Another Perfect Day
1983 – Motörhead
“I’ve enjoyed all the line ups – but not that one.
That was the lowest point in our career.”
– Lemmy
Number six in the Motörhead catalog and the only record to feature Brian “Robbo” Robertson, still remains one of my favorites (haters gotta hate). Despite what many critics of this album believe, this recording contains some of the most hard driving guitar riffs and solos to ever explode from the front lines of rock.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to this –
Then there’s this –
I mean come on man, WTF?
Once upon a time, there was a loud and unruly US concert tour promoting the mighty “Iron Fist” album. The fifth effort from the legendary Motörhead clan that just added to the unrivaled success the clan had already been reveling in for many years. There was much gold and silver, too much to count and there was much rejoicing.
During the tour, Sir “Fast” Eddie Clarke, the noble guitar wielding knight of clan Motörhead freaked out due to the appearance of the evil sorceress Wendy O. Williams of the clan “Plasmatics” who placed an enchantment spell on Lord Lemmy the Great causing him to agree to record an old medieval ballad entitled “Stand By Your Man“. Fast Eddie became so enraged at the complete blasphemy of it all that he jumped on his white charger exclaiming “Screw you guys man!” and rode off into the sunset to start his own clan – “Fastway“.
Lord Lemmy the Great was bummed, but he also knew the show had to go on. So, on the counsel of Phil “the Philthy Animal” Taylor, drummer extraordinaire of clan Motörhead, Lemmy sought out the help of Scottish mercenary guitarist, formerly of clan Thin Lizzy, Brian “Robbo” Robertson to complete his army of rock. This all seemed like a good idea at the time.
Knight Robbo agreed to join clan Motörhead to help them complete their campaign of devastating rock. And there was much rejoicing.
Lemmy was pleased. So much so, that he invited Robbo to travel with clan Motörhead on an album recording adventure. And there was even more rejoicing. That is, until the party-eth was over-eth.
“Recording Another Perfect Day was fucking torture. Brian, he’d take seventeen hours doin’ a guitar track. It fuckin’ took so long compared with the other albums. And then when it was released everybody fucking hated it.”
– Lemmy
Track List
Side One
- Back At The Funny Farm
- Shine
- Dancing On Your Grave
- Rock It
- One Track Mind
Side Two
- Another Prefect Day
- Marching Off To War
- I Got Mine
- Tales Of Glory
- Die You Bastard
Is this Overkill? Is this Ace Of Spades or Bomber maybe? No it is not, it is something very different and frankly IMHO it’s refreshing. Lemmy is even quoted as saying –
“The sound changed a little now that Brian’s joined the band; I think it’s gotten more musical”
– Lemmy
And as usual, he would be right. “Another Perfect Day” definitely has a unique tonal quality to it and I dig it man! The first time I ever heard the track “I Got Mine” I was rocking out so hard until I suddenly realized – “That’s fricking Lemmy singing! This is Motörhead? Hell yeah!” That just made the song 1000 times cooler. Had to run out and track down the wax.
Robbo could write some seriously cool and unique riffs! Sure he dressed a little goofy and wore ballet shoes (which drove Lemmy nuts), but the genius was there, it was just wearing shorts.
The opening power chords of “I Got Mine” leave you amazed, but not quite sure of where this track is going. Then the snare comes smacking down the door and bam, the bass kicks the main riff into your face. It’s just so great that you think it can’t get any better, but Lemmy’s vocal comes in and at that moment, the whole song comes together and interrupts the space time continuum for just one second and your head bangs back and forth like a 1979 Angus Young playing “Highway to Hell” at the Garden.
Epic.
Side One opens in classic Motörhead fashion with Lemmy picking his Rickenbacker strings with the fire from hell to let you know who’s in charge. “Back At The Funny Farm” gives you the first glimpse of Lemmy and Robbo alongside each other and the sound is crunchy to say the least and Philthy totally adds the gravy.
“Can’t find the windows but I gotta get outside
Can you help me stand it feels like both my legs have died
What was that injection, ‘cos I think it’s goin’ wrong
I really like this jacket but the sleeves are much too long”
– Lemmy, Back At The Funny Farm
The sheer momentum of the song “Shine” will melt your face with 8 G’s of pure rock and Robbo’s solo is one of the best I’ve ever experienced.
“Dancing On Your Grave” and “Rock It” push the rock forward with more epic guitar licks and hard driving rhythms as the fusion of Thin Lizzy and Motörhead becomes even more apparent in sound and song structure.
“One Track Mind” rounds out Side One with a slow heavy grinding groove that sports a couple of long Robbo rippin’ solos.
The title track actually opens Side Two of this 2015 US version (alas, a replacement for the original I had on Mercury with “I Got Mine” opening the record and “Back At The Funny Farm” opening Side Two, the victim of a tragic break up) I want my records back! Anyway, everything about the song “Another Perfect Day” is great! The guitar sounds, the riffs, the vocals, the bass line, the drums, literally everything kicks ass! The only thing that could possibly make it any better would be well, bacon.
On to track two, which I have to say is a pretty heavy tune about well, “Marching Off To War”. But what a great hard driving riff!
“Another battle’s over, it’s a million soldiers
Never rise again, we lost a million friends”
– Lemmy
Next up is “I Got Mine“, which I think I already covered pretty well but seriously, if you’ve never heard this song, check it out. And if you just heard it, hear it again.
“Tales Of Glory” is the track you should immediately dive head first into the mosh pit with. All bruises and contusions considered, totally worth it.
Wrapping up this legendary wax is “Die You Bastard” which frankly speaks for itself. The epitome of a Motörhead song that kicks you in the nuts, smacks you in the face and rubs lotion all over you, then puts you in the basket. Not necessarily in that order.
Produced by the legendary Tony Platt, “Another Perfect Day” would be the last record sporting the Bronze Label. Platt had engineered for the likes of Bob Marley and producer Mutt Lange on several classic records and was no stranger to forging metal as evidenced by the classics he produced with Iron Maiden and Krokus, so from the first note there is an obvious bump in production value.
Ironically, this seems to be why Motörhead fans harbored initial hate for this record. Motörhead had a kick you in the nuts style which was born out of a hard core garage sound, and it worked. The three piece created a wall of dirty sound and it was good, so good in fact, a legend was born.
Now, who wants to go and f**k with a legend? Well, apparently Tony Platt. “Here you go world, this is Motörhead with a barrage of new guitar sounds and a multitude of overdubs!” Pretty ballsy if you ask me and the product is stellar, so what’s the problem?
Well, we all know what happened when Dylan pulled out the electric guitar. People fear change, that’s a constant. But the machine that was Motörhead went on to produce 16 more studio albums and this one, I think, is the most unique of the lot.
So, time now for you to drop the needle on “Another Perfect Day” and listen for the first time or maybe revisit it – with an open mind. Then decide for yourself. Let the haters hate and let us enjoy the end of the Bronze age shall we?
Now that’s settled, head banging – engage.
In memory of the original Motörhead
