Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers
| Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers | ||||
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| EP by Motörhead | ||||
| Released | 22 November 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 27–29 April 1977 | |||
| Studio | Escape Studios, Kent, England | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 14:47 | |||
| Label | Big Beat Records | |||
| Producer | Speedy Keen | |||
| Motörhead chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
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1982 French release of Beer Drinkers
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers is an EP by the band Motörhead, released 27 November 1980, on Big Beat Records, who are an extension of Chiswick Records, and had access to the back catalogue at the time. It is compiled from the unreleased tracks recorded during sessions for their first album Motörhead, in 1977 at Escape Studios, Kent, England.
The songs were recorded during the Motörhead album sessions, and considered outtakes, they only saw a belated release after the band's popularity was at a high, with the commercial success of Ace of Spades. Nevertheless, this EP failed to make any impact on the UK charts. A few years later, label boss Ted Carroll would again raid his Chiswick Records archive to give a retrospective release of a live recording from the same era, called What's Words Worth?. Lemmy has stated about Ted Carroll's Chiswisk Records back catalogue releases: "..he's a great geezer and if it wasn't for Ted there wouldn't be any Motörhead anyway,..so Ted has carte blanche, he can do what he wants with the old catalogue."
On the original ZZ Top version of "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers", recorded for their 1973 album Tres Hombres, the vocals are traded between guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill, with the two alternating each line. For Motörhead's version, this was replicated by bassist Lemmy and guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke, marking not only the vocal debut of Clarke, but one of the few occasions on which he sang lead on a Motörhead song (other times being on "Step Down," "I'm Your Witchdoctor" and "Emergency"). No other Motörhead versions of this track have ever been released.
"On Parole" had previously been recorded by the band in 1975 for their debut album On Parole, and a Larry Wallis version was released as a B-side to the 1977 Stiff Records "Police Car" single. It was a consistent number in the band's setlist, as can be heard on What's Words Worth?, though it was dropped after 1979 as the band continued to write and perform more of their own material. "I'm Your Witchdoctor" ("a great song," Lemmy pronounces in his 2002 autobiography) is a John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers cover, which the band also performed in their early 1977/8 sets.
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