Archive Review: Probot's Probot (2004)

Probot is Foo Fighter Dave Grohl’s labor of love, a four-year project that saw the former Nirvana skinman writing songs for his favorite heavy metal artists. Grohl would create a song in the vein of the chosen artist’s style, record the basic tracks, and then get together with the collaborator to pen lyrics and record vocals and final instrumentation. In the current corporate rock climate, however, no major recording label – not even those for which Grohl has earned millions – would touch the project.

Metal label Southern Lord finally released Probot’s self-titled “debut” and they deserve every dime they make on the gamble. From a pure heavy metal perspective, Probot kicks ass in more ways than you can count. As a kid growing up in the Washington DC area, Grohl may have played in hardcore punk bands, but he had his ear turned towards the mid-80s underground metal scene. Grohl has a zealot’s appreciation of the genre and it shows in every monstrous beat that he brings to Probot. His choice of collaborators is a literal “who’s who” of late ‘80s/early ‘90s metal myth, from obscure tastemakers like Cronos of Venom and Voivod’s Snake to better-known rockers like Max Cavalera (Soulfly) and Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilminster.

It’s the songs that make Probot a headbanger’s delight, Grohl’s co-conspirators all bringing inspired performances to the project. Grohl’s staccato drumbeat propels Cavalera’s haunting lyrics on “Red War” to new heights of metallic mayhem and Lemmy proves with “Shake Your Blood” that the old dog can still rock with the young pups. Corrosion of Conformity’s Mike Dean provides “Access Babylon” with a maddening energy while King Diamond’s dark-hued charisma infuses “Sweet Dreams” with a diabolic ambiance. Celtic Frost’s Tom G Warrior, the Obsessed’s Wino and Lee Dorrian of Napalm Death are also among those contributing to the musical madness while ringleader Grohl provides solid instrumental accompaniment behind his guest stars. Loud, dark, evil, and relentlessly rocking, Probot is a welcome throwback to the classic age of heavy metal. (Southern Lord Records, released 2004)

Archive Review: Motörhead’s Motörizer (2008)

Just one question: why isn’t Motörhead in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? If there was ever a band that epitomizes the road warrior ethic, a lifelong dedication to the rock ‘n’ roll muse, it’s this gang. Motörhead’s 24th album, Motörizer provides another good argument for the band’s ticket to Cleveland. These songs don’t just sit there on the slab o’ plastic like some stinkin’ corpse, they leap out of your speakers with bloodlust, a knife in their teeth and evil on today’s “to do” list. Lemmy’s liquor-soaked blues-metal growl is complimented by Filthy Phil’s napalm-strength fretwork while drummer Mikkey Dee delivers a good old-fashioned mugging. Songs like the pub-rocking “English Rose” or the brutal “Buried Alive” are landmines itching to trigger, displaying a mix of punk attitude and metallic overkill. Motörizer is a hellbound train, with Lemmy K at the helm…hold on for the ride of your life! (Steamhammer Records/SPV Music, released August 26th, 2008)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine, 2008...

Archive Review: Motörhead's Inferno (2004)

Motörhead has been this “legendary heavy metal band” for so long that even many critics have overlooked the metal icon’s overall importance in the grand scheme of things. Frontman Lemmy Kilminster’s roots are in typical ’60s-era British R&B, but it’s when he joined prog-rockers Hawkwind that things began to get interesting. As bassist for the space-rock outfit during the early ’70s, Lemmy perfected both his bottom-heavy instrumental style and his songwriting skills.

When kicked out of Hawkwind for a myriad of offenses, Lemmy formed Motörhead as an outlet for his aggressive hard rock vision, equal parts British biker culture, pre-punk punk rock attitude, and heavy metal thunder. Over the course of dozens of albums, Lemmy and Motörhead's ever-evolving line-up managed to affect punk, heavy metal, and thrash unlike any other artistic influence.

