Motörhead To Release 1976 ‘Lost Album’ ‘The Manticore Tapes’ - Noise11.com
Lemmy Phil Taylor and Eddlie Clarke photo by Sheila Rock supplied by BMG

Lemmy Phil Taylor and Eddlie Clarke photo by Sheila Rock supplied by BMG

Motörhead To Release 1976 ‘Lost Album’ ‘The Manticore Tapes’

by Paul Cashmere on May 9, 2025

in News

Motörhead will release the 1976 recordings ‘The Manticore Tapes’ that were originally intended for an album at the time but then discarded.

The band was the ‘Three Amigos’ era of Motörhead, Lemmy (bass/vocals), Fast Eddie Clarke(guitar) and Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor (drums).

The recordings tool place at Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Manticore Studio in Fulham. Now after 49 years, the unreleased recordings will finally be made public.

The dogged struggles Motörhead faced in the first four of their 50 years are well documented and the almost accidental manifestation of this album – and the circumstances under which it was recorded – present a previously barely known new element in the band’s history from that time when it’s very future looked bleak had events not taken a different course.

Part of that early story involved a little-mentioned man called Frank Kennington, who roadied for The Who before moving into management and briefly taking on the struggling Motörhead. One of Kennington’s moves was booking the trio into the converted ABC cinema on Fulham Palace Road that served as prog supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s HQ – which was known as Manticore. Named after the mythical beast in Persian folklore that adorned their album sleeves, Manticore was one-stop shopping for bands, with the projection room housing offices while the seatless main auditorium provided a useful soundstage for bands to rehearse in. Motörhead were ensconced at Manticore recording their set on Ronnie Lane’s mobile studio, which was operated by Ronnie’s trusted mate Ron Faucus.

Faucus did a fine job capturing Motörhead’s blossoming raw power and high velocity onslaughts on songs that would remain in their live set until 1979. These aging tapes were brought to life with restoration duties dutifully handled by longtime Motörhead collaborator Cameron Webb at Maple Studios in California and mastered by Andrew Alekel at Bolskine House in Los Angeles. The result is a truly historical moment in the evolution of hard rock’s finest heavy icons, restoring and bringing to the public eye for the first time ever a vital part of Motörhead’s evolution and history.

TRACKLISTINGS

Deluxe Expanded Bookpack:

LP1
Intro (Instrumental)
Leavin’ Here
Vibrator
Help Keep Us on the Road
The Watcher
Motörhead

Witch Doctor (Instrumental)
Iron Horse / Born to Lose (Instrumental)
Leavin’ Here (Alternate Take)
Vibrator (Alternate Take)
The Watcher (Alternate Take)

LP2 Live: Blitzkreig on Birmingham ’77
Motörhead
Vibrator
Keep Us On The Road
The Watcher
Iron Horse
Leavin’ Here
On Parole
I’m Your Witch Doctor
Train Kept a-Rollin’
City Kids
White Line Fever

7″ Live at Barbarella’s Birmingham ’77 (previously unreleased)
Motörhead
Keep Us On The Road

LP & CD
Intro (Instrumental)
Leavin’ Here
Vibrator
Help Keep Us on the Road
The Watcher
Motörhead
Witch Doctor (Instrumental)
Iron Horse / Born to Lose (Instrumental)
Leavin’ Here (Alternate Take)
Vibrator (Alternate Take)
The Watcher (Alternate Take)

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