So does No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith today match up to its legend as being one of the top live albums of all time? Well when The Band did The Last Waltz it was their final show documented forever and the soundtrack to a wonderful movie. Nirvana had Unplugged which stripped the band from their rock setting and showed a subtler side to the grunge phenomenon. For Kiss, their double Alive! effort was make or break for the band. Rock fans at large wouldn’t take them seriously until they could prove they could do it on a stage, the spectacle of the band being a far greater draw than their underwhelming first few records. They all worked perfectly giving the audience fine albums with tracks that differed from what they already owned.
So what’s left? The Who Live At Leeds and Iron Maidens Live After Death, that’s what. Both of these are essential rock records, both documents of the bands when they were at their height, firing on all cylinders and blazing their way across continents, leaving frazzled ears and sweaty fans in their wake. These two were released for no other reason as far as I can see other than because they could be, record company contract fillers; cash-ins, whatever it doesn’t matter. When something works, it works but what about Motorhead? I was too young to be there at the time. So I can only judge from a fans point of view from today. I wasn’t caught up with the rock n roll long hairs, punkers and metalheads that were obsessing about the band to help this album go straight in the UK charts at number one.
I bought my copy of No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith from eBay back in 2008 so I have only lived with it respectively a short amount of time. The first time I heard it I wasn’t all that impressed either, I knew all the songs back to front already and the live setting didn’t really do too much to enhance the listening experience but with time I have warmed to it. The songs are played faster and I use it now as a greatest hits collection, if I want to have a quick Motorhead blast I put on side one or two it doesn’t matter, every track is a top dog and I can rest easy for the rest of the day. For example Shoot You In The Back maybe nothing more than a middle of the road rock n roll tune pumped up with the volume of 20 Marshall stacks but in this context it rips itself from the vinyl, does a pogo on the top of your head vomits on its way back to the turntable for good measure.
This record is the one in the Motorhead cannon that is the stuff of critical myth and legend. Yes it was actually recorded in Leeds and Newcastle and not at the Hammersmith Odeon like most people would presume and yes it did reach number one in the album chart in the UK at the time of its release when a number one record meant multitudes of sales but my favourite fact about this one is that “Fast” Eddie Clarke said the band hated the production so much that they sent Bronze a six-foot fax with a list of all the corrections they wanted made to it. Needless to say the record company ignored it and the record was released with Lemmy’s warts n’ all. Still, give me Alive! Anyday.
lostinrock 