Motörhead's Inferno

For almost thirty years, Motörhead’s musical blueprint has been consistent and consistently powerful: Lemmy’s gruff vocals spitting out lyrics above a massive slab of feedback-driven guitar riffs and thunderous drumbeats. Inferno, the band’s latest, doesn’t stray far from the formula. The blistering “Terminal Show” kicks off the disc, a futuristic tale of woe set to a speed metal soundtrack that careens out of control approx. 30 seconds into the song, guest axeman Steve Vai’s razor sharp leads standing in counterpoint to Phillip Campbell’s percussive riffs.

From here, the pace never diminishes, drummer Mikkey Dee’s merciless rhythms driving the songs forward while Lemmy’s bass bludgeons the listener and Campbell’s six-string work punches with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The only surprise on Inferno, perhaps, is the acoustic “Whorehouse Blues,” an overt reference to the influence of traditional blues (and British blues-rock) on Motörhead’s metallic sturm-und-drang.

Inferno is both timeless and out-of-time, Lemmy serving up uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll field-tested by better than a quarter-century of hard roadwork. In Campbell and Dee, Kilminster has the band he’s always wanted, the iron fist inside the tattered leather glove. Like most Motörhead albums, Inferno is dominated by themes of sex, death, power, and the near-mystical aesthetic of rock ‘n’ roll. The songs roar like a wolf at the door and scream louder than Dante’s nightmares, Motörhead an anachronistic thorn in the side of the music business, the rude guest that refuses to leave the modern rock party.

The Reverend's Bottom Line

You won't hear Inferno on the radio, but its importance will be felt five or ten years from now when the kid who discovers Motörhead through this album forms the next Metallica or Nirvana. In the end, Lemmy won’t be remembered so much for the remarkable simplicity and strength of his music but for the young musicians who continue to be influenced by the uncompromising honesty and anarchistic spirit that is Motörhead. (Steamhammer Records, 2004)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2004

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Motörhead's Inferno

Book Review: Martin Popoff's Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers The Rise of Motörhead

In this scribe’s humble opinion, no other band epitomizes the pure, undistilled spirit of rock ‘n’ roll more than Motörhead. A saber-rattling golem formed from spilled whiskey, broken glass, and handfuls of amphetamines, Motörhead lurked forward from the shadows of the back alleyways of the United Kingdom to rock the world. Lemmy K’s musical leviathan toured constantly for nearly four decades until, literally, the band’s erstwhile frontman could no long stand upright on stage and sing.

Motörhead was equally influential (and well-liked) by punk rockers, metalheads, and your garden-variety punters, and although none of their 30 or so studio and live albums enjoyed overwhelming commercial success, they sold well enough to sustain the band’s lengthy tenure in the trenches. Why they haven’t been inducted into the joke that is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is beyond my comprehension – perhaps their reputation for grime upsets the delicate sensitivities of Mr. Wenner and his HoF gatekeepers – but the band’s loyal fans recognize Motörhead as the rock ‘n’ roll pioneers that they were.

Martin Popoff’s Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

Writer and heavy metal historian Martin Popoff is no newcomer to Motörhead. The founder and editor of Canada’s esteemed Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles music zine, Popoff has penned 55+ books on hard rock and heavy metal, including acclaimed tomes on Deep Purple, Yes, Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, and Dio, among many, many others (really – check out his website!). In the interest of full disclosure, Popoff is also a colleague and a buddy of mine, and I’ve enjoyed and positively reviewed a number of his books. In many cases, Popoff’s work stands as the last word on his subjects, and if his recent Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers: The Rise of Motörhead isn’t necessarily the final tale to be written about this influential gang of sonic terrorists, it is certain to be the cornerstone of any other author’s future effort.

With Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers, Popoff literally recounts only the “rise of Motörhead,” circa 1975 through 1982. Rather than attempt to chronicle the band’s entire 40 year history, Popoff instead chooses to cover the band’s early “classic era” line-up, the primal power-trio of bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke,” and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor that recorded such enduring hard rock albums as Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and the bruising live set, No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith. As per his usual ‘modus operandi,’ Popoff assembles the story from numerous interviews with the principal artists as well as providing comments from conversations with other musicians.

