Motörhead rejoice as a new album is being made, composed of previously unreleased recordings from a lost session. Called The Manticore Tapes, the album contains the e first recorded material from the band’s seminal, “Three Amigos” line-up of vocalist-bassist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor. The reccording sessions took place in August of 1976 at prog group Emerson Lake & Palmer’s Manticore Studio in Fulham, UK and were dubbed using Small Faces member Ronnie Lane’s mobile studio set-up, and were engineered by Ron Faucus.
The press release notes that the 11-song Manticore Tapes are said to capture “Motörhead’s blossoming raw power and high velocity onslaughts on songs that would remain in their live set until 1979.” Among the tunes are a raw and raging take on the band’s titular theme along with early takes on “Vibrator,” instrumental versions of “Iron Horse / Born to Lose” and others. The 49-year-old recordings have been restored by longtime Motörhead’s longtime collaborator Cameron Webb at Maple Studios in California, and were later mastered by Andrew Alekel at Bolskine House in Los Angeles.
The Manticore Tapes will be presented in standard, 11-song CD and LP pressings, in addition to a deluxe, double-LP package that tacks on the 11-song Live: Blitzkrieg on Birmingham ’77 concert album, as well as a 7-inch featuring a pair of unreleased live recordings.
The album releases on June 27th, and you can pre-order the various versions of The Manticore Tapes over here.
The Manticore Tapes tracklisting:
Intro (Instrumental)
Leavin’ Here
Vibrator
Help Keep Us on the Road
The Watcher
Motörhead
Witch Doctor (Instrumental)
Iron Horse / Born to Lose (Instrumental)
Leavin’ Here (Alternate Take)
Vibrator (Alternate Take)
The Watcher (Alternate Take)
