Motörhead – On Parole Sessions

Motörhead – On Parole Sessions
Rhino
Release Date: 17/04/26
Review by Jon Deaux
7.5/10

Someone’s gone and dug up those old bones. Polished them up, put them in a nice box, and slapped a price tag on them. 

Fifty years ago, that studio ingested a gloriously unholy racket, and it’s all been nicely packaged up and put on a plate for you, like some sort of exhibit. And why not? The Museum of Loud. Entry price? Your eardrums.

United Artists sat upon “On Parole” for three years. Brilliant move. Nothing says ‘we believe in this band’ like locking them in a cupboard and hoping everyone forgets about them. They didn’t, of course. Nobody ever does. Not unless they’re a record executive, and even then, it’s not very likely. Not unless they’re one of those very special individuals who thinks they’re above having a sense of humour, and even then… They are above having a sense of humour. The universe has a way of rewarding those sorts of people, and it tends to involve a large amount of money and a very large lawsuit.

But when the punters finally got to listen to it, they were rather too late. The band had rather more sense than to sit around waiting for it to come out. They had a new lineup, and they were rather too busy destroying small venues across England to care very much about it. 

But what nobody wants to admit is that it all began right here. Right here. Lemmy, Larry, Lucas, and Phil, squashed into a studio and trying to work out what the fuck Motörhead was actually supposed to sound like. No budget, no plan, and probably no idea what they were doing, either. And it turns out it was meant to sound like this. Loud, fast, and entirely uncaring of what you might think of it. Some things come naturally.

The Steven Wilson remix on CD1 sounds massive. Steven’s a smart bloke. He’s done it right. It sounds big without losing it. It still has bite. It still sounds like it wants to steal your wallet, flirt with your girlfriend, and then borrow your jacket and not give it back. That’s all you can ask for, really. Some remixes take all the edges off and you end up with something that sounds like it belongs in a lift. This doesn’t. This sounds like it would punch the lift.

CDs 2 and 3 are the outtakes from the recording sessions – this is where it gets interesting, if you’re the kind of person this holds interest for. Which, apparently, thousands of you are. Odd hobby. Could be worse. Could be stamp collecting.

“City Kids” gets the full works – hammering away as if it owed someone money. Multiple takes. There’s one with a piano part that no one seems willing to own up to. The dialogue – the bits of conversation between the songs – sounds like exactly that – a bunch of reprobates with too much energy, too little sleep, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in being told what to do. Charming, really. In a feral way.

The instrumental jams are the real treasure. That’s where a band finds its legs, stumbles around, occasionally falls over something expensive, and then suddenly… well, you get the idea. That sound. That specific, terrible, wonderful sound. Like an argument in an engine room. Like something that probably shouldn’t work but absolutely does and is going to be very loud about it.

There’s a drum solo on there too. Phil. The man couldn’t walk past a drum kit without hitting it. Couldn’t walk past much without hitting it, come to think of it, but that’s neither here nor there and probably not for an album review.

The Blu-ray with Atmos is ridiculous, and it’s ridiculous in a good way. Being surrounded by “Motörhead” from all angles is probably as close as you’re going to get to what it would have been like standing in front of them in 1975. Although you can turn it down. They never let you turn it down. Complaints were met with a look that said you had misunderstood the situation entirely.

The three bonus tracks of “Motörhead,” “On Parole,” and “Vibrator” in stereo are a nice touch. A little bow on the package. Very thoughtful. Almost civilized. Don’t worry, it’s fixed straight away with the music.

Nobody set out to create anything new. Nobody sat around stroking their chin and thinking of ways of bridging the gap between Rock and Heavy Metal and Punk. Nobody did any of that. Not even a little bit. Not for a moment. People wrote that sort of nonsense afterwards, when they needed something to say and a deadline to say it by. Back then it was a noise that sounded like what was going on inside some people’s heads. People who had been told, over and over and over again with great enthusiasm, that they didn’t belong anywhere.

Turns out that noise was just what a generation of kids needed. Something not made by millionaires for millionaires. Something with dirt under its fingernails and no interest in cleaning them up for company. The oil crisis happened, and as a result, unemployment soared through the roof. All these kids had was each other and what was coming out of the speakers. Motörhead came out of the speakers. Could’ve been worse.

That’s all it ever was. Loud, honest, and not asking anyone’s permission. Not then. Not now. Not ever, frankly – permission was never really on the agenda.

Fifty years later, here’s the proof. Three CDs and a Blu-ray of a band making itself up as it went along, largely unaware it was making history and perfectly comfortable with that.

Buy it. Play it loud. Tell your neighbors it’s culture.

They won’t believe you, but it’s worth a try.

MOTÖRHEAD: On Parole Sessions – 3CD / Blu-ray
CD1: ON PAROLE – 50TH ANNIVERSARY REMIX
Remixed by Steven Wilson, 2025
01. Motorhead 
02. On Parole 
03. Vibrator 
04. Iron Horse / Born To Lose 
05. City Kids 
06. Fools 
07. The Watcher 
08. Leaving Here 
09. Lost Johnny 

CD2: ON PAROLE SESSIONS (part 1)
Mixed by Richard Digby Smith, 2025
01. Motorhead (Instrumental Take 1) 
02. Studio Dialogue 1 
03. City Kids (Take 1) 
04. City Kids (Instrumental Outtake 1) 
05. City Kids (Instrumental Outtake 2) 
06. Studio Dialogue 2 
07. City Kids (Instrumental Outtake 3) [3:23]
08. Motorhead (Album Take – Without Bike Intro) 
09. Motorhead (Album Take – Backing Track) 
10. Motorhead (Album Take) 
11. Motorhead (Instrumental Take 2) 
12. Drum Solo 
13. Studio Dialogue 3 
14. Fools (Take 1 – Demo Version) 
15. City Kids (Album Take) 
16. City Kids (Album Take – With Piano) 
17. Studio Dialogue 4 
18. Motorhead (Take 5 – Backing Track) 
19. Motorhead (Take 5 – Without Vocal Overdubs) 
20. Motorhead (Take 5) 
21. Lost Johnny (Album Take) 
22. Leaving Here (Instrumental Take 1) 
23. Leaving Here (Album Take) 
24. Studio Dialogue 5 
25. On Parole (Instrumental Take 1) 
26. On Parole (Instrumental Take 2 With False-Start) 
27. Iron Horse – Born To Lose (Album Take) 

CD3: ON PAROLE SESSIONS (part 2)
Mixed by Richard Digby Smith, 2025
01. Jam / On Parole (Instrumental Jam) 
02. Iron Horse – Born To Lose (Take 4 – Vocal 2) 
03. On Parole (Album Take – Extended Version) 
04. Studio Dialogue 6 
05. The Watcher (Album Take) 
06. Vibrator (Album Take – Without Vibrator) 
07. Vibrator (Album Take – With Vibrator)
08. Iron Horse – Born To Lose (Instrumental Jam) 
09. Studio Dialogue 7
10. Iron Horse Born To Lose (Instrumental) 
11. Studio Dialogue 8
12. Fools (Instrumental Jam) 
13. Fools (Album Take – Extended Version) 
14. Studio Dialogue 9 
15. Motorhead (Instrumental Guitar Riff) 

BLU-RAY: 
ON PAROLE
ATMOS REMIX
5.1 MIX
STEREO REMIX
FLAT TRANSFER OF ORIGINAL LP
01. Motorhead
02. On Parole
03. Vibrator
04. Iron Horse – Born To Lose
05. City Kids
06. Fools
07. The Watcher
08. Leaving Here
09. Lost Johnny

Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Jon Deaux and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.