The Rise of Motörhead

Popoff begins the Motörhead story with Lemmy’s initial ‘60s-era bands (The Rocking Vicars, cult rockers Sam Gopal), his stint as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, and his short, tho’ ultimately important tenure with U.K. space-rock pioneers Hawkwind. Lemmy first appeared on Hawkwind’s third album, 1972’s Doremi Fasol Latido, subsequently recording 1974’s Hall of the Mountain Grill and the following year’s Warrior on the Edge of Time, as well as the classic 1973 double-live set Space Ritual. Lemmy also penned Hawkwind’s lone hit single in “Silver Machine” before he was booted from the band for his well-documented recreational excesses. One could say that, in many ways, Lemmy put together Motörhead in response to his sacking by Hawkwind, a move that may have affected Lemmy greatly but essentially set the stage for him to pursue his own unique musical muse with his own band. From this point, Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers follows Motörhead from its early stumbles in both the studio and on stage as the band eventually gelled with the aforementioned line-up of Lemmy, Clarke, and Taylor.

The author dives deep into the blood, sweat, and tears spent in the writing and recording of the band’s classic early albums; the interpersonal dynamics that helped create such speed-fueled, tension-filled music; and the eventual conflicts that broke this beloved line-up of the band apart. Musicians and fans of the band such as Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Brian Robertson (Thin Lizzy, and a future Motörhead member), producer Sandy Pearlman (Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash), and Hawkwind’s Dave Brock and Nik Turner, among others, all provide their perspective, while interviews with Clarke and Taylor, as well as Lemmy’s bandmates in the band’s final incarnation, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee, help round out the story.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

The Reverend has read better than 60% of Popoff’s books to date, and I can honestly say that Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers: The Rise of Motörhead stands proudly as one of his best efforts. Although he unfolds the band’s story chronologically, the author eschews his frequently-used timeline approach in creating a narrative in favor of following the band from album-to-album, using each recording as a milestone, and allowing the band members and other interviewees to color between the lines.

The result is an entertaining and informative read that sheds no little light into the often-enigmatic Lemmy K. and his life’s work, Motörhead, documenting the early years of one of rock music’s most beloved and underrated outfits. The Rev highly recommends Beer Drinker and Hell Raisers for both hardcore Motörhead fans (duh) as well as anybody who lives and breathes rock ‘n’ roll. Grade: A+ (ECW Press, published May 9th, 2017)

Buy the book from Amazon: Martin Popoff's Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

Related book reviews:
Martin Popoff's Time and A Word - The Yes Story
Surfing the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with Martin Popoff 

Record Store Day 2017 Preview

Record Store Day 2017 is a mere three weeks away, falling on Saturday, April 22nd this year. As usual, both independent and major labels are flooding the market with a bunch of slick, shiny (and high-priced) vinyl relics designed to separate record collectors from their hard-earned pesos.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t offer some sort of preview of the holiday, so after poring over the massive RSD17 release list, the Reverend has personally ‘curated’ the below listed discs as those most likely to tickle the itch of any That Devil Music reader. Remember – ‘round these parts, every day is “record store day”! Support your local independent music retailer…

The list below is organized alphabetically by artist, with the size of the release (one disc, two, etc) and the number of copies of each limited edition LP (5000x, etc) included.

• David Bowie – Cracked Actor (3xLP, 5000x)
Rhino Records dug deep into the vaults to find this previously unreleased live recording from David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs tour in September 1974. The album’s title comes from a 1975 BBC television documentary film that followed Bowie during his series of concerts in Los Angeles. Whereas the producers of the film used concert footage from the September 2nd, 1974 performance, Cracked Actor the album uses a recording from September 5th and was produced by Bowie before his death and mixed by Tony Visconti. The three-album vinyl set features etching on the sixth side.  

