{"id":15871,"date":"2021-06-25T05:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15871"},"modified":"2021-06-24T15:07:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T15:07:47","slug":"motorhead-no-sleep-til-hammersmith-40th-anniversary-edition-sanctuary-records-bmg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15871","title":{"rendered":"Mot\u00f6rhead \u2013 ‘No Sleep \u2018Til Hammersmith (40th Anniversary Edition)’ (Sanctuary Records\/BMG)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You never forget your first encounter with Motorhead. I vividly remember mine; I was around 12 years old and I had been regularly raiding my mate\u2019s older brother\u2019s vinyl collection. I had already been turned into a metalhead after blasting his copy of UFO\u2019s classic live album ‘Strangers in the Night’<\/em> over and over and had my Dio virginity taken by Rainbow\u2019s ‘Rising’<\/em> and his pristine copy of ‘Holy Diver’<\/em>. I was flicking through to see what else would grab my attention when I came across his copy of ‘Ace of Spades’<\/em>. I assumed they must be some sort of mad Mexican bandits judging by the cover with Lemmy and the boys resplendent with bullet belts, guns, and cowboy hats in the hot desert. (I was gutted when I found out years later that the photo was taken in High Barnet, London). Anyway, I feverishly took the LP out of its sleeve and put it on my mother\u2019s crap hi-fi system. The opening bars of the title track was enough to have the speakers flapping, the neighbours complaining and this teenage scribe\u2019s metal morphosis was complete.<\/p>\n

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This time in Motorhead\u2019s history was to prove to be their most successful,\u00a0‘Ace of Spades’<\/em> reached number four on the UK album chart, and the ensuing\u00a0‘Ace Up Your Sleeve’<\/em> tour was their most lucrative to date, taking Bronze label-mates Girlschool out with them as support. This tour was documented in the loudest possible way with the release in 1981 of one of the best live albums ever recorded: ‘No Sleep \u2018Til Hammersmith’<\/em>. Confusingly, the album wasn\u2019t recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon as many people think but was made up from material recorded at the Newcastle City Hall and the Leeds Queen\u2019s Hall in 1981. The album’s title came from a mural painted on one of the band’s tour trucks. It was the band’s only number one in the UK and showcased a band at the peak of their deafening powers. The line-up of Lemmy, \u2018Fast\u2019 Eddie Clarke, and Phil \u2018Philthy Animal\u2019 Taylor is the most revered for good reason, the chemistry on stage is palpable and every track is performed as if their lives depended on it. It literally rips out of the speakers. I loved it as a spotty teenager, and I love it even more now.<\/p>\n

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