1916

Motörhead

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 26, 1991)
• Original Release Date: February 26, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027EP
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #122,274 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Few bands can experience the constant personnel shifts that have plagued Motörhead and still manage to keep their signature sound intact. Bassist Lemmy Kilmister--the only original member to hang on for the band's entire wild ride--had a vision of proto-thrash-metal that has proved too pure and simple to ever require tinkering. Recorded more than a decade and a half into the band's career, 1916 offers a high-energy mix of bone-crunching metallic mayhem that is loud, fast, and intense but never takes itself too seriously. A piece of seriocomic braggadocio such as "I'm So Bad (Baby I Don't Care)" or "Ramones," a nod to the pioneering punk band, is typical. A notable exception, however, is the title track, a bleak ballad cataloging the horrors of World War I through the eyes of a doomed teenage soldier. --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good, March 30, 2005

By	Samuel J. Williams "Certified Complainer" (Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I remember when this came out. It was a real "turning of the page" for Motorhead. The production was crisper. The songs were better. The guitars fuller. Of course, Lemmy's voice has never been great, but it wasn't as rough this outing.

Many metal-heads hate this album because it's not just in your face, screaming guitar-fare. This has more depth than that. Oh, there's are plenty of rockers here (I'll Sing the Blues and Going to Brazil are real standouts), but there's more. The Ramones tribute song (R.A.M.O.N.E.S) is fun and the best non-Ramones Romones song. And the title track is quite moving. Lemmy's normally offensive voice manages to lend more to the ballad here than detract from it, as if it helps to paint the brutal story of the song.

So, do yourself a favor and buy this one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lemmy delivers, December 29, 2003

By	Johny Bottom "Insane and lonely guitarist" (Jacksonville, NC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

People can say what they want, but 1916 is a GREAT Motorhead album. It's all here, simple fast riffs, sense of humor, Lemmy's roaring and catchy tunes. "Voices in the Sky" has a great melody is very tight. Could you imagine for a moment flying on an airplane to the land of sex and sunshine? Check out "Going to Brazil" and you'll get the idea. The RAMONES tribute is awesome, I loved the fact that there was no guitar solo. The standout track though is the closing 1916. Rarely can 'beautiful' be used to describe a Motorhead track, but Lemmy nailed it. With just a drum and an oboe, he sings of the terrors of the 1916 'Great Offensive'. Years ago I thought this to be a very strange thing for Lemmy to do, but Lemmy knows best. This song has stood. I wonder if he ever had the balls to do it live.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Motorhead throws a wild curve, November 26, 2006

By	Scott Hedegard "Scott" (Fayetteville, AR USA) - See all my reviews

While I remain loyal to the Eddie Clarke era of Motorhead, I must admit "1916" is as good as latter period Motorhead ever got.
The production is much better, with plenty of loud guitars and drums. If there is a weak spot, it would be that Wurzel and Co. are pretty generic players. The profiency is there, but not much originality exists.
To make up for that weakness, which has plagued all post-Clarke releases, with the exception of "Another Perfect Day", Lemmy throws in a keyboard heavy "Nighttime", an honest-to-God power ballad ("Love Me Forever"), a Ramones tribute, and most shocking of all, the title track and album closer, "1916".
Lemmy is a well-known war historian, definitely nobody's dummy, and here he laments a particularly horrible battle in WWI where 10,000 soldiers died before noon with neither side gaining an inch of ground. Set to a lonely mournful organ and a snare drum, Lemmy sings in a clear voice and by song's end, it's damn hard not to get a lump in your throat the first couple times you hear it, so surprising is the music, yet so perfect.
For this track and the stretching out of musical boundaries that Lemmy undertakes on "1916", it is an essential for Motorhead fans.