San Francisco post-punk rockers the Sleepers were a short-lived unit, breaking up and re-forming more times than they actually got around to playing gigs in their short, tumultuous existence. Though singer Ricky Williams went on to play with
Crime and guitarist Michael Belfer would shine brightly in
Tuxedomoon, the Sleepers hovered in shaky obscurity in the Bay Area between 1977 and 1981, producing only
Painless Nights as evidence of their contributions to the often foggy early days of punk rock. The album captures a more fluid, post-
Joy Division take on punk than the more metallic offerings of the band's Southern Californian contemporaries, as Williams' loose and often improvised lyrics counter tight guitar riffs and a textural backdrop from the rest of the band.