• R.L. Burnside – Long Distance Call (LP, 2500x)
Reissue of 1982 recordings made in Groningen, Netherlands by producer Leo Bruin (founder of Swingmaster Records) and originally released on CD stateside by Fat Possum in 2000 as Mississippi Hill Country Blues. A stunning solo performance by legendary bluesman R.L. Burnside – just the man and his guitar – this is the first time these eleven sides have been offered on vinyl in the U.S.

• Marianne Faithful – Rich Kid Blues (LP, 2000x)
Recorded in 1971 and originally released in the U.K. on CD by Diablo Records in 1998 (and again in 2003), Marianne Faithful’s Rich Kid Blues reunites the singer with producer Mike Leander, who had arranged and recorded much of Faithful’s 1960s-era material for the Decca Records label. A low-budget affair, the album offers Faithful’s haunting acoustic readings of folk-rock songs by artists like Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, James Taylor, Sandy Denny, and Tim Hardin, among others. This is the first time on vinyl for Rich Kid Blues.

• Hawkwind – The Best of the United Artists Years: 1971-1974 (LP, 2500x)
There is certainly no lack of Hawkwind material to be found on the band’s early recordings and half-dozen (or more) compilation CDs that have been culled from the Hawk’s prolific and productive stint with United Artists Records circa 1971 to ’74. This eight-track LP offers up some of the best recordings from the psychedelic space-rock pioneers, including rare and alternative versions of songs from their studio albums like a live 1971 performance of the classic “Silver Machine” from the Roundhouse. This limited edition RSD release is pressed on swirl color vinyl and was manufactured by Pallas Group in Germany on audiophile-grade vinyl.

• Jimi Hendrix/Curtis Knight – Live At George’s Club 20 (2xLP, 3000x)
First legit vinyl release collecting raw live performances by the rock guitar great with bandleader Curtis Knight, recorded in December 1965 and January 1966, not long before Hendrix’s discovery by Animals bassist Chas Chandler. Live At George’s Club 20 offers up raucous R&B and blues covers of classic songs by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, and others. A lot of this material was previously released by dodgy fly-by-night labels through the years, usually by Knight himself, but this specially priced two-disc set is offered by Dagger Records, the official bootleg label created by the Hendrix estate and restored by producer Eddie Kramer to their original status. 

• Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings: The Centennial Collection (3xLP, 2500x)
Delta blues legend Robert Johnson only made a total of 42 recordings during two sessions in 1936 and ’37, but they have been circulated endlessly over the past 50+ years, providing a blueprint for contemporary blues and blues-rock music. These influential, inspiring tracks have been recycled more than once, most recently on the centennial of Johnson’s birthday in 2011, when they were re-mastered and reissued on CD (and thumb drive!). This three-album limited edition set is drawn from those improved 2011 recordings and packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket and includes extensive liner notes as well as a bonus poster with the original label artwork of Johnson’s 78rpm singles released in the 1930s and ‘40s by labels like Vocalion, Orion, Conqueror, and others. 

• Ken Kesey – The Acid Test (LP, 2000x)
Writer and ‘60s counterculture icon Ken Kesey was, perhaps, the best-known of the loose-knit group of friends called the Merry Pranksters whose experimentation with psychedelic drugs like LSD were immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The 1966 album The Acid Trip was a private label release that was intended to recreate the vibe of an LSD trip for listeners. Allegedly Kesey, Ken Babbs, and other Merry Pranksters were tripping in the studio with members of the Grateful Dead and came up with this cultural curiosity, roughly 30 minutes of humorous spoken word, music parody, and rambling instrumental jams that probably made a lot of sense at the time.

• Motörhead – Clean Your Clock (2xLP, 1500x)

Lemmy may have left the planet in December 2015 but his music is eternal. Clean Your Clock is being billed as a ‘RSD exclusive’ but that’s stretching it a bit. Recorded live at the Zenith in Munich, Germany during Motörhead’s 2015 “Bad Magic Tour,” this performance was released on CD, DVD, and vinyl in 2016. This RSD release is a two-LP picture disc set, though, which is pretty cool in and of itself.

• Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression: Live at the Royal Albert Hall (3xLP, 1200x)
Prior to the great David Bowie’s death in January 2016, his friend and fellow rock ‘n’ roll legend Iggy Pop revisited the music the two of them had made back in the late ‘70s with a live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Backed by a band that included Josh Homme and Dean Fertitia of Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys’ drummer Matt Helders, Pop performed songs from albums like The Idiot and Lust For Life. This RSD ‘exclusive’ seems to be an expanded version of the 2016 CD and DVD release, packaged in a four-sleeve, book-style individually-numbered gatefold with a sixteen-page book featuring exclusive photos.

• Lou Reed – Perfect Night: Live In London (2xLP, 3000x)
A semi-acoustic live album recorded by Reed during the Meltdown ’97 festival in London, England and originally released on CD in 1998, Perfect Night gets its first vinyl reissue for Record Store Day. Reed performs a stellar set, including a version of the Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” originally sung by Nico, as well as solo material like “Coney Island Baby,” “New Sensations,” and the awesome title track.

• John Sinclair – Mobile Homeland (LP, 1200x)
Blues artist, poet, political activist, and 1960s-era cultural hero John Sinclair released Mobile Homeland on CD in 2016, so this is essentially the vinyl reissue of the collection of Sinclair’s beat poems set to music and produced by Tino Gross at Funky D Records in Detroit.

• Sun Ra – Janus (LP, 2000x)
Reissue of space-jazz innovator Sun Ra’s 1999 compilation CD features recordings dating from 1963 to 1970 that includes both studio tracks and wild live performances. I haven’t heard this one, but informed sources tell the Reverend that while it’s not a great introduction to the almighty Mr. Ra, it’s a “must have” disc for the hardcore faithful.
 

• Peter Tosh – Legalize It! (LP, 2000x)
Vinyl reissue of reggae great Peter Tosh’s 1976 debut album features the former Wailers member’s awesome title track as well as songs like “Why Must I Cry” (written with Bob Marley) and the original “Ketchy Shuby.”

• John Trudell – AKA Graffiti Man (2xLP, 2000x)
Reissue of the American Indian activist and poet’s 1992 sophomore album features Trudell’s erudite spoken-word pieces set to a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack with elements of indigenous folk music. Several songs were co-written by Jesse Ed Davis and tracks like “Rockin’ the Res,” “Baby Boom Che,” and the title song earned the artist a truckload of critical acclaim back in the wild ‘n’ wooly alternative 1990s.

• Towns Van Zandt – Live at Austin City Limits (LP, 2500x)
The late Texas-bred songwriting legend was inducted into the Austin City Limits ‘Hall of Fame’ in 2015 and this RSD exclusive release features Van Zandt’s 1976 appearance on the long-running TV show, performing country-tinged folk-blues songs like “Dollar Bill Blues,” “Talkin’ Karate Blues,” “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” and “Fraternity Blues.” Highly recommended if you like eloquent songwriting and haunting solo performances.  

• Link Wray – Beans and Fatback (LP, 2400x)
Guitar great Link Wray is best-known for his enduring classic 1958 instrumental “Rumble,” which inspired a rash of U.K. fretburners like Eric Clapton, Peter Townshend, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. By the late ‘60s, though, Wray was an afterthought in a market flush with blues-drenched rockers. Beans and Fatback, recorded at the same time as the guitarist’s self-titled 1971 “comeback” album, was released in 1973 to critical acclaim. A raucous collection of hard-rockin’, whiskey-soaked songs recorded in a chicken coup, the album led to the pairing of Wray and rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon for a series of late ‘70s LPs.

Record Store Day 2017 also offers up a bunch of interesting 7” and 10” releases along with the above-listed full-length albums, including discs from Steve Earle, the Drive-By Truckers, the Old 97s, the Kinks, Patti Smith, the Zombies, and Sharon Jones & the Daptones, among many others. Check out the entire list on the Record Store Day website and get your pennies ready to spend on April 22nd!