Slade Re-issues Reviewed

[rockinrebel]

Slade: “Beginnings”/”Play It Loud”, “Slade Alive”, “Slayed?”, “Old New Borrowed & Blue” (Salvo)

The first four CD re-issues from Slade’s impressive back catalogue on the Salvo label feature faithful reproductions of the original album artwork, archive photographs, informative liner notes and bonus material and are excellent value for money.

Early titles “Beginnings” (released when the band were called Ambrose Slade in 1969) and the 1970 album “Play It Loud” have been issued as a two for one set, and provide an excellent showcase of the band’s pre-fame years and an sight into their early influences.

The opening instrumental “Genesis” will be familiar to most fans as it re-appeared with newly written lyrics on 1970’s “Play It Loud” album as “Know Who You Are” and was reprised on the classic “Slade Alive” set in 1972. The Steppenwolf cover “Everybody’s Next One” and “Knocking Nails Into My House” feature arrangements and a vocal delivery from Noddy that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on The Small Faces’ “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake” album, whilst the band’s own composition “Roach Daddy” borrows the riff from the Jimmy Reed blues “Baby What You Want Me To Do” to good effect.

Frank Zappa cover “Ain’t Got No Heart” has a typical sixties feel, whilst another original composition “Pity The Mother” sees the band’s own sound start to emerge, and is very similar in style to the later track “Dapple Rose” which would appear on the next album.

“Mad Dog Cole” is another great rhythm and blues workout, and the Moody Blues cover “Fly Me High” shows the band’s versatility and is very similar in arrangement to the Cream hit “I Feel Free”. The Marvin Gaye cover “If This World Were Mine” was certainly a surprise to me, but it shows that there was more to Noddy’s voice than the Little Richard influenced blues shouting that was a trademark of many of the band’s hits, and provides another insight into Slade’s early influences.

The Beatles cover “Martha My Dear” is less of a surprise, as the influence of the fab four is a more obvious reference point for the trademark Slade sound, but it’s a great cover that could have provided the band with their first hit had they chose to issue it as a single. It was performed live by the band as they made their television debut on The Alan Price Show in November of 1969, so maybe it was considered for single release at some point.

The second Steppenwolf cover “Born to Be Wild” is perhaps better known to Slade fans as one of the highlights of the “Slade Alive” set, but the studio version presented here doesn’t disappoint either. The album closes with Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes’ “Journey To The Centre Of Your Mind” which is a typical piece of ‘60’s psychedelia which, once again, shows a side of the band which fans that didn’t discover them until their seventies heyday may not familiar with.

1970’s “Play It Loud” sees the band emerge as song writers with the emphasis firmly placed on original material, and from the opening track “The Raven” their own sound clearly starts to emerge here. “See Us Here” has a Neil Young style guitar riff, but still manages to be unmistakably Slade, whilst the melancholy “Dapple Rose” is a real early classic, which once again showed hit single potential, and like later hit “Coz I Luv You” employs Jim Lea’s electric violin to good effect.

“Could I” harks back to the band’s late sixties sound, whilst the self penned “One Way Hotel” which was later reprised on the seventies compilation “Sladest” is, like “Dapple Rose”, classic early Slade. Early single “The Shape Of Things To Come” is reminiscent of the band’s Steppenwolf covers, whilst “Know Who You Are”, which was also issued as a single became a staple of their early live sets, and from the version included here it isn’t difficult to see why. “I Remember” and “Pouk Hill” (another track that was revived for “Sladest”) give further indications of why the band’s big break was by now just around the corner.

The Neil Innes cover “Angelina” works very well and is another track which showed hit potential, and the album is rounded off nicely with “Dirty Joker” and “Sweet Box”, with the latter track being the stronger of the two. If two albums on one CD isn’t enough for you, further bonus material is provided in the shape of the Slade’s excellent second single “Wild Wind’s Are Blowing”, and the 1971 breakthrough hit “Get Down And Get With It”, a song made famous by Little Richard, which saw Slade break the top twenty for the first time, and put them on the road to seventies superstardom.

Overall “Play It Loud” is a great album which really deserved to be a commercial success, and most likely would have been had the all important breakthrough hit came a little sooner than it did.

For many fans “Slade Alive” was the album that introduced them to the band upon its release in March of 1972. Recorded at The Command Theatre in London for a paltry £600, this album was issued without overdubs, and shows why and how Slade’s reputation as one o the great live bands was established. Covers of Alvin Lee’s “Hear Me Calling” and John Sebastian’s “Darling Be Home Soon” indicate that the band were now fine interpreters of other artist’s material, whilst the trio of Holder/Lea originals “In Like A Shot From My Gun”, “Know Who you Are” and “Keep On Rockin’” show the duo now firmly established as songwriters.

The set is rounded off with a rousing version of the breakthrough hit “Get Down And Get With It” and the Steppenwolf cover “Born To Be Wild”. If the crowd were not as enthusiastic as the band would have liked at the start of this set, Slade had them eating out of the palm of their hands by the time they closed it, and this recording gives a clear indication of what a great front man Noddy Holder really is. The crowd are constantly encouraged to get involved and have a good time, whilst the vocals are somewhere between Little Richard and a young Paul McCartney on “I’m Down” . Add to this the master showman Dave Hill and the musical craft of Jim Lea and Don Powell, and the band couldn’t really fail. If you’ve read any hype in the past about this being one of the greatest live albums of all time believe it, because in the case of “Slade Alive” it’s true.

