Motörhead "Bastards (2001 Reissue, CD, Steamhammer)"

Bastards is the eleventh studio album by the band Motörhead, released 29 November 1993, on ZYX Records, the first and last for this label.

It is one of two studio albums with the short-lived Lemmy, Würzel, Zööm and Mikkey Dee lineup, as on the previous album Dee was a 'special guest' drummer and hadn't officially joined the band. It was also the first of four Motörhead albums to be produced by Howard Benson, and the first Motörhead studio album not to contain a title track. After unsuccessfully commercialising the success of 1916 with its 1992 follow-up March ör Die, the band returned to their roots: being loud and fast. The lyrical themes range from social criticism ("On Your Feet or on Your Knees"), to war ("Death or Glory" and "I am the Sword") to child abuse ("Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me") and total mayhem ("Burner"). Lemmy also states in his memoir that he offered "Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me" to both Joan Jett and Lita Ford:

"..'cause I thought a girl should sing it but no one ever took it up.."

It was barely released outside of the label's home country of Germany, other than the originally released series worldwide, until the 2001 Steamhammer reissue, and had to be imported otherwise. Bastards is cited by the band as one of their best works. In the documentary The Guts and the Glory guitarist Phil Campbell enthuses:

"..we worked so fucking hard on that. The songs were there, the commitment was there, the playing was there, production was there, everything was there...I'm so proud of that album. Nothing wrong with that album at all. Some great songs.."

In his autobiography White Line Fever, vocalist/bassist Lemmy calls it:

"..one of the best albums we ever did.."

But laments that the band's record label, the German-based ZYX, did not promote it outside of Germany.

"..It's just so disappointing when you pull out all the stops for an album and you're really thrilled with it and nobody else cares, especially not your record company.."

"Born to Raise Hell" was later re-recorded with Ice-T and Ugly Kid Joe vocalist Whitfield Crane and released as a single (including a version on picture disc). This version of the song was featured in the movie Airheads.

Joe Petagno, long-time Motörhead sleeve artist, revealed in a rare interview on the Inferno 30th Anniversary edition bonus DVD that the album was originally to be titled Devils. He had already drawn up a cover to reflect this title when it was changed.[3] As well as alluding to the original name of the album, Petagno also had this insight into the concept of the album cover:

"Bastards was a design I did in reply to March ör Die. That fucking horrible sleeve. It pissed me off. It was the worst thing I'd ever seen in my life. So I thought, okay, they want something like that, I'll do it properly. [I] sent it to the Motörheadbangers fan club, Alan Burridge, and he liked it so much that he put it on the cover of the fan magazine. When Lemmy saw it, he wanted it, so Devils became Bastards."

Bastards reached number 28 in Germany and also charted in Sweden and Japan. The AllMusic review states:

"gloriously distorted thrashers such as 'On Your Feet or on Your Knees' and 'Death or Glory' set the pace, and 'Born to Raise Hell' is undoubtedly one of the band's greatest latter-day classics."

Ultimate Classic Rock ranked Bastards as the fourth-best Motörhead album, commenting:

"Motörhead's remarkably efficient response to the all-time career low of March or Die, 1993's Bastards now stands as one of their greatest achievements."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kilmister, Campbell, Burston, Dee except where noted.

CD

1. "On Your Feet or on Your Knees" 2:34
2. "Burner" 2:52
3. "Death or Glory" 4:50
4. "I Am the Sword" 4:28
5. "Born to Raise Hell" Kilmister 4:58
6. "Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me" Kilmister 4:05
7. "Bad Woman" 3:16
8. "Liar" 4:12
9. "Lost in the Ozone" 3:27
10. "I'm Your Man" 3:28
11. "We Bring the Shake" 3:48
12. "Devils" 6:00

Total length: 47:50

Steamhammer 2001 reissue

1. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" Mick Jagger, Keith Richards 3:20

Recording information:

Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood, California and Prime Time Studios, North Hollywood, California.

Mixed at Aire L.A., Glendale, California.

Mastered at Future Disk.

Howard Benson – producer, mixing

Ryan Dorn – engineer, mixing

John Aguto – assistant engineer

Randy Wine – assistant engineer

Darrin Mann – assistant engineer

John Gaudesi – assistant engineer

Gregg Barrett – assistant engineer

Devin Foutz – assistant engineer

Eddy Schreyer – mastering

Henri Clausei – photography

Lisa Lake – art design and layout

Connie Williamson – art design and layout

Joe Petagno – Snaggletooth, album cover