Nö Sleep at All

Background

Motörhead and their record label GWR disagreed over the choice of a single from the album; the band wanted to release "Traitor," which had appeared on their most recent LP Rock 'n' Roll, while the label argued for the Motörhead classic "Ace of Spades". This led to a lawsuit and a parting of the ways. In the book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead, author Joel McIver sums up the band's perilous situation:

"..For much of 1988 and 1989, the road continued to be Motörhead's home, simply because they had no other option. Although headbangers continued to flock to their shows and the band played with as much venom as ever, it was clear in retrospect that the record industry and Motörhead were never likely to see eye to eye. The last few years had been plagued with logistical difficulties, with the last remaining refuge the tour bus.."

Guitarist Würzel is quoted in the insert of the re-mastered CD release, saying;

"..A lot of fans were saying that they want to hear this line-up on a live album. EVERYBODY seems to record at the Hammersmith Odeon don't they? Or the Fillmore East when that was going, or the Budokan and all those flash places. So we thought we'd do it in Finland.."

To promote the album, the band engaged in a tour of North America, opening for Slayer. Lemmy admits that the album was a mistake and failed sales-wise, but considers it to be "all right" and believes it was the mix that let them down, explaining:

"..We had Guy Bidmead mix it because we wanted to give him another try, mainly because he had been Vic Maile's boy and Vic was a great live mixer. After that, I think we finally figured out that Guy just wasn't Vic Maile. Don't get me wrong, though.....after all I've said about Guy, it was only 'cause he was taking orders from us. He was too nice! Vic knew when to tell us to shut the fuck up!.."

Release

EMI Greece pressed a 7" vinyl called "Live in Athens", featuring "Acropolis (Metropolis)" on the A-side and "Orgasmatron" on the B-side; it was shrinkwrapped to the first 1,000 copies of the album. The songs had been taped for the Greek Antenna Metal Show, for which Lemmy retitled "Metropolis" to suit the occasion.

Track listing

The original GWR pressing of the album on LP had the correct and full set list from the concert, released as GWR GWCD 31, which the cassette and CD version were the same. The second CD release, on Castle Records as CLACD 285, omitted track 2 "Metropolis" and track 4 "Stay Clean" for unknown reasons.

The 2001 reissue on Sanctuary Records (released under Essential Records in some territories) put these songs back, but as bonus tracks at the end of the album, instead of their correct set list order.

There is also an Enigma Records version of the GWR release, printed the same as the Castle release with the omitted tracks, but actually has the correct set list of all 12 songs, with correct CD player track selections available. This version also has the lyrics to all but the omitted Castle version in the liner notes, as per the original GWR release.

Whether this was due to lapses in quality control in certain territories, or because of the ensuing legal issues going on with GWR at the time, or because the record companies intentionally altered it to anger the band, remains unknown to date. With the passing of Lemmy, Würzel and Philthy it will probably never become clear as how this happened.All tracks written by Kilmister, Burston, Campbell, Taylor except where noted.

Personnel

Production