Can I just say off the top that I am thrilled my first post of 2018 is a Motörhead effort? It just feels right!
I got this disc for Christmas and hell, any Motörhead is a great gift indeed! That said, this was an interesting listen…
Breaking The Law (Judas Priest) and God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols) were what you’d expect, fairly straight-on renditions. Good, but except for Lemmy’s vocals there’s not a lot to distinguish them from the originals. Their cover of Heroes is a highlight only because you kind of forget you’re listening to Motörhead while it plays. Weird to hear them hew so close to Bowie…
Starstruck (Rainbow) kicks the tempo up and rips well. Cat Scratch Fever does a decent job, playing it pretty straight. Then it’s two Stones tracks – Jumpin’ Jack Flash rocks hard, I liked it. Lemmy’s rasp adds some cool menace to Sympathy For The Devil. You know, I don’t tend to like covers of the Stones (just listen to the originals, seriously) but these two were bloody damn good. Especially when the guitar rips a solo in SFTD. Twice! Whoa.
Next is Ozzy’s Hellraiser (I forgot that Lemmy wrote this one for Ozzy). It’s pretty close to the No More Tears version, but my ear kept wanting Ozzy’s vocals. Lemmy sounds odd here, especially in the chorus – still cool, mind you, and the band’s smokin’ on this one wow. Next is the Ramones’ Rockaway Beach, and here’s a track with some real energy, finally! Go go go! Yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
Twisted Sister’s Shoot ‘Em Down is a nice addition and they play the hell out of it. Great track. And finally it’s Metallica’s Whiplash. Whooaaa goddamn they really blast this one! Best track here! YES! Go go go! Smash! (Seek And) Destroy! Rarrrgh!!!!!!
In Sum:
Especially early on, some tracks just felt like they were playing it safe or something. I dunno. Maybe more listens will prove I’m wrong as I write this up tonight and I’ll love this disc as I know I should! The album seems to pick up steam as it goes, all the energy buried in the second half… They might have been better to reverse the track order of the CD!
I did find that Lemmy’s vocals were sometimes buried in the mix, and he’s hard enough to understand as it is! But there’s no knocking any of the playing, in fact most of the time it’s amazing work. And I gotta hand it to them, this is a stellar selection of tunes to cover!
Yeah, this album is complied over 25 years or so. I think the two oldest are Hellraiser and Cat Scratch Fever are from 1992s March or Die. They we’re weak back then and still are. Pleasant surprise when the newer covers turned out as well as they did.
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I almost wish I had looked up these tracks before I wrote the review. I might have known a thing or two about the history of it. Ah well, I just plugged it in and went with the ol’ gut. And my gut said that a lot of these are frickin’ stellar. Cool stuff!
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Stand by Your Man was always my fave ‘head cover.
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I just played it on the tubes of you, it’s a rough and dirty version. The comments were either YAY or NAY, not many in between. Love it or hate it, apparently!
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Record labels know how to bring in the cashpennies, eh? I know a few of the tracks on here already and Sympathy For The Devil is the pick of the bunch. At least of those I’ve heard.
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They sure do. BUt for me it’s a cool way to get a bunch of this stuff without having to collect up all the albums… which makes me think I’m silly because of course the Motörhead albums need to be collected up…
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Needed a cover of Hallelujah
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Bear officially poked
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I’m just saying, if you can’t do a version of Hallelujah that isn’t at least twice as good as the original, you shouldn’t get to call yourself a musician.
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Gah.
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I think a lot of these songs are from tribute albums. I know I have the Twisted track already.
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It could very well be! Maybe this was just intended to get them all into one place – perfect for me!
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Seems like a solid logical move!
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Confirmed! In fact, according to this, only Heroes and Rockaway Beach were unreleased prior to this compilation! Good call, Lebrain!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Cöver#Track_listing
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That’s what I was wondering… I wonder if they’ve reworked some of them? Wasn’t always Motorhead playing on the tribute albums was it? Usually Lemmy and assorted others. It’s Biff Byford singing on Starstruck here too.
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Kinda what I was expecting it to be liked but you got me intrigued by some of it. I’ll check it out online at some point…
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Some are pretty straight-on, and some are just too damn fun! Not really a clunker in the bunch, though, so it has that going for it, which is nice!
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Some pretty interesting choices too!
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Yessir! I thought the track selections were great! Keep an eye on yer inbox…
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Great stuff, thanks! I’ll give it a bash.
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Go go go!
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I am picturing you saying that in a Carl Spackler voice.
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Exactly as intended!
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The umlaut in the album title, brilliant – and I imagine a Lemmy SFTD vocal would be more menacing thanMick!
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I am a big fan of the umlauts! SFTD is very different here, though still recognizeable!
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Under Cover
Under Cover
Under Cover Of The Night
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OK, now I wanna hear Lemmy’s rasp on this one as the band tries to turn it into a bit more of a hard rock/metal song. It could work.
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Sadly too late. We shall have to settle on a Metallica version.
Inside of the “doo doo doo doo doo…”, it will be be
” yeah heah heah heah heah heah heah heah…”
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Hahaha yeah! With an “Are you ALIVE? How does it feel to be ALIVE?” every now and then…
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Thank you friends
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[Lars chews like a cow]
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..while endlessly yammering about nothing
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