Iron Fist (album)

Iron Fist
Studio album by Motörhead
Released	17 April 1982
Recorded	Ramport Studios and Morgan Studios, London, UK, 26 January – 1 March 1982
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	36:24
Label	Bronze (Worldwide) Mercury (North America)
Producer	Will Reid Dick and Eddie Clarke
Motörhead chronology
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith (1981) Iron Fist (1982) Stand by Your Man (1982)
Singles from Iron Fist
"Iron Fist" Released: 3 April 1982

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]
Martin Popoff	[3]

Iron Fist is the fifth studio album by the British band Motörhead. Released on 17 April 1982, it peaked at No. 6 on the UK album charts.^[4] 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.^[5] It was the final album to be recorded by the Lemmy, "Fast" Eddie Clarke and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor line-up.

History

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".^[6]

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".^[7]

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 Words Worth? was released of that event), and decided this was an apt name for this project. The name was eventually shortened to simply Iron Fist.^[6]

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".^[6]

The band undertook a UK tour from 17 March 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".^[6] 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, 12 May at "C.N.E. Coliseum" in Toronto, was filmed and subsequently released on video as Live in Toronto and later as the bonus disc of the deluxe edition of the CD. After the second date on 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 21 May in Detroit.^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[9]

Track listing

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

Deluxe edition: Disc 2 (Live in Toronto) (Sanctuary Records 2005 Reissue)

Track 1: B-side of Iron Fist single Tracks 2-15: Live at C.N.E. Coliseum, Toronto, Ontario, 12 May 1982

Credits

Motörhead

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

Production

• Evil Red Neck (Will Reid) – Producer
• Charles Harrowell – Tape Operator
• Martin Poole – Artwork, Photography, Cover Art
• Alan Ballard – Photography, Cover Art
• Mick Stevenson – Photography
• 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.
• "Noise by shouting and hitting things"

• Curtis Evans – Reissue Design
• Steffan Chirazi, Hatsumi Sakoda, John Strednansky – Liner Notes

Release history and variations

References