Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Motorhead-Another perfect day, 1983

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I remember hearing this one for the first time in the mid-1980's and I wasn't too fond of it. Then one day in 1992 I pulled out my vinyl copy and gave it a spin. I realized that I had indeed underestimated it and I think a lot of people did. Right after the release of Iron Fist in 1982 Motorhead were on a roll and they had established a certain sound. Guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke left and things changed. Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian "Robbo" Robertson was brought in to be the new guitarist in Motorhead. Robertson had a very different style from Clarke. Where Clarke was more direct and straightforward, Robertson was a bit more groove oriented and detailed in his playing. The result was a very different sounding Motorhead album as it kicks off with "Back At The Funny Farm". This track certainly shows the typical humor from this band, but the music is a bit more layered perhaps. Tracks like "Shine" and particularly "Dancing On Your Grave" show a bit more melody to Motorhead's sound. Although mentioning melody and Motorhead in the same breath might at first seem cringe worthy, it works very well on these tracks. I think the album manages to mix things up a little more than the previous albums and make it interesting. The guitar sound and the overall approach make it stand out, but it's certainly enjoyable. In retrospect trying a slightly different sound was probabaly the right move for this band. It seems like Lemmy has always wanted the guitarist (or guitarists) to bring something of their own sound rather than just copying their predecessor. While the album worked, Robertson's relationship with Lemmy and Phil Taylor became strained throughout his 17 month stint. Reportedly he did not want to play the band's classic tracks live and that was a big factor involved in his dismissal in late 1983. It would have been interesting to see where the band went with this line-up had he stayed. Still this line-up has left behind this very solid album.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool...I had just read your other two posts on Motorhead, which got me in the mood to listen to them and was in the middle of "One Track Mind" when I hit refresh and a review of Another Perfect Day popped up!! How cool is that?

This is actually the first Motorhead album I ever got into, so I've always really liked it a lot. I didn't get into the older stuff until after hearing this one, so my views aren't that of a purist. I think the album holds up well as an example of early 80s classic metal. "One Track Mind" remains my favorite Motorhead song.

Just a side note, I actually got into Hawkwind (Lemmy's first band) before I did Motorhead. They did a metal version of the Chronicle of the Black Sword, the Michael Moorcock books that I was totally into as a teenager. How he got from Hawkwind to Motorhead musically is quite interesting. Hawkwind was total psychedelic "spacy" music and then Motorhead just comes out blazing...

10:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've always been on the periphery of Motorhead, owning only Ace of Spades and Iron Fist. Motorhead is one of those bands that I don't crave that often, but when I do, nothing else will do. I've lately been looking for other Motorhead albums to check out, and it sounds like this one is well worth looking into.

3:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Like I already said, one of my favorite Motorhead albums this. Was the second album of them I bought after Iron Fist...

12:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great album cover. Makes me want to take a hit of acid and stare at your blog for eight hours.

1:41 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Robert-Another perfect day holds up surprisingly well now. At times I feel like I am still finding things about it that I like.

darrell-Welcome. It is worth checking out.

andre-I think Ormasmatron was the first one I bought then maybe Iron Fist.

Captain Corky-That's what it's here for. Okay, maybe that's not all that it's here though.

6:40 AM  
Blogger Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...

I was mentioning earlier how I really let this one go underrated back in the day. It's kinda funny the leg warmers did ol' Robbo in. Sucks, because he did a really nice job here.

6:45 PM  
Blogger Löst Jimmy said...

Hi Metal Mark
Just stumbled onto your Blog - fantastic selection of Heavy Metal posts. Keep up the good work

'Another Perfect Day' is actually one of my favourite all time Motörhead albums. I remember being stunned when Fast Eddie left and for a moment thought how's this going to work but once I listened to APD I for one was stunned again - but this time in a very good way!

Cheers
Jimmy

8:14 AM  

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