By Jim Rowland

Artwork for Seriously Bad Magic by MotorheadWhen Motörhead released their 23rd studio album ‘Bad Magic’ in 2015, little did we know it would be their last. They went out on a relative high, with ‘Bad Magic’ hailed as one of their best for quite a few years. Now the album is re-vamped with added bonus cuts, a live recording from the same year and various other Motörgoodies, depending on which issue you go for. So get ready for some ‘seriously bad magic’…

‘Bad Magic’ has a real energy to it, attributed to the way it was recorded with producer Cameron Webb getting the band to record live together for the first time in the Kilmister/Campbell/Dee era. It works a treat on fast and furious thrashers like ‘Victory or Die’, ‘Thunder & Lightning’ and ‘Teach Them How To Bleed’ and the raw, raucous rock’n’roll Motörhead style of ‘Fire Storm Hotel’, ‘Choking On Your Screams’ and ‘The Devil’, which features a guest appearance from good buddie Brian May.

A highlight for me has always been the poignant ‘Till The End’, the type of Motörhead “ballad”, along the lines of ‘Love Me Forever’ or even ‘Iron Horse’, that they did so well, and perhaps not enough of. The album closes, of course, with a great cover of the Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’.

So what of the three new additions? Well you may or may not already have the excellent cover of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ depending on whether you managed to get hold of  copy of the ‘Under Cover’ album a few years back. Originally scheduled for inclusion on the ‘Bad Magic’ album, it was withdrawn from the track listing at the last minute, perhaps due to the inclusion of the Stones cover, but it’s a worthy inclusion here.

Both ‘Bullet In Your Brain’ and ‘Greedy Bastards’ are previously unreleased tracks from the album sessions, presumably deemed surplus to requirements when the final track listing was pieced together. Neither are substandard throwaways however, and both are on a par with anything that did make the final cut of the album. ‘Bullet In Your Brain’ is a typical fast and furious Motörhead banger, whilst the anti-politician themed ‘Greedy Bastards’ is one of those aforementioned great Motörhead “ballad” type songs, perhaps originally left off the album in favour of ‘Till The End’. It’s a quality tune with a great intro of Lemmy having a rant in an interview about how “all politicians are assholes”. Well said Lem.

The additional live disc. ‘Live at Mt Fuji Rock Festival 2015 – Sayonara Folks!’. is a bit of a disappointment. Whilst it’s a solid performance from Motörhead at that particular time, the sound quality is not up to the standard of a legit live album, but rather a reasonably decent bootleg. The set leans heavily on the ‘70s and ‘80s material, all Motörhead classics, and there’s actually nothing from ‘Bad Magic’ that features.

As we know, there’s been a hell of a lot of Motörhead releases following Lemmy’s death, and I do wonder how much of this stuff, if any, he would have been comfortable with being released. Whilst the live discs on the 40th anniversary editions of ‘Overkill’, ‘Bomber’ and ‘Ace Of Spades’ are gold dust for those of us that love our Motörhead, there have also been a lot of dubious box set ‘work in progress’ demos and substandard live recordings such as this one that we are being asked to shell out for too. Motörhead is a serious industry these days, and not all the product is top quality.

‘Bad Magic: SERIOUSLY BAD MAGIC’ is released on double 12” vinyl, CD digipak with bonus disc and limited-edition boxset, as well as via digital download and streaming. The limited-edition boxset will contain the CD digipak with bonus disc, double 12” vinyl, exclusive Lemmy ‘War, Love, Death and Injustice’ audio interview on 12” vinyl and exclusive edition Motörhead – MURDER ONE ouija board and planchette, “should the desire to have a chat with Lem or anyone beyond this mortal coil arise” (bad magic or bad taste? – you decide).

If you don’t have ‘Bad Magic’ then this becomes the edition to go for, as those three bonus tracks are quality, even if the live recording really is for hard core completists. If you already have ‘Bad Magic’ from the original release, I’m not sure this justifies shelling out for again.