No Sleep til Hammersmith

[Jonners]

No secret that this is my favourite, most listened to album of all time.

Yes, I know its been patched together from various shows, and in some cases songs, and I know its far too short (the original), and I know that some people think the production lacks a little (apart from Iron Horse)

But for me it is Motorhead. Nothing else they have done, live or studio, comes close to what the band were/are about

It is brutal, but catchy and has groove

The recent re release is really interesting, with the 3 extra shows which some of you will have been at

There is a moment, in one of the shows, which sums up the band for me, when they Play The Chase is better than the catch. There is about a minute in the middle where Lemmy's bass cuts out, and its just Phil and Eddie playing. Its interesting to hear Eddie by himself, but them when the bass kicks in again you realise just what a force of nature his playing was, and what it brought to the songs

I love the artwork (front cover just says "energy" to me), I love the sleeve notes, I love everything about it.

The one thing I have never really done though, oddly, is listen to it very loud on a truly decent bit of stereo kit, but I reckon that would be fun!

In no particular order, but Ace of Spades kicks things off, and while its a song we have all heard millions of times, it always delivers. Tracks like Stay Clean and Metropolis get the treatment, where on the studio versions they plod a bit. The Hammer and No Class are literally Thrash Metal, Iron Horse is just wonderful, and Overkill on this platter is as heavy as it gets.

In fact, side 2 is (bar Capricorn) like some sort of pre cursor to Reign in Blood by Slayer, it is just brutal, 100mph, tight as a drum and HEAVY!

I love this album

The only Motorhead release that even comes close for me, and you can see it nicely on YouTube, is the Birthday Party Gig from 1985 I think at Hammersmith, with the 2 guitarists

[David L]

ZZ Top's Tush is not Thrash Metal 

Do you like 100mph by Vardis? I think that's a bit more dynamic than No Sleep. Similar vein: 3-piece metal onslaught - great live record

[Jonners]

not heard it, but i will try all good recommendations

[Slim]

I saw Vardis supporting Motorhead in 1980 with a bunch of other NWOBHM bands, at Stafford. A bit like an indoor festival, I think it was known as the 'Brain Damage Party'.

I quite liked them and I did buy their album after that, I think. But it was a bit Status-Quo-on-speed, not really my sort of thing.

[David L]

I quite liked them and I did buy their album after that, I think. But it was a bit Status-Quo-on-speed, not really my sort of thing.

But Status Quo were Status Quo on speed....weren't they? Or was it charlie? Parfitt and Rossi bragged about it enough anyway

[Thenop]

It's one of the classics to me as well. Like you I purchased the boxset, on LP. I think I bought this first in the mid 80's as part of a Mid Price series and fell in love with it immediately. It just speaks to you...or not. There's plenty of folk that 'don't get it'. The energy of the show, the excitement, the speed of playing and interestingly enough, the accuressy (sp?) is fantastic. It would never hold up if they played sloppy.

I am a huge fan of Metropolis and Capricorn, the slow burners on the album. I love the intro to the Road Crew, classic MH   

Interestingly, as much as people make reference to Motorhead as 'metal' Lemmy has always maintained he played Rock 'n' Roll.

Oh and Jonners: played loud on a more than decent system will only appreciate it more, trust on that one!

[Slim]

When I think of the live albums I loved - Live & Dangerous, All The World's A Stage, Yessongs, Alive!, Alive II, the Mahogany Rush live album and perhaps one or two others I've forgotten about - No Sleep just isn't one of them. I did buy it when it came out but I probably listened to it three or four times, if that.

I'd seen them at least five times before it came out and always had a good time so I'm not sure why it didn't click, really. Perhaps that's partly why. The Motorhead concert experience held no mystique for me because I'd done it at a little club in Middlesbrough, the Mayfair at Newcastle, Bingley Hall, and Newcastle City Hall a couple of times.

It did come out a couple of years after those other live albums I loved and it might be that my attention span wasn't up to it by 1981. I was going out with my first girlfriend by then and I didn't have that much time. If I think about it now I must admit that that practice of immersing myself in a live album pretty much ended in my 20s. It was a real escape when I was a sullen and withdrawn teenager.

[David L]

I only bought it a couple of years ago. Like Slim, I was hugely invested in a lot of those 'classic' live records he mentions. Off the top of my head I would also give a mention to On Your Feet Or On Your Knees, Some Enchanted Evening and, of course, Strangers In The Night.

I had no interest in No Sleep... when it was released, even though a lot of my mates did. You see, I was never a big fan of their studio records myself even though, through friends, I was very familiar with the self-titled, Overkill and Bomber records. Funnily enough, Ace Of Spades, which some would regard as their studio high-point, was the least familiar to me. That was probably because I had a period where I saw them live a number of times around the 'Bomber' period so probably did a bit of 'revision' on the subject to get the most from the shows.

Always good live but, I admit, I was a bit snobby about their 'meat and potatoes' approach  (the fact that every man and his dog liked them at the time would also have served as a disincentive for me....I was a bit like that,   you see  )

I think during that period they were the most popular heavy rock/metal band in the UK. They had the world in their hands at that point but I think the split confirmed that the classic line-up had exhausted its creativity

[Jonners]

I think it was from my early Record Library visits, when my brother and I were playing catch up with Rush and Led Zep, and someone said "try this!"

I was too young to have seen them back then, so this is my only "record" of it, and hence why its so special to me

I have to use my imagination when I listen to it to think what it was like, but I always think standing behind a 747 taking off would have been a similar experience

[Thenop]

When I think of the live albums I loved - Live & Dangerous, All The World's A Stage, Yessongs, Alive!, Alive II, the Mahogany Rush live album and perhaps one or two others I've forgotten about - No Sleep just isn't one of them. I did buy it when it came out but I probably listened to it three or four times, if that.

I'd seen them at least five times before it came out and always had a good time so I'm not sure why it didn't click, really. Perhaps that's partly why. The Motorhead concert experience held no mystique for me because I'd done it at a little club in Middlesbrough, the Mayfair at Newcastle, Bingley Hall, and Newcastle City Hall a couple of times.

It did come out a couple of years after those other live albums I loved and it might be that my attention span wasn't up to it by 1981. I was going out with my first girlfriend by then and I didn't have that much time. If I think about it now I must admit that that practice of immersing myself in a live album pretty much ended in my 20s. It was a real escape when I was a sullen and withdrawn teenager.

Can't help but think that by the early '80s the MWoBHM had started and even though Lemmy insists not being a part of it, he did have a profound effect on all of them. Cosidering it like that, it is really a different era than the albums you mention. I love Alive/II for obvious reasons, AtWaS (the best rush live album) but this is really a new dawn for me. As pre cursor to Live After Death, in the realm of Unleashed in the East and The Eagle has Landed but I can surely see why it failed to resonate with you.
(see how I navigated around the age thing there )