Sleep - Saarbrucken, Germany 1993 (video)

This video is a short one, but awesome nonetheless. It was taken during Sleep's European tour opening for Cannibal Corpse (the banner is visible in parts in the background) and is only one song, Holy Mountain.

It's obvious that they are the opening act as the only one close to the stage is a dude smoking at the end of the stage and the audience seems pretty chill, even after they finish, though they do get a sturdy round of applause.

Tons of energy from the band though and when the camera pans to Chris, he's going full out behind the kit - as are Al and Matt during the whole song. It's short but powerful and even though the audio is muddied by the approximity to the amps, its still got that 1993/1994 Sleep tone with the full-on Green Matamp thing, which is a seriously beautiful sound indeed.

Sleep practicing 'Dopesmoker' before Roadburn 2012

Very cool short video here and an undoubtedly tired and dragging Sleep. Al looks like he needs about ten Red Bulls just to get him off that chair. Still, one cool video and a neat insight into Sleep.

One of my co-workers got to go to Roadburn this year and said the Sleep show was amazing. Probably actually meant fucking unbelieveably amazing, but she's not given to hyperbole.

Doing a little sleuthing, I checked out the Sleep show schedule for this year and there was a full European Tour based around Roadburn and then four US shows - with 2 at Neumo's in Seattle, WA. Which begs the question - why two back-to-back shows in Seattle? (Even though Neumo's is a bitching club and its right next to my favorite fish and chip place, Pike Street Fish Fry) Jack Endino, producer extrodinare still records there and he's done a few HoF albums - so I am wondering - is Sleep is back in the studio?! Fucking hopefully.

Sleep - Jerusalem (1998) CD Bootleg

This is the last piece of the Sleep puzzle I needed as far as the Jerusalem/Dopesmoker releases are concerned. This is the bootleg version of the original Jerusalem mix the band released in 1998 with cover art by Arik Roper, who is credited as "Moonhawk" in the insert.

The release is identical as far as I can tell to the later Rise Above/Music Cartel Records release with "Jerusalem" broken up into 6 parts and the same truncated opening to the album on that later release.

This was bought from a small online shop and as far as I know, its pretty hard to find, but doesn't command stupid money - probably because the version is the same as the later Rise Above/Music Cartel one. It's worth it, if only for the awesome art. The Rise Above/Music Cartel version art is OK, even with the tolex of the Matamp/Green amp as the backing color/texture behind the pics.

For those of you wondering which version to get, there are four now - this, the Rise Above/Music Cartel one, the Tee Pee records remixed Dopesmoker release and now the Southern Lord version, which is sceduled to drop in about a months' time. The Tee Pee Records Dopsmoker release is really the one to get right now, but I have yet to hear the new version - which also has an extra track - a live version of "Holy Mountain".

Sleep - 1/30/1994 Live at the Limelight NY, NY

1) From Beyond
2) Dopesmoker
3) The Druid

This is one of the shows from the 1994 Hawkwind tour and a pretty good bootleg from the time. The audio is very clear and you get a good idea of what they sounded like live. The tone alone from Pike's Green's is thunderous!

'From Beyond' is slow and its like Al, Matt and Chris all just wanted to soak up that thick tone of the Matamps! It takes about 5 minutes from the start of the song to get into the lyrics, which is fine for me. If there were a perfect time to listen to this bootleg, it would be right after waking up. Starts slow and gets you nodding your head. After five minutes you chill hard and spend the next half hour drinking coffee and getting ready to chill equally hard for the rest of the day.

'Dopesmoker' is the early version heard on a few other bootlegs and its 22-minutes long and awesome here. It's still strange to me that the song went through such a transformation before they committed it to tape as this version sounds like its was almost done - if not totally there.

The show ends with a great version of 'The Druid', a version more reminicent of the Holy Mountain recording than the Vol. 2 one. It's a clear and powerful bootleg of Sleep on the fabled Hawkwind tour, a must-get for any fan of their live work.

Sleep - 10/17/1992 The Gilman St. Project - Berkley, CA

1) From Beyond
2) Evil Gypsy
3) Dragonaut
4) The Druid
5) Sonic Titan
6) The Suffering
7) Nain's Baptism

This may be the most listened to bootleg I have of Sleep. This show was recorded right before the release of Holy Mountain and has a ton of those tracks. The sound is all there - the Roland Space Echo vocal effects, the heavy Orange/Green amp sound, Al's booming voice. Almost every track is a standout, including the only recording I can find of 'Sonic Titan', the only other song on the release of Dopesmoker that Tee Pee put out - and this is the show that was recorded at.

The audio quality is pretty good and powerful and the song selection is awesome. This one is easy to find on the net to download and I highly recommend it.

It's a great show to get a feel for what Sleep was all about - powerful, drivng riffs on 'Dragonaut', loud, pounding almost slow thrash on 'Sonic Titan' and the total stoner thing on Nain's Baptism. The volume and power of 'Sonic Titan' is too good to pass up.

Sleep - 09/21/1992 The Gilman St. Project - Berkley, CA

1) The Druid
2) Nain's Arrival (Nain's Bapitism)
3) Evil Gypsy/Solomon's Theme
4) Nain's Arrival (Interlude)
5) The Suffering
6) Inside The Sun
7) The Wall Of Yawn
8) Scourge
9) Nain's Arrival (Outro)

This is definitely an older cassette bootleg and not a bad one at all. It's pretty easy to find on the internet and one of the first I probably downloaded. There is a good mix of early tracks and stuff from Holy Mountain, including 'The Druid', which leads off the set. It's a high energy show, one that gives you a good idea what these years were like for Sleep. You can hear the infectous energy in tracks like 'Inside The Sun' along with that heavy stoner vibe that set them apart.

The audio quality is suprisingly good too, with the Matt, Al and Chris all being easy to hear and distinguish. It also sounds like Matt is playing through the Laney AOR 100 he used for Holy Mountain. He's getting some squeals out of the amp that are classic Laney tones.

Sleep - Live in Chicago 9/9/2010 - Logan Square Auditorium

1) Sciences/Dopesmoker/Holy Mountain
2) Dragonaut
3) Evil Gypsy/Solomon's Theme
4)Some Grass/Aquarian
5) Nain's Baptism/The Druid
6) From Beyond
7) -encore-
8) Weedian/Cultivator/Improved Morris

I'm definitely biased because I was there, but this is an excellent show - the audio is a bit distorted, but it was unbelieveably loud there, so thats probably as good as it would get without being directly from the soundboard.

During the intro of every song, the crowd goes nuts, like a modern day Beatles-on-Ed-Sullivan, but with howling guys instead of screaming girls.

I couln't hear well for two days after the show and was just euphoric during the opening notes to Dopesmoker. Matt looked completely hammered for the entire show and Al seemed to be super chill, head down, off to the left. There wasn't many there who weren't big time fans - massive, slow headbanging, shouted lyrics, lots of yeahs and hollers from the crowd. I bought everything from the merch both, including some patches, t-shirts and poster and I will probably never forget this show.