The Manticore Tapes

The Manticore Tapes is a tape recorded in August 1976 at Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore Studio in Fulham, London. The band's own site describes it as the occasion on which Lemmy Kilmister on bass and vocals, Eddie Clarke on guitar and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on drums rehearsed and, for the first time, recorded together. The tape was lost for decades. Unearthed and restored, it was released on 27 June 2025 to mark fifty years of the band. Of its eleven tracks three are instrumentals and three are alternate takes, and the material is the early repertoire: "Motörhead", "The Watcher", "Vibrator", "Leavin' Here" and "Help Keep Us on the Road". Universal Music Japan issued the Japanese pressing as a single disc in a cardboard sleeve, catalogue number UICB-15002. The deluxe bookpack edition carries a twenty-four-page booklet whose liner notes were written by Kris Needs, a long-time collaborator of the band.