Presented here as a two disc set this new version of the album serves as a complete overview of Slade’s live recordings and the first disc has the added bonus of the autumn 1976 and early 1977 recordings that were originally issued as “Slade Alive Vol. Two”. Partially recorded as the band strove to break America, on this set we hear them at the peak of their powers after a long successful run of British hit singles, some of which are included here.

On the second disc we get the “Slade On Stage” album which was recorded at Newcastle City Hall in December of 1980, following the band’s triumphant re-emergence as a major force when they stole the show as a last minute addition to Reading Festival in 1980, and showed a number of new bands that had been billed as ‘the new wave of British heavy metal’ exactly how it was done.

The Newcastle recordings show Slade moving towards the heavier sound which paved the way for their early eighties chart renaissance, with the likes of “Rock And Roll Preacher”, “When I’m Dancin’ I Ain’t Fighting”, Lock Up Your Daughters” and “We’ll Bring The House Down” complementing the old favourites. A Record Mirror review by Robin Smith at the time of this album’s original release said that “(it) makes Kiss seem like old men” and for my money it still does. The set is rounded off with a sing-along “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and you're left with the feeling that everyone in attendance was well and truly satisfied at the close of the show.

Further extras are provided with six recordings from the aforementioned Reading ‘comeback’ performance, and here we get an earlier version of “When I’m Dancin’”, and a mix old favourites including a cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else” which was performed as part of a rock ‘n’ roll medley. There’s even a cover of “Okey Cokey” which may not be cool or fashionable, but does provide another snapshot of the bands ability work a crowd, which they certainly did to good effect at Reading.


Following the success of the “Slade Alive” album, Slade issued a new studio set titled “Slayed?” in September of 1972. By now the group were household names with single releases such as “Coz I Luv You”, “Look Wot You Dun” and “Take Me Bak ‘Ome” firmly establishing them at the business end of the British pop charts. One of the band’s new trademarks had become the purposeful misspelling of their own song titles and this was also a feature of this album’s track list.

The album kicks off with two hard rockers “How D’ You Ride” and “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazee”, whilst the slower paced “Look At Last Nite” is more melodic and recalls The Beatles’ influence of the band’s earlier recordings.

Two further rockers “I Won’t Let It ‘Appen Again” and “Move Over” conjure up images of scarf clad 1970’s football hooligan’s, and they are in good company here as they are followed by the terrace stomping hit single “Gudbuy T’ Jane”. Slower paced blues shouter “Gudbuy, Gudbuy” has a vocal from Noddy reminiscent of John Lennon on The Beatles’ “Yer Blues” and is followed by the hit single which preceded the album, “Mama We'er All Crazee Now”.

“I Don’t Mind” also has a slower bluesy feel, whilst the tempo picks up with the albums closer, and the only cover on this set “Let The Good Times Roll/Feel So Fine”. This CD release also features five bonus tracks from the same period. “My Life Is Natural”, Candidate”, “Wonderin’ Y” and “Man Who Speaks Evil” give collectors a chance to get their hands on re-mastered versions of tracks that were only previously available on old vinyl singles, whilst the final track “Slade Talk To ‘Melanie’ Readers” was most likely originally issued as a flexi disc with the aforementioned magazine, and is a nice piece of audio history from the band’s heyday.

The album has since been hailed as “one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll releases” by the New Musical Express and I certainly wouldn’t argue with this assessment, as it full of guitar riffs and vocal stylings that would prove to be hugely influential , particularly on Oasis as they flew the flag for Britpop in the mid nineties

The 1974 album “Old, New, Borrowed And Blue” found Slade in something of a transitional period. After a continued run of British Chart success the band were striving to break America, and the material on this set is much more varied with one eye placed firmly on the American market.

After opening with the blues cover “Just A Little Bit”, which was also covered by the band’s manager Chas Chandler when he was a member of The Animals, the next track “When The Lights Are Out” features a fine lead vocal from Jim Lea which is complemented by harmonies from, Noddy. It’s a very catchy tune that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” album, which appears to have been a big influence on this entire set.

“My Town” is more faithful to Slade’s trademark sound, whilst “Find Yourself A Rainbow” employs the sort of traditional English vaudeville stylings that Paul McCartney was fond of. “Miles Out To Sea” continues the melodic “Rubber Soul” feel of the album, whilst like, “My Town” “We’re Really Gonna Raise The Roof” and “Do We Still Do It” show that the band could still come up with the terrace anthems when they wanted to.

The catchy “How Can It Be” has a country/folk feel which highlights the band’s versatility and progression as songwriters, whilst the hard rocking “Don’t Blame Me” which includes a partial steal from “Baby Please Don’t Go”, makes you wonder why some fans of the band could possibly have thought that were getting a little too mellow upon this album’s original release.

Two hit singles follow in the shape of “My Friend Stan” and the big ballad “Everyday” before the album closes in true Slade style with “Good Time Gals”. Once again there is bonus material on offer here, with four non album tracks being added for collectors. These include the hit single “The Bangin’ Man” and the excellent “She Did It To Me”. As with the re-issue of the “Slayed?” album there is a further track “Slade Talk To ‘19’ Readers” which one again hasn’t been heard since the original magazine disappeared from the shelves all those years ago. Overall “Old, New, Borrowed And Blue” is a good album that showcased the band having the courage to make some departures from their established sound, and it has become a little under appreciated over the years when compared to other Slade albums of this era.


In summing up these re-releases are long overdue, and it’s nice to see Slade’s musical legacy finally being treated with the respect it deserves. There should be further titles in this series, so Slade fans and fans of good music everywhere have got plenty to enjoy during the coming winter months.

[sam]

Thanks for the update rockinrebel
I'll be looking for these CD's.
And upgrading my Slade collection!!!