Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
11 Steps to (re)define Rock'n'Roll...................., 12 Aug 2008
Two things in life, beyond Death and Taxes, are certain. The first is that Joe Public (bless 'im) thinks of Motorhead as a static force, a never-changing outfit who continue to churn out the same racket year in, year out. Certain, but wrong!
The second, and by far the most important, constant, is that each new Motorhead album of recent years just gets better and better....
I'm lucky enough to have a preview copy of this. I've lived with the album for well over a week now, and my set of jaded old ears have been rejuvenated by this fresh (yes, fresh!) take on the rock'n'roll machine....
If 'Rock Out' doesn't become the new live set-opener, then there's no justice... it has all the immediacy of 'We Are Motorhead', or dare I mention, 'Ace Of Spades'.... a perfect distillation of rock'n'roll in as little time as it takes the SAS to get in and out of a foreign embassy...
'Runaround Man' may revisit 'Going to Brazil', but it's topped by a riff so thick you could stand on it, whilst 'When The Eagle Screams' has a musical hook-worm ready to burrow into your grey matter and stay there....
Much is made of Lemmy's wordsmithery - this ain't no collection of'Bama Lama Bama Loo' style affairs; for the thinking man, there's a lot here to keep you marvelling at his way with wit, words and wisdom - and for the Beavis & Butthead generation, the 'rock out with your co*k out' line in 'Rock Out' should keep a few folks sniggering along. It worked for me. :-)
Cliche it may be, but the caveat 'All Killer, No Filler' really DOES apply here - there's nothing duff, just eleven slices of primal r'n'r that strive and win to make the hairs on the back of yer neck stand up!
If you haven't listened to the band since 'Ace Of Spades', start here, or with 'Inferno', or 'Kiss Of Death' - you'll be in for a tasty surprise. This is THE best lineup of Motorhead ever, and darn near their best album.
:-*
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Solid, but not up with their best, 2 Oct 2008
Way back when, rock fans were always debating which was the best Led Zep LP, or Black Sabbath LP. That was understandable, as both of those groups changed a lot over the years. Motorhead have evolved, but each release cannot be said to be radically different from the last one. It therefore surprises me that there is such a difference of opinion regarding which are their finest works. Although Motorizer clearly hits a chord with some people, if I were to rank order all the Motorhead cds, this one would be around the middle. It is a good solid work, and the production sound is as good as Inferno and Kiss of Death, but the songs are really not that memorable. I have played this cd a lot, trying to get into it, but there are still only a couple of songs which stick in my mind. This is a big contrast to Inferno and Kiss of Death, both of which made a big impact immediately: an impact which has not lessened over time. To be honest, Motorizer is roughly what I expected, as I doubted they could maintain the quality of the previous two releases, let alone improve on them.
I feel very guilty posting a bad review of a Motorhead cd, as they have been my favourite band for thirty years now, and this is NOT a bad cd. What you have is a collection of loud, hard songs, as you might expect. The songs vary to the extent that some are better than others, but there is not much variation in the style. Not that I expect a lot of variation from Motorhead, but the more varied selections on Kiss of Death, Inferno, and 1916, did make those releases all the more interesting. Long-term fans, like myself, will buy it anyway, but for anyone new to Motorhead, I would probably point them in the direction of quite a few others before they move onto this one.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Impress Your Friends and Dazzle Your Wet Nurse!, 7 Sep 2008
Because you bought yet another Motörhead album! Another £10 pound safely into Mr Kilmister's pocket, which he can spend on sherbet lemons, wagon wheels and whatever else the kids are into these days. You could have bought that copy of 'Benny Hill's Guide to Exotic Spiders' you've been hankering for, but another forty minutes of rock 'n' roll from the masters just caught your evil eye. You knew 'Motörizer' wouldn't offer much new or anything that has the band branching out like a shrubbery fueled by Special Brew and cigarettes... but faithfully, you fed the money to the spotty and impressively fringed youth and subsequently got your rocks off, because at heart you're just a geriatric grebo trapped inside the body of an eighteen year old hermaphrodite.
