You go, Lemmy!

[Highlander]

The original recording of Silver Machine wanders all over the place and has Calvert "singing" the lines in a monotone - iirc it was first to be heard on the Greasy Truckers or Glastonbury set or something like that - truly awful - I sold both LPs on fairly quickly - Lemmy was the last one they tried and were gutted when it turned out to (effectively) be their only real hit record - I only ever saw the Fast Eddie line up... an earlier lineup supported BOC in '76 but was a flop...

[uwe]

If you listen to Hawkwind's Space Ritual Live album his bass playing was undistorted, chordy and melodic, in fact similar to Peter Hook of Joy Division/New Order. He's been playing bass long enough to play it tightly, but like Keith Richards he often enough doesn't give a damn.

I've seen Motörhead in 1977, 1983 and  2010: Their progression in all these years was amazing, second only to AC/DC's.

That was irony.  

Lemmy live has his "bass" guitar sound get in the way with the Saxon guy's guitar, they sound all middish live with heavy metal drums underneath, courtesy of that King Diamond drummer. They are tight, but they are not Philthy and Fast Eddie. Better than the Thin Lizzy guitarist in 83 though who looked, felt and played just plain out of place live (though "Another Perfect Day" was a good album), but you could tell that Brian Robertson did not enjoy playing the older material at all live nor know what to do with it.

I like Lemmy as an interview partner and for his work with Hawkwind - his bass playing with Motörhead is an acquired taste, indeed rhythm guitar. What Motörhead needs live is indeed someone who plays bass!

And if there is one thing I am happy about in my life then it is not screwing Wendy O., with all due respect for the late girl!

[Pekka]

He still seems to favour the neck pickup according to the sound and the position of the switch (or is the switch on LK bridge-all three-neck?).

My favourite Lemmy bass sound is on the "Golden Years" live EP from 1980 with a great version of "Leaving Here":


Really metallic and cutting sound.

[Dave W]

Lemmy does Johnny Cash. From the album Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B. In an interview when the album came out, Lemmy said Big River was the first record he ever owned.