05. Motorhead No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith 1981 (Bronze)
Hard Rock
Live and raw intensity to bring the roof down!
Overview
With no individual section for live albums now, they’ll now be entered into the main top 20 list and Motorhead’s first official live album
No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith is usually regarded by aficionados as one of the best live albums of its type and a live album that fits into the classic era where live albums were at their most popular. The album material is garnered from the band’s 1981 tour which was entitled ‘The Short, Sharp Pain in the Neck Tour’ after drummer Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor had been dropped on his head, by the other members of the band after a show! The most startling aspect though regarding the album material, is that all of it is taken from the band’s live Leeds and Newcastle shows and with nothing from the Hammersmith Odeon, which is hardly surprising anyway as the band never played at Hammersmith on the whole tour! I’m guessing the reference to Hammersmith in the album title was just a good marketing ploy, as it has always been one of the prestigious live venues on the London circuit. Originally the band had planned the album to be a double, but when it came to cutting the album there was apparently only enough material for about three sides, hence the issuing of the album as a normal single album back in 1981. Needless to say since then and over the years, there have been various exapanded versions of the album available which greatly increase the album’s overall length. The album peaked at number one on the UK album chart (the band’s only ever number one album) and was supported by the live single “Motorhead” which besides appearing on the album, was actually an old song written by Lemmy from his Hawkwind days and it had appeared on the both the
Motorhead and
On Parole albums.
No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith was a great marketing ploy in 1981 and was the perfect example of how to release a live album in order to maximise a band’s commercial exposure to the maximum. On the album’s release the band had on their backs acclaimed albums like
Overkill and
Bomber both 1979 and their biggest album the
Ace of Spades 1980. Along with these albums, they also had the Vic Maille initiated project with the heavy metal in-chicks of Girlschool and this consisted of the three track
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP which was released in 1981 and matched Motorhead up with their female counterparts. This EP in turn was preceeded by the
Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers EP which was released in 1980, so Motorhead saw their first official live album released at the height of the band’s popularity in the UK. At this time in the UK just about everybody knew who Motorhead were whether they liked them or not, especially the badass figure of Lemmy. The album cover left no shadow of a doubt, that the album was a live recording and it’s a recording that needs to be in most CD/record collections.
Verdict
First up
No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith must be one of the most frenzied live albums ever recorded as Lemmy and crew just seem to whizz through the eleven tracks in record time. This almighty rip-up starts with the perfect show opening of the “Ace of Spades” and basically from the word go the tempo of the album hardly changes. Songs like “The Hammer” are examples of tracks well placed to maintain this whirlwind approach throughout the album and they continually demonstrate the band’s relentless energy. The band’s rendition of previous album title tracks like “Overkill” and “Bomber” are speed monsters and they might be two of my favourites on the whole album, as is the the live single “Motorhead” which perfectly closes out this blistering 40 minute live album, which ultimately ends with an air-raid siren! The slowest track on the album is unsurprisingly “Capricorn” from the
Overkill album, which despite not being a song I liked that much does work here though, largely because it’s the only relapse we get while the storm’s blowing a gale on the rest of the album. Studio album stalwarts such as “Stay Clean” “Metropolis” “No Class” and “(We Are) the Road Crew” sound better than ever and I have to say that there are no real weak choices in the material being used for the original album of 1981. Also despite nearly all the songs coming from the band’s previous three albums, there are some tracks that don’t like “Iron Horse/Born to Lose” which was the band’s tribute to the Hells Angels and this song appeared on the
On Parole and
Motorhead albums. The album smokes and bristles and is a perfect example of a live album that still sounds as good today as it did back then, something I usually think anyway when it comes to classic live albums, especially since the 1970s were without doubt the era of the ‘live album’. No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith might be a couple of years into the 1980s, but as far as I’m concerned it stll comes under that special live era just mentioned. On the flip side, most live albums back then tended to suffer from being cut from how the band wanted and this usually meant a shorter album as well. But
No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith is one of the few albums though on its original release that probably never suffered from this trait. Overall
No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith brings the curtain down on the band’s golden era and plays like a greatest hits album, by recapping in a live setting the band’s previous three killer albums
Overkill,
Bomber and the
Ace of Spades (see reviews) These three albums had permanently cemented the the hard rocking trio in the annals of hard rock glory and
No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith belongs with that triumviate. The album has also managed to get itself into the list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Lemmy- Bass/Vocals
Fast ‘Eddie’ Clarke- Guitar
Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor- Drums
Production- Vic Maile