Motorhead: On Parole Sessions Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Motorhead: On Parole Sessions Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 5, 2026

Motörhead is another one of those bands where comparing chart action in its native country against how it fared on this side of the pond offers pretty diametrically opposed (perceived?) levels of success. In its native UK, Motörhead charted regularly literally for decads, and often quite highly, on both album and singles charts, while their presence here in the United States has been decidedly more scattered and intermittent. In terms of the band's overall discography, though, On Parole is kind of interesting one way or the other aside from any sales it accrued, as it was kind of an almost bootleg, albeit one that had the imprimatur of having been "officially" recorded. Armchair historians are encouraged to do some research in this regard, but there's a kind of cheekily humorous introduction to the release by Lemmy Kilmister included in this quasi-DigiBook:

To whom (womb?) it may concern,
What you are holding in your hot, sticky, avaricious little hands is the first evidence of anything called Motörhead. It was recorded at Rockfield, S. Wales in 1975, and is only very tenuously antying to do with the band as is. It is badly mixed, indifferently played and does not have Dr. Clarke on it. Buy it (if you are a collector, no doubt you wil) only with awareness of these facts. Most of the song were done better on the Motörhead album. However, it is part of the story. So there.

That "indifferently mixed" bit above is instantly discounted by the new Steven Wilson remixes included on the Blu-ray disc in this set, which will no doubt be the main attraction for most readers of this site. See the audio section below for more information. The track list of the album can be seen in screenshot 9.

Motorhead: On Parole Sessions Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Motörhead: The Complete On Parole Sessions does actually feature some AVC encoded 1080p video content in 1.78:1, as seen in the screenshots accompanying this review. In another aspect that is somewhat reminiscent of a recurring feature in the insert leaflets of many Quadio releases, pictures of master tape boxes are presented, many with some kind of humorous informational jottings on them. The disc boots to the main menu seen in screenshot 10.

Motorhead: On Parole Sessions Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Steven Wilson remixes feature Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 options, while the original album is presented in LPCM 2.0. The very mention of the name "Steven Wilson" is probably enough to recommend this release to many audiophiles, and there's once again Wilson's wonderful sense of attention to detail in terms of discrete channelization and placement of various instruments or sounds, starting with an eruption of motorcycle mania from the right rear channel that then slowly starts to segue around the soundstage. Both the Atmos and 5.1 mixes struck me as somewhat similar to some of the Rhino Quadio releases of harder rock material I've reviewed where riff driven material can in fact emanate from all of the surround channels simultaneously, but even given that there is still pretty impeccable prioritization so that everything from delicate rim shots to aggressive guitars can be clearly heard. The Atmos track struck me as just a bit brighter in the mid to higher ranges than the 5.1 track, but one way or the other both surround offerings present the music spaciously if kind of from a "surrounding wall of sound" perspective.

Motorhead: On Parole Sessions Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

CD 1: On Parole, 50th Anniversary Remix
Remixed by Steven Wilson, 2025

• 1. Motorhead [2:51]
• 2. On Parole [5:39]
• 3. Vibrator [2:54]
• 4. Iron Horse / Born To Lose [5:22]
• 5. City Kids [3:42]
• 6. Fools [5:37]
• 7. The Watcher [4:51]
• 8. Leaving Here [2:55]
• 9. Lost Johnny [3:33]

CD2: On Parole Sessions (Part 1)
Mixed by Richard Digby Smith, 2025

• 1. Motorhead (Instrumental Take 1) [2:50]
• 2. Studio Dialogue 1 [0:04]
• 3. City Kids (Take 1) [3:26]
• 4. City Kids (Instrumental Outtake 1) [3:14]
• 5. City Kids (Instrumental Outtake 2) [3:10]
• 6. Studio Dialogue 2 [0:11]
• 7. City Kids (Instrumental Outtake 3) [3:23]
• 8. Motorhead (Album Take - Without Bike Intro) [2:49]
• 9. Motorhead (Album Take - Backing Track) [2:48]
• 10. Motorhead (Album Take) [2:53]
• 11. Motorhead (Instrumental Take 2) [1:15]
• 12. Drum Solo [1:21]
• 13. Studio Dialogue 3 [0:18]
• 14. Fools (Take 1 - Demo Version) [4:53]
• 15. City Kids (Album Take) [3:49]
• 16. City Kids (Album Take - With Piano) [3:50]
• 17. Studio Dialogue 4 [0:11]
• 18. Motorhead (Take 5 - Backing Track) [2:43]
• 19. Motorhead (Take 5 - Without Vocal Overdubs) [2:46]
• 20. Motorhead (Take 5) [2:47]
• 21. Lost Johnny (Album Take) [3:38]
• 22. Leaving Here (Instrumental Take 1) [2:56]
• 23. Leaving Here (Album Take) [2:56]
• 24. Studio Dialogue 5 [0:10]
• 25. On Parole (Instrumental Take 1) [5:27]
• 26. On Parole (Instrumental Take 2 With False-Start) [6:16]
• 27. Iron Horse - Born To Lose (Album Take) [6:06]

CD2: On Parole Sessions (Part 2)
Mixed by Richard Digby Smith, 2025

• 1. Jam / On Parole (Instrumental Jam) [19:12]
• 2. Iron Horse - Born To Lose (Take 4 - Vocal 2) [6:14]
• 3. On Parole (Album Take - Extended Version) [6:53]
• 4. Studio Dialogue 6 [0:07]
• 5. The Watcher (Album Take) [4:50]
• 6. Vibrator (Album Take - Without Vibrator) [2:55]
• 7. Vibrator (Album Take - With Vibrator) [2:55]
• 8. Iron Horse - Born To Lose (Instrumental Jam) [5:48]
• 9. Studio Dialogue 7 [0:07]
• 10. Iron Horse Born To Lose (Instrumental) [6:40]
• 11. Studio Dialogue 8 [0:04]
• 12. Fools (Instrumental Jam) [12:23]
• 13. Fools (Album Take – Extended Version) [7:39]
• 14. Studio Dialogue 9 [0:07]
• 15. Motorhead (Instrumental Guitar Riff) [2:51]

All of the above comes housed in a really nicely designed DigiBook that measures approximately 5 1/2" wide by 8" high by 3/4" deep. Double weight "sleeves" hold two CDs in the first two pages, and the third CD and Blu-ray disc in the last two pages. The intervening actual pages are filled with some fantastically fun (and funny) writing and comments from various folks, along with credits and some other neat information like lists of gear used.

Motorhead: On Parole Sessions Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I freely admit I frankly haven't listened to that much Motörhead through the years, but this new release kind of makes me want to. Once again Steven Wilson has worked considerable magic in polishing up these older tunes which per Kilmister's self confessed verbiage above may not offer the band in "full flower", so to speak, and the two surround mixes in particular are consistently immersive. The CDs of additional material are also fascinating in their own right, and the quotes and other written material in the DigiBook are extremely entertaining. Recommended.