To mark the 40th anniversary of the first Motörhead album, a new expanded digipak edition featuring a dozen bonus tracks: the non-LP B-side ‘City Kids’, the four tracks from the band’s “Beerdrinkers” EP, and seven previously unheard alternate mixes from the original August 1977 album sessions. A bumper booklet with a 3,500-word note by Ted Carroll and many pix completes the package.
A few excerpts on Motörhead iconography from Ted’s notes: “After a meeting with myself and Lemmy in a basement squat somewhere in Notting Hill, designer Phil Smee went off to create the Motörhead logo for the sleeve. He had a few roughs and Lemmy liked one of them, but wanted the lettering to be more Germanic, so Phil went back to the drawing board and found an off-the-peg set of old Letraset-style print transfers that appeared to suit. He did not have a complete set of this alphabet, so was forced to create the H using a lower case L with another piece from an upside down W. The umlaut on the second O was created using two full stops.
“While the band was in the studio finishing the album, we were preparing the all-important cover. It was decided to use a new piece of artwork designed by the American graphic artist Joe Petagno, who was already a Motörhead fan. He had come up with the Motörhead armour-plated pig’s head, Snaggletooth, after a discussion with Lemmy some months earlier. Joe’s original image was altered slightly with a few additions suggested by Lemmy.
“With a release date set for August 21, we were under pressure to complete the artwork so it could be rushed to the printers. I was liaising with Phil Smee out in St Albans and Doug Smith in Notting Hill. With pressure to get the artwork completed quickly, the front cover ended up with the Snaggletooth illustration accidentally reversed at the printers, and this error resulted in the iconic image that has graced almost every Motörhead cover for the past 40 years. This “wrong” version of Snaggletooth actually looked a whole lot stronger than Joe’s original “correct” version.”
Ted promises that long-time Motörhead fans will love these alternate takes, especially the version of ‘Motörhead’ with a steaming guitar solo from Eddie Clarke.
