Motorhead - BetterMotorhead Than Dead: liveat Hammersmith

Mon 8th Oct, 2007 in Music Reviews

What can you say about a band like Motorhead? That it seems they’ve been around forever (well, they’ve certainly been around longer than me!)? To say that they’ve been influential is an understatement.

Whatever you say about them, you can’t deny that Motorhead are still going strong, and for a reason. This album Better Motorhead Than Dead: Live at Hammersmith is a double-CD celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary; encased in a fold-out CD arrangement, accompanied by a booklet full of photographs from the show.

The CDs feature tracks from landmark albums like Stay Clean, No Class, Metropolis and the title track from Overkill; and Ace of Spades, Shoot your in the Back, and Love Me Like a Reptile from Ace of Spades. Another track which, according to Lemmy on the recording, the band ‘don’t easily do any more’, but which was played at the show any way because of all the requests they get for it, is (We Are) The Road Crew.

The sound is really good: just flat enough for you to hear its live-ness; enough commentary throughout to give you a sense of what it would have been like to be at the show; the screaming crowd, which is enough to make you wish you were there. And Motorhead, of course, are at the top of their form.

This is a great release, and is a must-have for any Motorhead album. After all, there are very few bands that can lay claim to ongoing popularity after 30 years.

Better Motorhead than Dead: Live at Hammersmith is out now on Steamhammer/Riot.