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LEMMY: 49% motherf**ker. 51% son of a bitch. (DVD Review)

By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

Release Date: February 15th, 2011
Record Label: Megaforce

My rating:

There is no such thing as enough Motorhead, or enough Lemmy, and even after having already watched the movie a few weeks back, I knew that I still needed another dose of it. If you've seen the movie too, I'm sure you'd share the exact same sentiment. After January 27th, the movie wasn't running in LA theatres anymore. However, as soon as the 2-disc DVD version packed with tons of bonus material released today, I grabbed it with both hands. It's packaged beautifully, with a booklet featuring a compilation of breathtaking pictures taken during the making of this movie over the past 3 years. Looking at that, and of course the monumental track listing, I gleefully inserted Disc 1 into my player.

As soon as you insert it, the layout for the DVD menu itself, done in true Lemmy style, will make you go "fuck yeah!" For those who haven't seen the movie yet, I'd obviously suggest you to hit the Play option. For those who have, you can select from as many as 30 different chapters into which the movie has been divided, making it convenient for you to pick your favorite parts of the movie, those that you'd like to watch repaeatedly. I've already reviewed the movie itself, so I won't bore you with that again. You can read my write-up here if you like.

Moving on to the bonus material on disc 1, it gives a chance to see Motorhead in concert glory. It's a great bonus as it gives a taste of the live Motorhead experience even in a mainly documentary-based DVD. It features six selected tunes from their summer 2008 Berlin gig, along with a couple of delightful soundcheck recordings, one of which, a cover of the Doors' "Back Door Man", simply floored me. Even before you recover from what you'd have just witnessed by the end of Disc 1, there's Disc 2 to blow you away further.

Disc 2 starts off with an extended version of what I thought was the most endearing part of the movie, Lemmy with Metallica. It's just a trip watching the band rehearsing and then inviting on stage the one man, who in their own words has been the biggest inspiration behind the existence of Metallica in the first place. The live footage is shot wonderfully well, and gives you a truly awesome first row experience. In fact, it's even better than being in the first row because with Metallica's in-the-round stage set-up, all the action isn't facing you at any given time. Here the cameramen do that job for you by running around the stage. This entire footage is also available in 5.1 surround sound.

There's a plethora of bonus material that follows, starting aptly with the makers of the movie Greg Oliver and Wes Orshoski talking about the making of the movie through a montage of hilarious out takes. Lemmy always gives the most enjoyable answers in interviews, and this aspect hasn't been left untouched here either, as more than 20 minutes of Lemmy interview footage come next. Also included is a brief look into Lemmy's 50th birthday celebrations, quite some years ago now, and it will simply make you go "Wow!!" in amazement.

Then comes a section called "Sweet Side Of Lemmy", wherein people from some pretty well-known bands and some friends narrate stories about how humble and polite Lemmy has been to them. Their stories would definitely put a smile on your face, and I thought the most powerful line from this part is, "Lemmy thinks we're cool. Everyone else can piss off."

Other bonus features on the first page of the menu include Lemmy testing out his signature Marshall stack, the Motorhead road crew actually performing "We Are The Road Crew" during soundcheck, interviews with some of the craziest Motorhead fans and what Lemmy thinks about them, and snippets from the recording of the Motorizer album, basically taking you through a day in the studio with Lemmy. You will learn a crazy fact about Lemmy's way of singing in the studio, and it's hard to imagine that a guy who coolly walks on to the stage every other night and does his thing would sing that way in the studio.

Yet more material follows on the 2nd page of the menu, including featurettes on Motorhead band mates Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee, a good account of the early years of Motorhead which I was glad to see, Matt Sorum touring with Motorhead, Triple H interview out takes, and finally, the full extended version of Lemmy's conversation with Dave Grohl, some of which you would have seen in the movie. And, if all this is still not enough for you, the DVD booklet contains a link where you can go and download as many as nine more bonus clips.

The great thing about Disc 2 is that it does not revolve solely around Lemmy, and it's more about his band Motorhead rather than merely himself. If ever there was an award reserved specifically for the most comprehensive DVD of all time, this one would have been the runaway winner.

Lemmy and Motorhead are the epitomes of Cool, and there couldn't have been a better way to put the point across to audiences across the planet. Simply amazing!

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