Another Perfect Day

This article is about the album. For other uses, see Another Perfect Day (disambiguation).
Another Perfect Day
Studio album by Motörhead
Released 4 June 1983
Recorded February–March 1983
Studio Olympic Studios and Eel Pie Studios, London, UK
Genre Heavy metal
Length 44:09
Label Bronze (UK)
Mercury (US)
Producer Tony Platt
Motörhead chronology
What's Words Worth?
(1983)		 Another Perfect Day
(1983)		 No Remorse
(1984)
Singles from Another Perfect Day
  1. "I Got Mine"
    Released: 27 May 1983
  2. "Shine"
    Released: 30 July 1983

Another Perfect Day is the sixth studio album by English rock band Motörhead, released in June 1983. It reached number 20 in the UK Albums Chart.[1]

Recording

After guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke left Motörhead in 1982 on their second US tour, guitarist Brian "Robbo" Robertson (ex-Thin Lizzy, Wild Horses) was recruited to complete the tour. A more accomplished, less "feel"-based guitarist than Clarke had been, the change was initially welcome by vocalist/bassist Lemmy and drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor; in Joel McIver's book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead, Lemmy is quoted at the time saying that the band's sound had "changed a little now that Brian's joined the band; I think it's gotten more musical." These feelings would change dramatically once they entered the studio with producer Tony Platt; Lemmy would recall years later in the Motörhead documentary The Guts and the Glory: "Recording Another Perfect Day was fucking torture. Brian, he'd take seventeen hours doin' a guitar track. It fuckin' took so long compared with the other albums. And then when it was released everybody fucking hated it." The original vinyl release featured a lyric-sheet insert, with a cartoon storyboard of the adventures of the new band, as it were.[2] The cassette and US LP versions had a vastly different track list, with "I Got Mine" opening the album and "Back at the Funny Farm" opening side two.

The band supported the album with the Another Perfect Tour tour, and almost immediately audiences and industry personnel alike took notice of the jarring contrast between Lemmy and Taylor, clad in their usual leathers, and Robertson, who took to wearing satin shorts and slip-on espadrille shoes onstage, which were becoming quite fashionable in the mid-1980s. In his 2002 autobiography White Line Fever, Lemmy writes, "Brian's fashion sense continued to shock and horrify fans throughout the tour of Europe at the end of the year. Let's face it, ballet shoes and Motörhead do not mix!" Lemmy began to make light of Robertson's attire during shows, but he explained to Classic Rock interviewer David Ling, "All that shit about being dressed differently; all the wearing of stupid shorts, it was just to get at me. Or make sure everybody knew he wasn't in Motörhead, just a featured guest artist, doing us a favour from the great heights as a Thin Lizzy guitar player." In his memoir, Lemmy put the album into perspective:

We had to get another guitar player fast so we could continue the tour, and we chose Brian Robertson, who had been in Thin Lizzy. Technically, he was a better guitarist than Eddie, but ultimately he wasn't right for Motörhead. With Robbo our slide downwards began to pick up speed, which was unfair really, because the record we made with him, Another Perfect Day, was very good... Another Perfect Day stood the test of time - a lot of fans have recanted now and come to like it. But that didn't help us back then.

Following the album and tour, Robertson and Taylor left Motörhead to form the band Operator, leaving only Lemmy to continue on with Motörhead. None of the songs from Another Perfect Day were performed live after Robertson's departure in 1983 until 1994. Since then, "Shine," "Die You Bastard!," "Dancing on Your Grave," "I Got Mine," "Another Perfect Day," "One Track Mind," and "Rock It" have been featured in the band's live set. In 2013, Lemmy told Lee Marlow of Classic Rock that he hadn't spoken to Robertson since 1983 and maintained, "I've enjoyed all the line-ups – but not that one. That was the lowest point in our career."

Sleeve artwork

Joe Petagno, the sleeve artist, commented that the cover was inspired by the upheaval prevalent in the band and its members at the time:

I didn't hear the music. I think I got a rough mix. It was different. But, I did it on a beer box, with a drawing board on my lap and some paints and a bucket of water by my side. And the reason it turned out the way it was – it was all chaos. Chaos in my life, and chaos in Lemmy's life. I brought it to London with me to deliver it personally to the guys and everyone was freaked over it. They'd never seen anything like it. And I remember Philthy said, "Fuck man! If the kids see that on acid, they're just going to freak!" It's one of my favourite sleeves.[3]

In 1988 Castle Communications re-issued this album along with Overkill – in a gatefold sleeve.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Kerrang!(unfavorable)[5]
Martin Popoff[6]

John Franck of AllMusic calls Another Perfect Day "one of the most unique (albeit misunderstood) albums in the entire Motörhead catalog," adding that it's one of "the band's best-sounding records ever, but tinkering with a legendary formula is always fraught with danger (is that a boogie-woogie piano on 'Rock It'?), and as one might expect, the results here are alternately exhilarating and sometimes frustrating." Motörhead biographer Joel McIver wrote in 2011 that it was "worth revisiting for those who may have forgotten its genuine charms." The thrash metal band Sepultura named themselves after the third track from this album, "Dancing on Your Grave" ("sepultura" is "grave" in Portuguese).[7] The songs "Back at the Funny Farm" and "Marching Off to War" were featured on the video game Brütal Legend.

Track listing

Original album

All songs written and composed by Ian Kilmister, Phil Taylor and Brian Robertson. 

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Back at the Funny Farm"   4:14
2. "Shine"   3:11
3. "Dancing on Your Grave"   4:29
4. "Rock It"   3:55
5. "One Track Mind"   5:55
Side two
No. Title Length
6. "Another Perfect Day"   5:29
7. "Marching Off to War"   4:11
8. "I Got Mine"   5:24
9. "Tales of Glory"   2:56
10. "Die You Bastard!"   4:25

Deluxe Edition (Sanctuary Records 2006 reissue)

In 2006, the album was re-issued by Sanctuary Records with a bonus CD, featuring a live performance, recorded at Manchester Apollo on 10 June 1983. The writing credits for the songs on the deluxe edition differed from those on the original, credited all the original songs to Robertson, Kilmister, and Taylor.[8]

All songs written and composed by Ian Kilmister, Phil Taylor and Brian Robertson, except where indicated. 

Credits

Band members
Production

References

  1. ↑ "Another Perfect Day Chart Stats". Chart Stats.com. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  2. ↑ "Vinyl Viernes: Fister's The Infernal Paramount and Motörhead's Another Perfect Day". The Metal Advisor.com. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  3. ↑ About Joe Petagno - interview section with Joe Petagno, bonus DVD with Inferno 30th Anniversary edition SPV69748.
  4. ↑ Franck, John. "Motörhead Another Perfect Day review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  5. ↑ Dome, Malcolm (19 May 1983). "Motorhead 'Another Perfect Day'". Kerrang! 42. London, UK: Spotlight Publications Ltd. p. 15.
  6. ↑ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  7. ↑ Max Cavalera tells how this came to be after translating the lyrics to the "Dancing on Your Grave" on the video Third World Chaos.
  8. ↑ As listed on the original album, the listing for the Deluxe Edition allmusic article and the 1991 CD sleeve.

External links

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