Motorhead Best of

This is the prefect CD to introduce someone to Motörhead. Sure "Ace of Spades" and "Overkill" are great songs, but Motörhead is so much more than their "hits". This album embraces the more over looked gems like "Traitor", "Bad Religion", and "Cradle To The Grave"…

Out of all the zillions of Motörhead compilations released over the years, 2005's Essential Noize: The Very Best Of may just be the best one yet. And the reason is quite simple – it covers the best tracks from 1978 through 1984, which just about every single Motörhead fan agrees is their strongest period. At the time this material first arrived, many rock fans and metal heads were left scratching their heads in bewilderment, as few groups managed to combine the energy of punk with the power of metal as Lemmy and company did. By the early 21st century, it became quite clear that Motörhead were bona fide trailblazers, influencing countless bands (Metallica, Soundgarden, etc.) and singlehandedly inventing thrash metal.

This particular Best of Motörhead release is a double-disc set on the Sanctuary subsidiary Metal-Is, and it's one of the very, very few Motörhead collections that tries to draw material from throughout the band's career. The compilers couldn't secure the rights to everything, and as such, there's nothing here from albums like 1916 or Bastards. But there are tracks from the later Overnight Sensation, Snake Bite Love, and We Are Motörhead albums, plus four bonus live tracks dating from various points in the group's career…

Motörhead were an English rock band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser Kilmister (1945–2015), professionally known by his stage name Lemmy, who had remained the sole constant member. The band are often considered a precursor to, or one of the earliest members of, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Despite this, Lemmy had always dubbed their music as simply "rock and roll"…

Although it isn't as extensive as No Remorse, All the Aces: The Best of Motörhead does gather the best-of-the-best of that collection, as well as the cream of the uneven, Bill Laswell-produced Orgasmatron (although the "Ace of Spades" remix that closes the original track listing could have been left off in favor of another, more necessary item). There's plenty of quality material from Motörhead's early-'80s heyday that didn't make the cut here, so it's better to think of All the Aces as a concise survey rather than a definitive encapsulation…

Motörhead's short stay at Epic Records (1991-1992) marked a particularly uninspired period in the band's long career. Hellraiser collects seven songs from each of the albums it recorded (1991's 1916 and 1992's March or Die) and adds two songs that were recorded at the time but not released: "Dead Man's Hand" and one of the better songs here, "Eagle Rock." Lemmy seemingly was searching for some kind of mainstream rock success at this point…

Motörhead were an English rock band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, who was the sole constant member, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. The band are often considered a precursor to the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s…

The liner notes that Mick Wall wrote for Stone Deaf Forever are full of interesting anecdotes, but the most interesting of all has to do with a 1979 show that found Motörhead and the Damned appearing on the same bill. According to Lemmy Kilmister, a lot of bottles were thrown that night. Motörhead fans threw bottles at the Damned, and Damned fans threw bottles at Motörhead. These days, Motörhead and the Damned seem like a perfectly logical combination, but back in the late '70s, there was still a great deal of animosity between headbangers and punks. However, they became the best of friends in the '80s, and Motörhead deserve much of the credit for that alliance…