No Sleep 'til Hammersmith

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No Sleep ’til Hammersmith
No Sleep ’til Hammersmith cover
Live album by Motörhead
Released June 27, 1981
Recorded 1980; March 28 to March 30, 1981
Genre Heavy metal, speed metal, hard rock[1]
Length 49:09
Label Bronze Records
Producer Vic Maile
Professional reviews
Motörhead chronology
Ace of Spades
(1980)		 No Sleep 'til Hammersmith
(1981)		 Iron Fist
(1982)

No Sleep ’til Hammersmith is Motörhead’s first live album. It was mostly recorded in the Spring of 1981, on the five-date Short, Sharp Pain In The Neck Tour of the UK, the title being a reference to the injury sustained by Phil Taylor when he was dropped on his head during some horseplay. The 1981 recordings were exclusively from three shows: (Leeds, March 28, 1981 and Newcastle March 29 and March 30, 1981), with "Iron Horse / Born To Lose" having been recorded live in 1980. Despite the title of the album, the famous London venue, the Hammersmith Odeon, was not played on that tour, the other shows being in West Runton (Norfolk, England) and Belfast (Northern Ireland).

Backstage at the last two shows in Leeds and Newcastle the band were presented with silver and gold albums for Ace of Spades, a silver disc for Overkill and a silver for "Please Don't Touch".[2]

The album was released after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP and built on the success of that single and the earlier LPs, debuting at Number One on the UK charts and marking the band's most successful period. Lemmy says that originally they intended it to be a double album but they only had enough material for three sides. By the time the record was released the band were on their first U.S. tour with Ozzy Osbourne.[2]

The single, "Motorhead (live)", was issued using the album's final track for the A-side, coupled with the non-album track "Over the Top" recorded on the same tour, reaching number 6 in the UK Singles Charts. This was released in a picture-sleeve and also as a picture-disc (p/d UK cat Bronze BROP 124).

The original vinyl album has a photo-montage inner-sleeve and was available in black (UK cat. Bronze BRON 535) and later 'gold' vinyl (UK cat. Bronze BRONG 535).

The band's second live album is designated the brother of No Sleep 'til Hammersmith and is called No Sleep at All.[3]

The album is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

This album was famously parodied by the Beastie Boys on the Licensed to Ill album for the track "No Sleep Till Brooklyn". Another obvious nod was by Strapping Young Lad when the band titled their live album No Sleep 'till Bedtime.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Eddie Clarke, Lemmy and Phil Taylor except where stated.

  1. "Ace of Spades" – 3:01
  2. "Stay Clean" – 2:50
  3. "Metropolis" – 3:31
  4. "The Hammer" – 3:05
  5. "Iron Horse/Born to Lose" (Taylor, Mick Brown, Guy Lawrence) – 3:58
  6. "No Class" – 2:34 (End of Side 1 of original vinyl)
  7. "Overkill" – 5:13
  8. "(We Are) the Road Crew" – 3:31
  9. "Capricorn" – 4:40
  10. "Bomber" – 3:24
  11. "Motorhead" (Lemmy) – 4:47

The tracklist of the first CD issue (Castle CLACDCD 179) matched that of the original vinyl album (above), whereas the second CD re-issue (Essential ESMCD313, 1996) added three bonus tracks and had a 'gold' picture-disc, in deference to the limited edition vinyl:

  1. "Over the Top" – 3:04
  2. "Capricorn" (Alternate Version) – 4:54
  3. "Train Kept A-Rollin'" (Tiny Bradshaw, Howard Kay, Lois Mann) – 2:44

The US version added detail to the effect that tracks were recorded 'live in the studio at about the same time as the Hammersmith shows.' Presumably this means 'at about the same time as the shows for the live album', since Hammersmith Odeon, London, was not played on that tour.

[edit] Complete Edition

A double CD "Complete Edition" (Sanctuary SMEDD 043) has been available since 2001, fully extended and remastered. This version of the album features the original tracklist plus out-takes from the same concerts.

[edit] Disc 1

  1. "Ace of Spades" – 3:01
  2. "Stay Clean" – 2:50
  3. "Metropolis" – 3:31
  4. "The Hammer" – 3:05
  5. "Iron Horse/Born to Lose" (Taylor, Brown, Lawrence) – 3:58
  6. "No Class" – 2:34
  7. "Overkill" – 5:13
  8. "(We Are) the Road Crew" – 3:31
  9. "Capricorn" – 4:40
  10. "Bomber" – 3:24
  11. "Motorhead" (Lemmy) – 4:47
  12. "Over The Top
  13. "Shoot You in the Back" - 2:43
  14. "Jailbait" - 3:34
  15. "Leaving Here" - 2:48
  16. "Fire, Fire" - 2:55
  17. "Too Late, Too Late" - 3:04
  18. "Bite the Bullet/The Chase Is Better than the Catch" - 6:38

[edit] Disc 2

  1. "Ace of Spades" - 2:47
  2. "Stay Clean" - 2:54
  3. "Metropolis" - 3:46
  4. "The Hammer" - 3:01
  5. "Capricorn" - 5:00
  6. "No Class" - 2:44
  7. "(We Are) the Road Crew" - 3:31
  8. "Bite the Bullet/The Chase Is Better than the Catch" - 6:07
  9. "Overkill" - 4:53
  10. "Bomber" - 3:26
  11. "Motorhead" (Lemmy) - 5:31

[edit] Credits

  • Produced by Vic Maile
  • Front sleeve photographs by Ian Kalinouski
  • Back sleeve photographs by Graham Mitchell and Simon Porter

[edit] References

  1. ^ allmusic ((( No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith > Overview )))
  2. ^ a b Kilmister, Ian Fraser and Garza, Janiss White Line Fever (2002) — Simon & Schuster p. 145. ISBN 0-684-85868-1.
  3. ^ Burridge, Alan Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing ISBN 0-9695736-2-6.

[edit] External links

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