MOTÖRHEAD — On Parole (review)

Album · 1979 · Heavy Metal

3.5/5 · 2017-08-06
UMUR

"On Parole" was recorded in late 1975/early 1976 and was originally intended to be Motörhead´s debut full-length studio album, but United Artists Records felt the recorded material lacked commercial potential and refused to release it. The band, which at the time consisted of Lemmy Kilmister (Vocals, Bass), Larry Wallis (Guitars, Vocals), and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor (drums), were of course disappointed by the label´s rejection of their recorded material, but soldiered on playing live shows and were with hard work and a bit of luck offered a new label deal by Chiswick Records, who would release the band´s self-titled debut full-length studio album in 1977. It was only after the success of "Overkill (1979)" and "Bomber (1979)", that United Artists Records chose to release "On Parole" though, and not with the consent of the band.

Motörhead was formed by Lemmy after he was kicked out of Hawkwind following a drug bust on the US/Canadian border, which rendered Lemmy unable to play a couple of Canadian tour dates while in prison, which ultimately meant that Hawkwind had to cancel those shows. This was only one episode in a longer line of erratic behaviour episodes which led to Lemmy´s dismissal from Hawkwind. Considering the rumoured intake of huge amounts of psychadelic drugs in the band, Lemmy´s behaviour must have been really bad for them to kick him out. I´ve read Lemmy joking about his dismissal that he took too many "upper" drugs like amphetamine and cocaine, as opposed to the other members of the band, who were primarely into psychadelic drugs, and those two states of mind didn´t go well together.

"On Parole" features 9 tracks and a full playing time of 36:59 minutes, and 3 of those tracks are re-recorded and rearranged versions of tracks that Lemmy wrote while he was in Hawkwind. The eponymously titled "Motörhead" track was featured on "Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975)", "Lost Johnny" on "Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974)" and "The Watcher" was featured on "Doremi Fasol Latido (1972)". Especially the latter features some space rock influences, but other than that the musical style on "On Parole" is blues based hard rock (although "Fools" actually features a less heavy Beatles influence).

All tracks, except "Fools" and "Leaving Here", were re-recorded during the sessions for "Motörhead (1977)" although only 5 of them made it unto the original version of that album. They appear on "On Parole" in more straight rock´n´roll versions, and the gritty punk influences, the raw vocals and massive distorted bass, which are pretty dominant features on the versions of the tracks which appear on "Motörhead (1977)", are only heard in sequences here. "On Parole" certainly isn´t a polished release, and there are some of the badass wildness of the successor present here, but it´s predominantly a much more accessible hard rock release with clear melodies (even some harmony vocals here and there) and a relatively clear sound production. I hear influences from The Stooges and MC5 here, but the savage attitude which Motörhead would adopt on their debut album, is only here in small doses. This is still pretty hard and heavy rock music though.

It´s not exactly an album that has spawned many Motörhead live stables, but the eponymous track and "Iron Horse / Born to Lose" are tracks that were played on occasion (especially the former) up until Lemmy´s death. While "On Parole" isn´t my first recommendation to a Motörhead novice, it´s actually quite an enjoyable listen and overall a quality heavy rock release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

The version I have has some alternate recordings of a few of the songs, and they are far more blues based than your usual Motorhead.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I'm a bit curious about this album, mostly because of "Leaving Here", which I heard was the first Motorhead single. I have an album by the British 60's band, The Birds, which was Ronnie Woods' first professional recording band. "Leaving Here" is my favourite song from that album, so I'd like to hear how Motorhead rendered it.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks :-)