Iron Fist (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Iron Fist
Type = Album
Artist = Motörhead


Released = 17 April 1982
Recorded = 26 January – 1 March, 1982
Ramport Studios, UK
Morgan Studios
Length = 37:55 (original)
50:56 (reissue)
Label = Bronze (Worldwide)
Mercury (North America)
Producer = Will Reid Dick
Eddie Clarke
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:in09keft7q7x~T1 link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/motorhead/albums/album/118186/review/6067992/iron_fist link]
Last album = "Stand by Your Man (EP)"
(1982)
This album = "Iron Fist"
(1982)
Next album = "Another Perfect Day"
(1983)

"Iron Fist" is the fifth album by the British heavy metal band Motörhead. Released on 17 April, 1982, it peaked at #6 on the UK album charts. [Burridge, Alan "Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead" Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing p70. ISBN 0-9695736-2-6.] It was preceded by the release of the title track "Iron Fist" as a single on 3 April, which peaked in the UK singles chart at #29.cite journal |quotes= |last=Burridge |first=Alan |authorlink=Alan Burridge (writer) |coauthors= |year=1991 |month=April |title=Motörhead |journal=Record Collector |volume= |issue=140 |pages=18–19 |id= |url= |accessdate= ] It was the final album to be recorded by the Lemmy, Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor line-up.

Recording

As with previous albums, recording commenced with producer Vic Maile at his Jackson's Studio in Rickmansworth in 1981. A break in recording for the band to play some November and December dates with Tank was followed by Clarke producing Tank's debut album with help from Will Reid Dick. Clarke was unhappy with the Maile produced sessions and decided that the album should be recorded themselves, although Lemmy lamented at the time that "it's a shame to have lost Vic in a way because I thought it was successful".Iron Fist official tour progamme. Eddie clarke and Lemmy interviewed by Kris Needs]

The album was recorded during the best part of late January and February 1982 at Morgan Studios and Ramport Studios in London, with Clarke producing and Dick engineering. The band retrospectively acknowledge that this was a bad move, with Lemmy claiming in 2000 that the album was "bad, inferior to anything else we've ever done. Having Eddie produce it was a mistake that even he would now probably admit to". [cite book |last=Shaw |first=Harry |title=Lemmy... In his own words |publisher=Omnibus Press (c) 2002|id=ISBN 0-7119-9109-X |pages= 39]

The writing of lyrics and recording of vocals are tasks that Lemmy performs once the recording of the music has been completed. Struggling to think of a name for the title track for the album, he remembered the time the band had performed live under the name "Iron Fist and the Hordes from Hell" for contractual reasons (a subsequent album "What's Wordsworth?" was released of that event), and decided this was an apt name for this project. The name was eventually shortened to simply "Iron Fist".

Promotion and tour

A promotional film was made of the band dressed in studded leather armour and wielding broadswords, described by Lemmy as "all dressed up as idiots, prancing about in a wood in South Mimms as opposed to prancing about in South Mimms dressed as cowboy idiots", although Clarke was more reticent about the project fearing looking "like a bunch of fairies prancing about with armour on... It's very hard not to".

The band undertook a UK tour from 17 March through to 12 April with support from Tank. This was to be the first tour to drop the bomber lighting rig, with Lemmy feeling that they had "to do something new sooner or later" despite it being "the best show I've ever seen in my life". The band continued touring to promote the album visiting North America in May and June, Japan at the end of June, and after some summer festival appearances, mainland Europe in October and November.

The first date of the North America tour, the 12 May at the Toronto Coliseum, was filmed and subsequently released on video as "Live In Toronto" and the soundtrack as the bonus disc of the deluxe edition. After the second date on the 14 May at New York's Palladium, Clarke left the band, his replacement being former Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson with the tour recommencing a week later on the 21 May in Detroit. [Official Motorhead website – [http://www.imotorhead.com/motorography/1982.htm 1982 tour dates] ]

Promotion for the album went as far as the May 1982 edition of "Rennbahn Express", an Austrian magazine, which included a free flexidisc with excerpts from "Iron Fist", "Sex and Outrage", "Don't Let 'em Grind You Down" and "Loser". Lemmy is interviewed by Robert Reumann in English and is overdubbed with a German translation.cite journal |quotes= |last=Burridge |first=Alan |authorlink= |coauthors=Mick Stevenson |year=1993 |month=July |title=Motörhead |journal=Record Collector |volume= |issue=167 |pages=72 |id= |url= |accessdate= ]

The release of the album prompted Bronze/Mercury in Canada to issue "The Complete Motörhead Kit". This featured a limited edition 12" vinyl containing "Iron Fist", "Too Late, Too Late", "Remember Me, I'm Gone", "Ace of Spades" and "Motorhead" (from the "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith" album), plus a tour programme, tour poster, and an embroidered patch of the band's logo.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Ian Kilmister, Eddie Clarke, Phil Taylor.

ide 1

# "Iron Fist" – 2:55
# "Heart of Stone" – 3:04
# "I'm the Doctor" – 2:43
# "Go to Hell" – 3:10
# "Loser" – 3:57
# "Sex & Outrage" – 2:10

ide 2

#

"America" – 3:38
# "Shut it Down" – 2:41
# "Speedfreak" – 3:28
# "(Don't Let 'em) Grind You Down" – 3:08
# "(Don't Need) Religion" – 2:43
# "Bang to Rights" – 2:43

CD bonus tracks

#

"Remember Me, I'm Gone" – 2:18
# "(Don't Let 'em) Grind You Down" [Alternate Version] – 3:09
# "Lemmy Goes to the Pub" [Alternate Version of "Heart of Stone"] – 3:02
# "Same Old Song, I'm Gone" [Alternate Version of "Remember Me, I'm Gone"] – 2:20
# "Young and Crazy" [Instrumental Version of "Sex & Outrage"] – 2:12

Deluxe edition: Disc 2

# "Remember Me, I'm Gone" – 2:19
# "Overkill" – 2:52
# "Heart of Stone" – 3:07
# "Shoot You in the Back" – 3:10
# "The Hammer" – 3:19
# "Jailbait" – 3:56
# "America" – 3:23
# "(Don't Need) Religion" – 3:20
# "Capricorn" – 4:23
# "(Don't Let 'Em) Grind You Down" – 3:24
# "(We Are) The Roadcrew" – 3:08
# "No Class" – 2:32
# "Bite the Bullet" – 1:30
# "The Chase Is Better Than the Catch" – 5:13
# "Bomber" – 4:53

Credits

* "Fast" Eddie Clarke – guitar, co-producer
* Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) – bass, vocals
* Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor – drums

* Alan Ballard – Photography, Cover Art
* Steffan Chirazi – Liner Notes
* Curtis Evans – Reissue Design
* Evil Red Neck (Will Reid) – Producer
* Charles Harrowell – Tape Operator
* Martin Poole – Artwork, Photography, Cover Art
* Hatsumi Sakoda – Liner Notes
* Mick Stevenson – Photography
* John Strednansky – Liner Notes
* "Noise by shouting and hitting things"

* Recorded from 1 February to 1 March, 1982 at Morgan Studios – except "Iron Fist" and "Shut it Down", recorded 26 – 28 January, 1982 at Ramport Studios, UK.

Release history and variations

References