Artist: Motörhead
Label: Sanctuary Records
Released: 23.08.2010
Running time: 71:52
Rating: 4/5
This compilation only landed in my hands this October, but it actually came out at the end of August 2010. The anthology »Aces Up My Sleeve: The Collection« rounds up 20 tracks to mark the band’s 35 years of activity. So the anniversary was timely two years ago.
You can’t really get a bad Motorhead compilation, but it’s funny how many have been released, and in how many different ways their almost mainstream evergreen Aces Of Spades has been served up to this day. This one takes the listener through the first ten years, and not of the band’s activity, but of its official releases, which kicked off back in 1977 with a seven-inch single of a cover of the hit Leaving Here – a track first recorded and officially released in 1963 by the »motown« trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. Of course, the notorious career moments no proper Motorhead compilation can do without are all here, like the aforementioned Aces Of Spades, plus Overkill, Eat The Reach, Iron Fist and Bomber, while tracks like Nothing Up My Sleeve, Damage Case, Stay Clean, Killed By Death, The Chase Is Better Than The Catch, Dead Man Tale No Tales, Shine and I Got Mine lift the quality up to a character that makes a great excuse for »innocently« shortening the hours on a long car trip, when »drowsiness has you in a vise«. There’s no better wake-up call than a heavy storm of Motorhead rattling, which calibrates and fine-tunes every clock hand in your household down to the microsecond!
The tracks are nicely mixed together, which works impressively and makes for even more fun listening. For instance, the old-school rock ‘n’ roll primitivism of Leaving Here is followed by Killed By Death, which, as far as the reach of Motorhead’s music goes, is almost an »epic suite«, and so on. You also can’t miss the jumps in the production itself, which grew over the years, and of course the stylistic shifts the band’s guitarists brought in over Motorhead’s career. They may be minimal, but they can’t go unnoticed!
For real Motorhead fans who’ve long owned the five-disc box set »Stone Deaf Forever!« (2003), »Aces Up My Sleeve: The Collection« is undoubtedly a less interesting, even dispensable release, since it doesn’t bring a single career moment that hasn’t already been released. But as a compilation it’s an extremely welcome addition to the CD shelf for all of you who are only sort of into the band and aren’t hardcore addicts of its music. If nothing else, it’ll help you lose your rock ‘n’ roll innocence, which has to happen at some point in your life, otherwise you won’t live it to the fullest. Don’t forget! Motorhead were and remain the most authentic, if not the biggest, and undoubtedly by far the loudest rock ‘n’ roll outfit of the old school. Dirty rock ‘n’ roll punks nobody comes close to in authenticity! No less, no more.
Lineup
Lemmy Kilmister – vocals, bass
Phil “Wizzo” Campell – guitar
Eddie “Fast” Carke – guitar
Brian “Robbo” Robertson – guitar
Michael “Wurzel” Burston – guitar
“Philthy Animal” Taylor – drums
Pete Gill – drums
Track list
1. Aces Of Spades
2. Bomber
3. Iron Fist
4. Leaving Here
5. Killed By Death
6. Louie Louie
7. Stay Clean
8. Overkill
9. Please Don’t Touch (Motorhead & Girlschool)
10. Dead Man Tell No Tales
11. The Chase Is Better Than Catch
12. Eat The Rich
13. I Got Mine
14. Nothing Up My Sleeve
15. Heat Of Stone
16. Motorhead (live)
17. Damage Case
18. (We Are) The Roadcrew
19. Shine
20. Iron Horse / Born To Loose (live)
