Motörhead - Beyond the Band: The Ultimate Guest & Side Project Collection

Beyond the Band follows Lemmy Kilmister well outside the Motörhead engine room, gathering the groups, guest spots and side projects that shaped the man and his legend onto one LP.

The story starts in the mid-60s with a single from the Rockin' Vickers, the beat group where a young Lemmy played guitar. From there it moves into his years in Hawkwind, the space rock outfit where he first picked up the bass and sang their biggest hit, "Silver Machine". "Lost Johnny" shows the darker, heavier instincts he brought to that band before being fired in 1975 and forming Motörhead.

A pair of early Motörhead tracks follow, including the band's self-titled anthem, before the collection turns to Lemmy's friendships. Girlschool join forces with him on "Please Don't Touch", Plasmatics singer Wendy O. Williams teams up with Motörhead for "Jailbait", and Finnish guitar hero Albert Järvinen brings him in for a 1980s collaboration.

It's a scrappy, fascinating route through the many corners of his career, and it underlines how deeply rock and roll, rather than any metal label, defined everything he did.

For Motörhead fans who want the wider family tree on vinyl, this is a fun one to dig through, with plenty of rarely heard corners along the way.