Motorhead followed up the warmly received Orgasmatron with the back-to-basics Rock 'N' Roll. Despite the return of "Philthy" Phil Taylor on drums, Rock 'N' Roll suffers from a lack of great songs and ultimately became one of the most forgettable Motorhead albums.One of the few album highlights came from the band's invitation to perform in the British film Eat the Rich, the song that borrowed the film's title stands as the raunchiest track on the record, a slice of Motorhead stomp. Apart from the title track, which became much more powerful in a live setting, the rest of the album is rather stale, essentially Motorhead by numbers.
The idea of having two guitarists seems interesting but only served to sap the energy out of the rowdy, rude, and nearly out of control Motorhead tracks that festered out of the three piece version of the band.
This reissue does add some tasty treats in two bonus tracks, "Cradle to the Grave" and Lemmy at his sneering best on "Just 'Cos You've Got the Power", as well as a storming Motorhead set from the Monsters of Rock Festival back in 1986 where the boys were sandwiched somewhere between Def Leppard and the Scorpions.
Motorhead spent this time touring nonstop. Despite the minor disappointment of Rock 'N' Roll, they were able to continue burning a path of destruction across the world. Besides the role in Eat the Rich , Lemmy was more visible than ever in the rock community. It is too bad he didn't have a better album to support; it could have changed the band's fortunes drastically.
