Overnight Sensation
| Overnight Sensation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Motörhead | ||||
| Released | 15 October 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1996 | |||
| Studio | Ocean Studio, Track House Recording Studio | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 41:19 | |||
| Label | CMC, Steamhammer, SPV GmbH | |||
| Producer |
Howard Benson Duane Baron | |||
| Motörhead chronology | ||||
| ||||
Overnight Sensation is the thirteenth studio album by English rock band Motörhead, released in October 1996.
History
The ironically titled Overnight Sensation was Motörhead's third album with producer Howard Benson. Following the departure of Würzel (Michael Burston) in 1995, the band returned to the same three-man "classic Motörhead line up": bass guitar/vocals, lead guitar, and drums. This album was also the first since Ace of Spades (1980) to have a picture of the band on the cover. Despite being only a three-piece band, the band had a heavier style on this work than on its previous album, Sacrifice.[1] Vocalist and bassist Lemmy Kilmister recalls that, amidst the touring, the record took about four weeks to write new songs and four weeks to record in the studio.[2] Lemmy talked about the return to being a three piece:
...it went the same as a four-piece except one guy wasn't there! Or the same as the Everly Brothers plus one. It was a bit more fraught, but that was just because Phil, being the only guitarist, felt that there was a lot riding on his shoulders (which there was). So he was under added pressure, but he proved himself well. Overnight Sensation is a great album for him. Mikkey was his usual perfect self – he always finishes his drums tracks well ahead of schedule. This time around he did them in one day.[2]
In Joel McIver's 2011 book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead, drummer Mikkey Dee is quoted saying that the songwriting was affected by guitarist Würzel's departure:
- Wurzel, I used to say, was more Motörhead than me, Phil (Campbell) and Lemmy put together. He was a true Motorheader, you know. He wrote super-hard songs and riffs, and I miss that sometimes. Because me and Phil, we might sometimes write a little too – not soft, but maybe too '"musically" correct songs, where Würzel was very simple, straight, very hard riffs. Nothing complicated with him whatsoever.
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
Overnight Sensation was the band's first official record for CMC. Sacrifice (1995) was already partly in the States on import but the label proved itself with Overnight Sensation and it became the best-distributed record the band had for some time.[2] It charted in Germany, Sweden and Finland. AllMusic calls the LP "the band's most eclectic in years, its tracks range from pedal to the metal stompers like 'Civil War' and 'Eat the Gun' to mid-paced groovers like 'Listen to Your Heart' (featuring acoustic guitars – shock!) and the classy 'I Don't Believe a Word.' Always a great lyricist, vocalist/bassist Lemmy takes it up a notch with the highly ironic title track and what is quite possibly the band's greatest song of the decade..." Lee Marlow of Classic Rock stated in 2013 that Overnight Sensation was "Immediate proof that the latest three-man Motörhead line-up was more than a match for all previous incarnations."
Track listing
All songs written by Phil Campbell, Lemmy, and Mikkey Dee unless otherwise stated.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Civil War" (Campbell, Dee, Lemmy, Max Ax) | 3:01 |
| 2. | "Crazy Like a Fox" | 4:32 |
| 3. | "I Don't Believe a Word" | 6:31 |
| 4. | "Eat the Gun" | 2:13 |
| 5. | "Overnight Sensation" | 4:10 |
| 6. | "Love Can't Buy You Money" | 3:06 |
| 7. | "Broken" | 4:34 |
| 8. | "Them Not Me" | 2:47 |
| 9. | "Murder Show" | 3:03 |
| 10. | "Shake the World" | 3:29 |
| 11. | "Listen to Your Heart" (Lemmy) | 3:45 |
Total length: |
41:19 | |
Credits
- Lemmy – lead vocals, bass; harmonica on tracks 2 and 11; acoustic guitar on tracks 5 and 11
- Phil "Wizzö" Campbell – rhythm and lead guitar
- Mikkey Dee – drums
- Recorded at Ocean Studio and Track House Recording Studio
- Produced by Howard Benson and Duane Baron
- Co-produced by Ryan Dorn and Motörhead
- Mixed by Ryan Dorn and Duane Baron
- Assistant engineered by James Ornelas, Evan Levy, and Duane Baron
- Mixed at The Gallery
- Mastered at Digiprep by Dan Hersch
- Cover photo by Annamaria DiSanto
References
- ↑ "Motörhead--Overnight Sensation (1996/CMC)". Metal Reviews. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
- 1 2 3 Kilmister, Ian and Garza, Janiss White Line Fever (2002) — Simon & Schuster pp. 276—277 ISBN 0-684-85868-1.
- ↑ Allmusic Review
