Bomber was the third release by Motorhead and came less than a year after the hugely successful Overkill album. All of the songs were written while still on tour for that album and as a result of trying to keep the momentum rolling, the general consensus was that Bomber was a rushed effort. Although a good album, many feel that it was decidedly inferior to Overkill. I beg to differ, while the song quality may not be quite up to Overkill standards, this album still gave us such classics as Stone Dead Forever, Dead Men Tell No Tales and the classic title track. One could see the continuing evolution of the Motorhead sound with this album and sound wise, the production and mainly the guitar sound of Fast Eddy Clarke was far superior than on previous albums. The subsequent tour also saw the appearance of the legendary "bomber" lighting rig that became such a staple of their live shows. The "bomber" rig was recently brought out of retirement for Motorhead's 30th Anniversary gig in London last summer. This re-issue from Sanctuary records contains the re-mastered original Bomber album and a second bonus disc with lots of B-sides, alternative versions and live tracks.

Dead Men Tell No Tales starts the album and is very riff-oriented track that combines the fast bluesy style with a punk edge that eventually became the trademark Motorhead sound. Lawman sees Lemmy providing more prominent and technical bass lines than we're used to hearing from him with this "heavy metal meets the blues" fusion. The scowling and nasty vocal for Sweet Revenge adds a nice touch to the slow and atmospheric groove of the track. Sharpshooter and All The Aces are both classic riff-oriented tracks with Sharpshooter laying the groundwork for several Saxon tunes namely Sixth Form Girls from the Strong Arm Of The Law album released about a year after this one. Stone Dead Forever, with it's reckless and fast pace, has a bit of a punk edge and has become a classic Motorhead tune over the years to follow. Step Down sees Fast Eddy Clarke taking over the mic and doing lead vocals. A slower and blues influenced track, both Fast Eddy's vocals and guitar playing give this one a sort of Ted Nugent Stranglehold feel. Poison is a catchy little number with Lemmy singing about poisoning his wife (even though he never married) and Talking Head sees the early origins of the riff for Love Me Like A Reptile from the follow up Ace Of Spades album. The album finishes with the classic title track, Bomber; a track that would follow them for decades and is still a feature of their live shows.

The second disc contains a total of 10 bonus tracks with Over The Top (B-side) as well as alternative versions of Stone Dead Forever, Sharpshooter, Bomber and Step Down. Stone Dead Forever sounds like a cover band with Lemmy's vocals being harmonized and "cleaned up" with studio tricks to the point that it's hard to tell that it's him. The alternative version of Bomber is mixed louder and has much more of a live feel than the album version. Also included are the live tracks that were originally found on the ultra-rare Golden Years E.P. These include Leaving Here, Stone Dead Forever, Dead Men Tell No Tales, Too Late Too Late and Step Down. The sound quality is not all that great but these very old live Motorhead recordings show the band in it's most hungry state!!

Even though there are a couple of substandard tracks on this album, it certainly was not a failure by any means. Overkill remains to this day one of their best albums and expecting two of those back to back was rather unfair to the guys. Bomber holds its own quite well and you can really see the origins of the Ace Of Spades album and sound that blind-sided all of us here in North America the following year. That one was the first one to be released domestically over here and after that, we all went in a frantic search for the very expensive import copies of Overkill and Bomber (which eventually got released here anyway!!). It's really been a nice trip back in time and a bit of nostalgia for me listening to this album after so many years and this one and the re-mastered Overkill have been in constant rotation in my CD player. These re-mastered re-issues with all the bonus material are an absolute must for any Motorhead fan and for those who in the past have dismissed Bomber as a substandard Motorhead album, this release might just shake you of your misconceptions...