band, but it also goes with Mutt Lange as well, as he painstaikingly delivered one of his production masterpieces with Highway to Hell. The album starts off with the title track “Highway to Hell” and the band sound like that they’ve been doing this sound for years (which of course they had) and the song quickly joins a list of well-known band anthems, but it’s with the second track “Girls Got Rhythm” that things on the album really get moving, due to the song’s catchy and irresistible vibe and it’s one of the best and most infectious songs in the band’s discography. The same could also be said for a “Touch Too Much” another stellar track where the band let it all hang out a la Led Zeppelin. Album substance is provided on stalwart tracks like “Shot Down in Flames” “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” and the album closer “Night Prowler”. But possibly the real unsung brilliance of the album surely comes with its melodic moments, especially on a song like “Walk All Over You” which displays a greater commercial appeal than most of the band’s earlier material, with the inclusion of a melodic and anthemic chorus in a song that still manages to keep its rocking guitar chops. This same infectious melody can also be found on the previously mentioned classics the “Girls Got Rhythm” and a “Touch Too Much” as well. Also the lhe latter album track “Love Hungry Man” sees the band getting somewhat close again to the melodic flow of “Walk All Over You” and the brilliance of these tracks are surely the influence of Mutt Lange. AC/DC as a band have always had their fair share of filler and Highway To Hell for all its brilliance doesn’t escape this trait, and here the filler ranges from being downright good with “Beating Around the Bush” to mediocre on “Get It Hot” but given the overall quality of the album, this filler easily gets sucked in with the good stuff and doesn’t detract from the album experience. Overall Highway to Hell is a hard rock masterpiece that incorporates melody and commercial appeal, without sacrificing the ballbreaking core sound of the band. Whilst Motorhead were giving us a dirty blood and guts experience, AC/DC would give us more straight-up hard drinking material, which would convert into some of the most famous hard rock tracks ever produced and cement Mutt Lange’s name as one of the most revered producers of his time.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

William_the_Bloody

WTF? Highway to Hell is number 2??? What could possibly be better than this pure classic!



I find that there are two types of hard rock fans, so I am really hoping that AC/DC isn't going to get trumped by the Judas here....unless your going to throw down some Floyd???