I have one bone to pick with 'Motörizer'; the guitar sound is often a bit plain. 'Kiss of Death', though not perfectly produced, had a great mid-range crunch to the guitars but here things are just a little too drab in the rhythm sound. Phil Campbell has a great guitar sound live and on previous records ('1916' and even the otherwise ropey 'Snakebite Love' spring to mind) he sounded huge, but this is quite flat sounding. Not a horrid guitar sound by any means, just when you've got a guitarist with a killer signature sound why not let him shine? It's pretty clear that Cameron Webb is no Vic Maile, I for one would like a change in producer for next album, though the boys are probably set in their ways and probably don't want a change... I mean Phil taking his hat off last year was quite enough of a shock. Still the bass and drums sound pretty good on this one. Mikkey has never quite captured his live sound but recording at Dave 'No More Mr Nice Guy' Grohl's studio gives him a clear and round tub thumping sound. Thankfully, Lem's Stuka bass drone is still intact and he certainly hasn't had a change of heart and decided playing fretless slap bass is cool too - the Rickenbacker of Doom still slaughters its competition... not that it ever had any.
Things are kicked off with a bit of nonsensical, babbling fun in 'Runaround Man'. We get the same sort of riffs that Phil has been churning out since 'Sacrifice', but invigorated and the end result is immensely infectious. The first thing that struck me is that Lemmy's lyrics are a lot sharper here, he seems to recovered a lot of his deft wit. I've listened to this album quite a few times now and I can't find the words monkey and funky in a rhyming couplet anywhere, so that's a certain bonus. 'Teach You How to Sing the Blues' is a fairly quirky number for the band, something about it just feels a little different. I'm sure if Queens of the Stone Age put this one out and had that tall ginger fellow who used to be good drawl over it, it'd be a massive hit... but this is Motörhead, you know, that band that does 'Ace of Spades' and hasn't put out an album since. But, ginger tall fellows sell and the NME is my Qur'an and is placed higher than all other literature on my shelf, except my copy of Harry Potter signed by Dio. But yes, back to the album at hand, 'Teach You How...' is an insanely catchy low-end drone. If I was to notice a theme running through this album it would be the sheer level of catchy choruses. Lemmy has really outdone himself here. 'Kiss of Death' was no slouch for sing-along rockers, but 'Motörizer' just seems more assured. It's almost poppy - albeit in a cunning way - but what else would you expect from a bloke who actually remembers rock 'n' roll?
You can't really accuse Motörhead of stagnating and repeating a winning formula with a song like 'Rock Out', I mean I've never heard anything quite like it. But then again my dementia is getting pretty bad. Ok, it's a blatant retreat of the 'Motörhead'/'Ace of Spades'/'Iron Fist'/'We are Motörhead' formula, but I like those songs and being a stupid brain-dead hairy I lap this sort of thing up. But here's the ground-breaking part; the opening bass part is only part is only played once before the guitar comes in... talk about pushing the boat out! But hey, this is rock 'n' roll; it doesn't need an alternative, you can't replace it and it doesn't need angst and seven string guitars... you don't play Linkin Park at parties, do ya? Well, if you do I'm coming round to be sick in your bed. 'Buried Alive' is the fastest song here and though it doesn't quite cause internal bleeding like 'Sacrifice' did, it's a gem. You've got to admire the band for getting such a strong melody going at high velocity. It's actually similar to the excellent 'Down On Me' from 'Inferno', so another enjoyable retread with bounding riffs, but of a more subtle variety. 'The Thousand Names of God' actually is something a little different from the band, not that it's a disco song by any means. We haven't had any slide guitar from the band since the 'Rock 'N' Roll' album (If my memory is correct) so that's a nice touch. It's one of Lemmy's more wordy exercises, in the vain of 'Orgasmatron' or 'Sacrifice', a great continuation of a theme. But these are just the standouts, 'Motörizer' is a very solid album and enjoyable from start to finish.
So another great Motörhead record. 'Motörizer' stays mean, stays clean and you certainly don't ask it where it's been. This is the best new record I've heard all year, no two disc abominations or "OMG they turned the snare back on" moments here. 'Motörizer' gets better with each subsequent listen and has that hungry vitality that so many bands lack... if the new Metallica is this good, then I will actually refund everyone of you the hard-earned pocket money you spent on this.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
