The sound quality on this live album bothers me. The sticker on the album cover boasts "remastered in superlative audio" and the booklet goes on to praise the excellent recordings from the Montreux Jazz Festival and The Claude Nobs Foundation. Well, sorry to say it, but in this case it sounds like false marketing.
At first I wondered if it was only a (good) audience recording. It is not though, it is clearly a soundboard recording. The sound is however "muddy". It sounds a bit like an unstable tape recording or an attempt to save something that has been recorded too loud and still sounds a bit overloaded and distorted. Whatever the source of the problem was, it is clear to me that this is not a superior Motörhead live recording. Surely, you can listen to it and enjoy it, but just don't expect anything that comes anywhere close to the perfect 1998 live recording "Everything Louder Than Everyone Else" [1999].
"I could tell you it's a Jazz song, but it isn't, it's fucking Rock 'N' Roll. You like Rock 'N' Roll, don't ya?!"
We Play Rock 'N' Roll, and all that jazz. The Montreux Jazz Festival may sound like a pretty weird place for a Motörhead gig, but the festival is open to different genres. Anybody who loves great music played by great musicians should have been able to appreciate a quality rock band like Motörhead, and if not, then at least they got something to talk about, when their hearing had returned.
This being a recording from the Kiss of Death Tour supporting the "Kiss of Death" [2006] album, it features 2 songs from that album: "Be My Baby" and "One Night Stand". I've always liked this album a lot and it brings a lot of memories to my mind. The only other speciality here is "Rosalie", a song by Bob Seger, also previously performed by Thin Lizzy. It is a fine cover version by Motörhead and it's nice to get a recording of it here.
Lemmy's voice only lasted a few songs for this show then it began to sound rather strained. The speed of the trio (Lemmy, Phil, Mikkey) is pretty good, although at this point on the Motörhead timeline you can hear that Lemmy can't quite follow along with the vocals all the time. Some words are mumbled and a few are left out. It's not too bad yet, here it is mostly the strain of the voice that is a small problem, and Phil does a good job providing backing vocals for Lemmy.
The strained voice of Lemmy would not normally have been a problem if you'd actually attended a Motörhead live gig in the past, because you'd have been near deaf anyway after the first 2 songs, due to the insane volume. Only you wouldn't at this point on the Motörhead timeline. This was when EU had implemented an insane law that had forced the venues to restrict the volume at live gigs. It pretty much destroyed half of the fun of going to a live gig. It is clear in my old angry review from the same tour that I was NOT very happy about it. Read it here.
I've bought this new release on 2CD, and that was a fine choice. I have no plans on buying the vinyl version. Live albums are usually best played from CDs anyway, and the problematic sound quality doesn't exactly make it likely that I will be listening to this recording that many times anyway. I have so ridiculously many Motörhead live recordings in my collection already, that it takes a lot to impress me.
Rating: 
Band: Motörhead
Record Title: We Play Rock 'N' Roll (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival '07)
This Release: 2023
Record Format: CD
Record Label: BMG
TrackList:
- Snaggletooth
- Stay Clean
- Be My Baby
- Killers
- Metropolis
- Over The Top
- One Night Stand
- I Got Mine
- In The Name Of Tragedy
- Sword Of Glory
- Rosalie
- Sacrifice
- Just 'Cos You Got The Power
- Going To Brazil
- Killed By Death
- Iron Fist
- Whorehouse Blues
- Ace Of Spades
- Overkill
Content Type: Record Review
Language: 
Updated: 2023-06-17 19:13
Created: 2023-06-17 18:42
