On Parole

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 Dave Edmonds and us got on OK, it was just that at the time he was negotiating a record deal or something for himself and was kind of preoccupied. These people kept arriving in big cars to talk to him – most of the time his mind seemed somewhere else. 

The fatigue of recording with an uncommitted producer also had a deleterious effect on Larry Wallis (who left the band soon afterwards): [6]

 The problems eventually took over the fun. Recording the first album, On Parole, was trying enough on its own. We had to get down to Wales to record at Rockfield. Lem turned up a day or two late and then Dave Edmonds bowed out of producing it at the last minute. Then we took Lucas' drum tracks off and replaced them with Phil's (Taylor). Then UA made Lemmy record the bass tracks again. And after all that, they refused to put it out! The game didn't look as if it was worth the candle. I wanted another guitarist to flesh it out, but once Eddie Clark [sic] came along, it was apparent he would be the man to replace me. 

Of the tracks, three ("Motörhead", "The Watcher" and "Lost Johnny") were re-recordings of songs Lemmy had written and recorded with Hawkwind, "City Kids" was a re-recording of a Wallis-penned track previously recorded by The Pink Fairies, and "Leaving Here" was a cover version of a Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown song Lemmy had learned whilst a roadie for The Birds. Perhaps concluding that the Motörhead version would never see the light of day, Wallis re-recorded and released the track "On Parole" as a B-side to his Stiff Records "Police Car" single in 1977 with two members of Eddie and the Hot Rods (bassist Paul Gray and drummer Steve Nicol).

In his autobiography White Line Fever, Lemmy mentions being blown away by Taylor's ability to overdub drums during the On Parole sessions, noting that it was "quite a feat, because the drums are what you usually base a song on – it's kind of like going ass-backwards". Conversely, Lemmy also recalled the moment he realized Taylor was not a singer, noting that "he sounded like two cats being stapled together" while trying to sing "City Kids".

The lyrics to "Vibrator" and "Fools" were written by Derek "Dez" Brown, a road-crew member from Wallis' pre-Motörhead band The Pink Fairies. Brown would manage the Live Stiffs tour in 1977, [7] which included Nick Lowe's band on the bill featuring both Wallis and Edmunds.

Release

Upon hearing the finished recordings, United Artists were not convinced of the album's commercial potential and shelved its release. Lemmy recalled his frustrations dealing with the label:

'What the fuck's happening? When's the album coming out? When are you gonna get us some gigs? What's happening about getting us an agency?' All we'd get was bullshit about the sleeve, you know, photographs and all that. When we got back from Rockfield with the masters, of course, we got the big: 'Oh, great, fantastic', but in the ensuing weeks it was just excuses and bullshit.

After the band's profile had risen with the commercial success of the albums Overkill and Bomber in 1979, United Artists re-appraised the album and gave it a belated release at the end of that year. In his book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motorhead, biographer Joel McIver quotes Lemmy:

 United Artists were a bunch of twats in the final analysis. Yeah, they cashed in on us. We had the Bomber album out and were already big. But I don't care about these people. Record companies are a hindrance to rock 'n' roll, not a help. They dilute the real thing down to the lowest common denominator. 

However, already in 1981 Lemmy acknowledged the album's legitimate place in the Motörhead canon, in the liner notes to the Liberty Records release:

 What you are holding in your hot, sticky, avaricious little hands is the first evidence of anything called Motörhead. [...] Most of the songs were done better on the "MOTÖRHEAD" album. However, it is part of the story. So there. 

Critical reception

On Parole
Motorhead - On Parole (1979).jpg
United Artists 1979 release
Studio album by
Motörhead
Released2 November 1979 [1]
RecordedSeptember & December 1975
January & February 1976 [2]
Studio Rockfield (Rockfield, Wales) [2]
Genre
Length36:59
Label United Artists
Producer Fritz Fryer, Dave Edmunds [2]
Motörhead chronology
Bomber
(1979)		On Parole
(1979)		 The Golden Years (EP)
(1980)
1981 LP
On Parole (Motorhead album - cover art).jpg
Liberty Records vinyl LP reissue.
This cover is also used for the 2020 Expanded & Remastered reissue by Parlophone.
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 4/10 [9]

Dave Thompson of AllMusic calls the arrangements on the LP "devastating, steeped in blues, drenched in booze, the highest octane pub rock of all. No matter how well you think you know Motörhead, still it's nothing like you're expecting. A true sonic symphony, this is Wagner with whiplash."

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Motörhead" Ian Kilmister 2:57
2."On Parole" Larry Wallis 5:38
3."Vibrator"Wallis, Des Brown2:53
4."Iron Horse/Born to Lose" Phil Taylor, Mick Brown, Guy "Tramp" Lawrence5:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."City Kids"Wallis, Duncan Sanderson 3:43
6."The Watcher"Kilmister4:50
7."Leaving Here" Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Holland 2:56
8."Lost Johnny"Kilmister, Mick Farren 3:31
9."Fools"Wallis, Brown5:35
Total length:36:59
EMI Records 1997 CD reissue bonus tracks [2]
No.TitleLength
10."On Parole" (Dave Edmunds Demo)6:58
11."City Kids" (Dave Edmunds Demo)3:48
12."Motörhead" (Dave Edmunds Demo)2:48
13."Leaving Here" (Dave Edmunds Demo)3:01
Total length:52:27

Personnel

Per the album's liner notes. [2]

Motörhead

Production

Charts

Chart (1979)Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC) [10] 65
Chart (2020)Peak
position
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [11] 31
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [12] 16

Release history

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References

  1. ↑ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 37.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Motörhead, On Parole, EMI Records, CDGO 2072, 1997 liner notes, page 4 & Cleopatra Records, CDLL-57666, 1991 liner notes, page 5
  3. ↑ Gibbons, Vince (10 January 1980). "Record View". Crewe Chronicle. p. 10.
  4. ↑ "Motorhead official charts". Official Charts .
  5. ↑ Collins, Jeff (2007). Rock Legends At Rockfield. University of Wales Press. ISBN   978-0-7083-2097-6.
  6. ↑ Tony Rettman (June 2002). "The King Of Oblivion Slings Mud". Perfect Sounds Forever. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  7. ↑ Will Birch (October 1997). "Will Birch chronicles the Stiff's Greatest Stiffs tour". Mojo . Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  8. ↑ Thompson, Dave. "Motörhead on Parole review". AllMusic . Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  9. ↑ Gold, Johnathan (1995). "Motörhead". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 258–260. ISBN   0-679-75574-8.
  10. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2020. 42. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
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