Ace Of Spades [Explicit Content]

• Track Listing

Lemmy & co.’s UK breakthrough (and first U.S. release) helped usher in the eras of speed metal and thrash metal as the band entered the ’80s with the album (and song) that would define them. Fast Eddie and Philthy Animal kept the pedal to the metal on the storming title classic, which joins "Love Me Like a Reptile," "Fast and Loose," "Shoot You in the Back" and more. One of the greatest adrenaline rushes in rock—which broke down all barriers between metal, hard rock and punk—has been half-speed mastered from the original tapes for this 40th-anniversary reissue on CD or vinyl. The 2-CD (deluxe mediabook) and triple-vinyl (20-page bookpack) editions add an unreleased 1981 Belfast concert: "Ace of Spades," "Motörhead," "Bomber," "Overkill," "The Chase Is Better Than the Catch," "Bite the Bullet," "Jailbait," "Stay Clean," "No Class," "Capricorn," "The Hammer" and more. That goes down as a double live album, and so does "Live at Parc Expo, Orleans 05/03/81," a previously unreleased soundboard recording exclusive to the box here (which also contains everything in the 2-CD/3-LP editions). That Orleans concert features 18 songs, and the box also brings you a 10" EP of unreleased instrumental tracks recorded in 1980, a double album of B-sides, outtakes and rarities and a DVD comp of rare TV appearances from 1980–81, a concert from 1981 and the "Ace of Spades" album in a 5.1 audio mix. Fully justifying the box’s price are a 40-page book chronicling the making of "Ace of Spades" (with unpublished interviews, previously unseen photos and memorabilia), a reproduction Ace up Your Sleeve tour program, a reproduction Motörhead Rock Commando comic and a set of five poker dice, which you can use with the game board on the bottom of the box lid. Now THAT’S suitably royal treatment for a certified metal masterpiece! Sanctuary.