In August 1976, Motörhead set up shop at the legendary Manticore studio in Fulham to rehearse and showcase their new lineup. During this time, they recorded together for the first time, and now, forty-nine years later, that lost tape has resurfaced, restored and polished to its raw glory, as part of the iconic hard rock band's 50th-anniversary celebrations.
Titled The Manticore Tapes , the "lost" 1976 album, now available on all platforms, features eleven previously unreleased recordings from the first studio session of the classic lineup. Known as the "Three Amigos" era of Motörhead, Lemmy (bass/vocals), Fast Eddie Clarke (guitar), and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor (drums) joined forces and began their extraordinary journey to the top of the hard rock elite.
About The Manticore Tapes
Part of this early story involves a little-mentioned man named Frank Kennington , who worked as a roadie for The Who before moving into band management and briefly taking over Motörhead during their most difficult period.
One of Kennington's decisions was to reserve the old ABC cinema on Fulham Palace Road for the trio, which had been converted into the headquarters of the progressive supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer — the aforementioned Manticore. Named after the mythological beast from Persian tradition that illustrated the trio's album covers, the Manticore functioned as a complete hub for bands: the old projector became an office and the large, unseated auditorium became an ideal stage for rehearsals. It was there that Motörhead recorded their set in Ronnie Lane , operated by his loyal friend Ron Faucus .
Faucus did an excellent job capturing the growing raw power and overwhelming speed of Motörhead in songs that would remain in the band's live repertoire until 1979. These aged tapes have been given new life through careful restoration by Cameron Webb, a longtime Motörhead collaborator, at Maple Studios in California, with mastering by Andrew Alekel at Bolskine House in Los Angeles. The result is a truly historic moment in the evolution of one of hard rock's greatest icons, restoring and revealing to the public, for the first time, a vital part of Motörhead's trajectory and history.
READ ALSO: Wikimetal Recommends: Listen to the unreleased version of “Gods of War” by Bruce Dickinson
