This purchase was a funny one. My old boss at work had strong aspirations to be a hipster and had bought a record player. He'd also discovered that the offices we had in London at the time were within a short walk of Rough Trade West. He was a fan of having regular 1-2-1's whilst walking around Oxford or getting a coffee so I jokingly suggested that we had a 1-2-1 whilst record shopping one day. The next time I was visiting the London office we decided to actually do it and walked off to Rough Trade. He found a few second hand albums downstairs that he bought, but I was struggling to find anything I was really after (except for a copy of Gold Against the Soul on vinyl, which I'd never seen in real life before. However, it was £50 and in average condition so I decided against it. I might regret that decision one day). Anyway, in a panic I found this copy of Sleep's first album in the metal section and bought that, despite it being £20. I didn't want to leave empty-handed and I was amazed that there wasn't more that I wanted or couldn't find easily in Truck.
Being a terrible person, I'd never actually been to either Rough Trades at that point. People always complained that they were over-priced (true) and they were always in bits of London that I rarely was (also true). I've since visited Rough Trade East and it's a much better shop (although still pricey). It certainly explained the shops status better than the west one did.
I remember the 1-2-1 being one of the more annoying ones I had with my boss - one where he'd criticise without much by the way of advice. Between that and paying £20 for an album I wasn't particularly after I always have negative thoughts about this record that are probably a little unfair. It's not Sleep's fault that LP prices are ridiculous these days, or that my boss was feeling critical (or that they didn't have copies of Holy Mountain or Dopesmoker in stock).
My history with Sleep has been one of low-level interest and shocking apathy. I first heard of them because they were playing ATP and, around the same time, I discovered that my housemate had a copy of Holy Mountain on vinyl. I never actually listened to it, which was a mistake. A while later I ended up seeing them at ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror festival and enjoyed them. I like a good bit of doom/stoner metal, although it's worth noting that on Volume 1 the vocals tend to be a bit heavier than I usually go for.
I feel like I've never fully got into Volume 1 - I certainly couldn't name my favourite songs from it. Maybe it's not the sort of album that has stand-out songs. There's a cool one one side B that sounds a bit more hardcore-punk influenced, but the rest is just solid sludge (in a good way). Sadly, my shocking apathy for Sleep has continued since buying this album, because I've still not got their other albums. I really should; the accolades are huge so I really should know their other material better than I do. All in good time I suppose.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 9
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Rough Trade West
When: 21/01/15
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
