Search - Motorhead :: Live at Brixton

Haven't I heard this somewhere else?

Jed | UK | 05/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is by my own admission going to be a somewhat lazy review. Before you read any further I urge you to go the Motorheads No Sleep At All review section and read some reviews there to help you decide if this album is for you....





Done that? Good. Live At Brixton '87 is the same album as No Sleep At All. Here the pedants may say "hey you're wrong, these are two different albums!" Well they have a point. They are strictly speaking two different albums, recorded at different venues at different points in time. But the track listing and performances are so similar that a casual listener may be forgiven for thinking that they're the same album. The big difference is probably that Live At Briston '87 is an indoor show,with a more echoe-y sound, which to me seems a more natural venue for Motorhead than an outdoor festival. There are a few extra songs (Stone Deaf In The USA and Rock n Roll) too, but apart from that the two live albums are very similar. The problem is that this wasn't Motorheads strongest era for songs by any stretch of the imagination. Admitedly I like a lot of the songs, but possibly excepting the lean years of '83-'85,this is my least favourite era. I would even have much preferred an emphasis on the Orgasmatron era than this. Why waste time playing weak, boring songs like Dr Rock and Built For Speed? Were they drunk? Of course they were drunk,they're Motorhead. So maybe aliens hit them with an amnesia ray, or more likely they suffered from a bit of "It Seemed like a good idea at the time".



If you're worried about this being a badly recorded bootleg, the sound quality isn't bad, albeit not stellar. Worthy of an official release, yes. Again very much like No Sleep At All.



In summary, yes this is a chance to hear Motorhead on a good night back in 1987.I just wish it wasn't so near identical to No Sleep At All."

Motorhead, live and re-packaged, again

N. Durham | Philadelphia, PA | 09/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Despite the raw sound quality of this "re-mastered" edition, "Live at Brixton '87" finds metal pioneers Motorhead combining some classic cuts with some material that clearly isn't their best. The songs you'd expect to hear are here: "Ace of Spades" and "Eat the Rich", plus "Stay Clean" , "Orgasmatron" and "Metropolis" as well. However, some mediocre tracks are here as well ("Dogs", "Traitor"), but for Motorhead purists that isn't much of a problem. Closer "Just Cos' You Got the Power" shows Lemmy and co. incorporating an all too rarely seen bluesey side, and is by far the standout of this live album. Motorhead fans who don't already own the original and weren't bowled over by other low quality live releases should give "Live at Brixton" a listen at least, just to hear one of the greatest and most revered bands in the history of the genre doing what they do live."