Bomber (album)
| Bomber | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
||||
| Studio album by Motörhead | ||||
| Released | 27 October 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 7 July–31 August 1979 | |||
| Studio | Roundhouse Studios and Olympic Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, hard rock | |||
| Length | 36:48 (Original) 53:56 (Reissue) |
|||
| Label |
Bronze (Worldwide) (1979) Castle Communications (1996) Sanctuary (2005) |
|||
| Producer | Jimmy Miller | |||
| Motörhead chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Bomber | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Bomber is the third studio album by the band Motörhead, released on 27 October 1979, on Bronze Records, their second with the label. The album reached #12 on the UK charts at the time.
By 1979, Motörhead had been together for five years and had amassed a loyal following in both punk and heavy metal circles. After recording an album for United Artists that the label shelved, the band released its eponymous debut LP in 1977, but it was with 1979's Overkill that the band hit their stride. The title track landed in the UK Top 40 and, after appearing again on Top of the Pops, the band returned to the studio that summer with legendary producer Jimmy Miller to record what would become Bomber. However, the band did not have the opportunity to work up the songs on the road, as they had with their previous album. Joel McIver quotes singer and bassist Lemmy in his book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead:
"..I wish we'd played the songs onstage first, like we did with the Overkill album, if we could've played them for three weeks on the road it would have been less slick.....Listen to the way we play them live and compare that to the album.."
Nonetheless, Bomber would peak at #12 on the UK albums chart, their strongest showing up to that point.
During the recording of this album, Jimmy Miller was increasingly under the influence of heroin, at one point disappearing entirely from the studio and being found asleep at the wheel of his car. Ironically the album features the band's first anti-heroin song – "Dead Men Tell No Tales." Miller had produced some of the Rolling Stones most heralded work from 1968 to 1973 but, after struggling through the sessions for 1973's Goats Head Soup, had been shown to the door. In the documentary The Guts and the Glory, drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor marvels:
"..We used to think that we were bad at being late, but he would be, like, half a day late, or even more late, you know, and his excuses were marvellous.."
In his autobiography White Line Fever Lemmy states:
"..Overkill was supposed to be something of a comeback album for Jimmy Miller, which is exactly what it turned out to be for him. He had gotten very heavily into heroin (which likely began when he was working with the Stones) and he had lost it for a couple [of] years...but months later, when we were working with him on Bomber, it was sadly clear that he was back on smack.."
...
Wikipedia