Sleep - Dopesmoker
Sleep – Dopesmoker CD (Southern Lord)
Some albums are absolute keystones in the development of a style or genre; they may not even be the best album by a particular artist; they just capture the zeitgeist. The legend (within stoner circles at least) of this albums recording in a haze of herb, and its subsequent rejection by the London record label, who had no idea how to market an album consisting of one song, over an hour in length, which barely picks itself up from a snail’s pace, often over shadows the actual recording itself, but on this ‘definitive’ release (for now at least – there are at least 3 other versions of this floating about on other labels), Dopesmoker finally gets the production quality it deserves. The music is an experience in itself, encompassing and enveloping the listener in thick clouds of Marijuana-smoke drenched riffs which draw you to its story of the ‘Weedian’s’ journey. You have probably never heard another album like Dopesmoker; and if you have it was probably inspired by it. The bonus live version of ‘Holy Mountain’ is almost inconsequential in the shadow of the title track. A masterpiece of Stoner rock. Ian Pickens
