ALBUM OF THE DAY:
1916 is the 9th album by Motörhead, released in January 1991.
*It’s my 2nd favourite Motörhead album ( first being ‘Ace of Spades’*
https://youtu.be/3VaV1OYUHbI
It was their first on WTG Records. The single "The One to Sing the Blues" peaked at number 45. The album was the final Motörhead album to feature Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on drums in its entirety.
Motörhead were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 Lemmy Kilminster was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precursor to the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1990, Lemmy moved from England to the U.S., settling in West Hollywood within walking distance of the Rainbow Bar and Grill. With Phil Carson managing the band, the sessions for what would become the album 1916 began with Ed Stasium, best known for producing the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Living Colour. The band recorded four songs with the producer before deciding he had to go. When Lemmy listened to a mix of Going to Brazil, he asked him to turn up four tracks, and on doing so heard claves and tambourines Stasium had added without the band's knowledge. Stasium was fired and Pete Solley hired as producer.
1916 was Motörhead's first studio album in nearly four years.
The title track – an uncharacteristically slow ballad in which Lemmy's singing is only lightly accompanied – is a tribute to, and reflection on, young soldiers who fell in battle during World War I. In his 2002 memoir, Lemmy reveals that the song was inspired by the Battle of the Somme:
"'Nightmare/The Dreamtime' and '1916' both relied heavily on keyboards, which was very different for Motörhead – or any heavy band in 1990. I wrote the words before the music. It's about the Battle of the Somme in World War I...Nineteen thousand Englishmen were killed before noon, a whole generation destroyed, in three hours – think about that! It was terrible – there were three or four towns in northern Lancashire and south Yorkshire where that whole generation of men were completely wiped out."
Rolling Stone remarked how the album "..manages to mingle ruthlessness and listenability like never before... creating a new threshold of sharpness for the genre. Fortunately, the crisper approach only makes the cruelty of the group's playing more pronounced."
Personnel:
Lemmy – lead vocals, bass
Phil "Wizzö" Campbell – guitar
Michael "Würzel" Burston – guitar
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor – drums
James Hoskins – cello on "1916"
