Motörhead’s commercial breakthrough, Ace of Spades, will be the subject of a massive reissue this fall with two previously unreleased live albums and a clutch of alternate versions of the album’s songs. The group is previewing the collection with a previously unheard, gritty live version of the ripping title track recorded at Belfast’s Whitla Hall in December 1981.
The box set, which comes out on October 30th, features a collection of instrumental demos, B-sides, outtakes and alternative versions. Some of the material came out on various reissues, but the live albums are previously unreleased. Those include the Whitla Hall gig and a March 1981 show recorded in Orleans. It also includes a DVD with footage of Motörhead on TV at the time, their appearances on the BBC and a 5.1 audio mix of Ace of Spades.
The deluxe box set will also include the OG album, which has been half-speed mastered from the original tapes, a 40-page book with previously unpublished interviews and photos, the Ace Up Your Sleeve tour book, a comic and a reproduction of the Dutch seven-inch for “Ace of Spades.” It also contains five poker dice, which can be used for a board game printed on the inner lid.
Motörhead will also release a hardback, two-CD set, and a triple-LP version of the reissue that features one of the concerts.
“It’s still very popular,” Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister said of the song “Ace of Spades” in a 2016 Rolling Stone interview. “When we do it onstage, everyone loves it. But when we wrote it, we were just doing an album. It’s just fucking another song. … I was surprised when the song took off. It’s no better than all the others.”
The reissue is similar to last year’s 1979 collection, which collected the trio’s Overkill and Bomber albums along with all of the attendant material from that time. “It’s not a total 360 view of the band that year … but it’s holistic enough to show how and why they became one of the most important forces in hard rock, inspiring Metallica, Ramones, Mudhoney and the black-metal group Immortal, among countless others,” Rolling Stone wrote upon its release.
Ace of Spades Box Set Tracklist:
LP One: Ace of Spades (original album)
Side One
“Ace of Spades”
“Love Me Like a Reptile”
“Shoot You in the Back”
“Live to Win”
“Fast and Loose”
“(We Are) the Road Crew”
Side Two
“Fire Fire”
“Jailbait”
“Dance”
“Bite the Bullet”
“The Chase Is Better Than the Catch”
“The Hammer”
LP Two: a Fistful of Instrumentals
Side One
“Ace of Spades” (demo)
“Hump on Your Back” (demo)
“Shoot You in the Back” (demo)
“Fast and Loose” (demo)
Side Two
“Dirty Love” (demo)
“Love Me Like a Reptile” (demo)
“Dance” (demo)
LP Three: Riders Wearing Black: Live at Whitla Hall, Belfast, December 23rd, 1981
Side One
“Ace of Spades”
“Stay Clean”
“Over the Top”
“The Hammer”
“Shoot You in the Back”
“Metropolis”
Side Two
“(We Are) the Road Crew”
“No Class”
“Bite the Bullet”
“The Chase Is Better Than the Catch”
Side Three
“Jailbait”
“Leaving Here”
“Capricorn”
“Too Late, Too Late”
Side Four
“Overkill”
“Bomber”
“Motörhead”
LP Four: Dead Man’s Hand, Live at Parc Expo, Orleans, March 5th, 1981
Side One
“Ace of Spades”
“Stay Clean”
“Over the Top”
“Metropolis”
“Shoot You in the Back”
Side Two
“The Hammer”
“Jailbait”
“Leaving Here”
“Fire Fire”
“Love Me Like a Reptile”
Side Three
“Capricorn”
“Too Late, Too Late”
“(We Are) the Road Crew”
“No Class”
Side Four
“Bite the Bullet”
“The Chase Is Better Than the Catch”
“Overkill”
“Bomber”
LP Five: the Good, the Broke & the Ugly
Side One
“Ace of Spades” (Alternative Version)
“Dirty Love”
“Love Me Like a Reptile” (Alternative Long Version)
“Shoot You in the Back” (Alternative Version)
Side Two
“Hump on Your Back”
“Fast and Loose” (Alternative Version)
“(We Are) the Road Crew” (Alternative Version)
“Fire Fire” (Alternative Version)
“Jailbait” (Alternative Version)
Side Three
“Waltz of the Vampire”
“The Hammer” (Alternative Version)
“Dirty Love” (Alternative Long Version)
“Bastard”
“Godzilla Akimbo”
Side Four
“Love Me Like a Reptile” (Alternative Version)
“Dirty Love” (Alternative Version)
“Please Don’t Touch” (Performed by Headgirl)
“Bomber” (Performed by Girlschool)
“Emergency”
DVD: Ace on Your Screens
Part 1: Motörhead on TV 1980-1981
Part 2: BBC in the City; Live in Belfast ’81
Part 3: 5.1 audio mix of Ace of Spades
