Album
On Parole
On Parole is the record Motörhead made before they were really Motörhead. It was cut in 1976 by the original trio of Lemmy Kilmister on vocals and bass, Larry Wallis on guitar and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on drums, who had taken over from Lucas Fox. It was meant to be their debut, but it sat on the shelf.
United Artists finally put it out in November 1979, once Overkill and Bomber had given the band a commercial foothold. The band had not agreed to the release and kept their distance from it, having moved on to Chiswick and then Bronze. It reached No. 65 in the UK. Most of its songs were re-recorded with Fast Eddie Clarke in place of Wallis for the 1977 debut, Motörhead, so this is a chance to hear them in their first form.
On Parole: tracklist, credits and charts
9 tracks · 37:44Tracklist
- 1MotörheadLemmy Kilmister2:53
- 2On ParoleLarry Wallis5:41
- 3VibratorLarry Wallis and Derek Brown2:57
- 4Iron Horse/Born to LoseLawrence, Taylor, Brown5:21
- 5City KidsDuncan Sanderson and Larry Wallis3:46
- 6FoolsLarry Wallis and Derek Brown5:43
- 7The WatcherLemmy Kilmister4:52
- 8Leaving HereDozier, Holland, Holland2:58
- 9Lost JohnnyMick Farren and Lemmy Kilmister3:32
- Produced by
- Dave Edmunds, Fritz Fryer
- Recorded at
- Rockfield (Rockfield, Wales)
- Recorded
- Sept. 1975 (4 songs) & Dec. 1975 (5 songs) January & February 1976 (overdubs)
- Engineered by
- Dave Edmunds, Fritz Fryer
- Label
- United Artists
- Length
- 37:44
Line-up
- Lemmy Kilmister · electric bass guitar, lead vocals
- Larry Wallis · electric guitar, lead vocals
- Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor · drums (drum set)
- Lucas Fox · drums (drum set)
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1979 | 65 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2020 | 16 |
| Hungarian Albums · 2020 | 31 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
44.1
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
523
ListenBrainz listeners
63k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
6.5k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 2 November
Every year →
More from Motörhead
Full discography →
Motörhead
1977
Overkill
1979
Bomber
1979
"The Golden Years" Live EP
1980
Ace of Spades
1980
Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers
1980
Motörhead Great Pleasure 1981
Great Pleasure
1981
Stay Clean
1981
St Valentines Day Massacre
1981
No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith
1981
Motörhead The Complete Motörhead Kit 1982
The Complete Motörhead Kit
1982
Iron Fist
1982
Another Perfect Day
1983
No Remorse
1984
The Birthday Party
1985
Orgasmatron
1986
Rock ’n’ Roll
1987
Nö Sleep at All
1988
Lock Up Your Daughters
1990
1916
1991
March ör Die
1992
'92 Tour EP
1992
The Best of Motörhead
1993
Bastards
1993
The Best of Motörhead: All the Aces
1993
Sacrifice
1995
Overnight Sensation
1996
Snake Bite Love
1998
Everything Louder Than Everyone Else
1999
We Are Motörhead
2000
The Best of
2000
Over the Top: The Rarities
2000
Live at Brixton Academy
2001
25 & Alive: Boneshaker
2001
Hammered
2002
Tear Ya Down: The Rarities
2002
Extended Versions
2002
Hellraiser: Best of the Epic Years
2003
Stone Deaf Forever!
2003
Inferno
2004
Stage Fright
2005
BBC Live & In-Session
2005
Kiss of Death
2006
The Essential
2007
Better Motörhead Than Dead: Live at Hammersmith
2007
Motörizer
2008
The Wörld Is Yours
2010
The Wörld Is Ours, Vol 1: Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else
2011
The Wörld Is Ours, Vol 2: Anyplace Crazy as Anywhere Else
2012
Aftershock
2013
Bad Magic
2015
Clean Your Clock
2016
Under Cöver
2017
Enter Sandman
2023
The Manticore Tapes
2025
The best of 1979
All of 1979 →
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia 1979-11-02; musicbrainz + wikidata 1979-12-08 (36 days apart, likely another territory)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 8 December 1979 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 2 November 1979 | |
| Wikidata | 8 December 1979 | |
| UK / Europe release | 8 December 1979 | earliest UK or European date |
13 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | DE | Liberty | 5099915754219 | other |
| — | XW | Parlophone | 190295264734 | remaster |
| 8 December 1979 | GB | United Artists | original | |
| 1982 | DE | United Artists | other | |
| 1986 | US | EMI America | 077771034015 | other |
| 1988 | GB | Fame | 0077779206728 | other |
| October 1990 | GB | Fame | 0077779206728 | other |
| 1992 | US | Cleopatra | 077775766622 | other |
| 3 February 1997 | GB | EMI | 724385479427 | other |
| 1 March 2003 | XW | Parlophone | 0724385479458 | other |
| 2007 | NL | Disky | 8711539046750 | other |
| 9 October 2020 | XE | Parlophone | 0190295264659 | other |
| 17 April 2026 | XE | Parlophone | 5021732623461 | other |
Cover art sources
itunes · native: native 1772x1772
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| itunes ✓ | 1772×1772 | native: native 1772x1772 |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 598×600 | upscaled |