Search - Slade :: Sladest

Stomp Your Hands And Clap Your Feet!

Chuck Potocki | Highland, Indiana | 10/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Vastly overlooked and underappreciated apart from the UK and Europe, Slade were true rock originals and very influential, most of all on the success of Quiet Riot in the early 80's. The original 1973 "Sladest" album contains the cream of the crop of the band's seminal early 70's work, but this CD differs somewhat as several songs are missing and replaced by more obscure single B-sides.



Slade prided themselves on being more or less the "buffoons" of rock, with the crazy misspellings of their song titles to their outrageously over the top stage wear. They began their career in 1970 by shaving their heads and wearing work clothes on stage, which gave them a more serious and threatening appearance; but by 1973, these were replaced with long hair, high-heeled boots and all of the glam-rock trappings of the day.



In addition to their ever-changing visual image, Slade were truly in a class all their own musically; playing loud, raucous rock songs containing catchy hooks and stomping, singalong choruses. These were further punctuated by one of the greatest, loudest and most unique voices in rock & roll, Neville "Noddy" Holder. The band was rounded out by guitarist Dave Hill, bassist and chief songwriter Jim Lea, and drummer Don Powell, who was involved in a devastating auto accident around the time of the original "Sladest" LP; as a result of the crash, Powell's girlfriend was killed and he was left with short term memory loss, having to relearn all of Slade's songs from scratch.



Every song on "Sladest" was a Top 10 hit for the band in their native UK and in Europe, and nearly half of them topped the charts at #1; but unfortunately, they made little or no impact in the U.S. at the time. Ironically, "Cum On Feel The Noize" became a #1 hit for Quiet Riot in 1983, and you can tell without a doubt that Kevin DuBrow modelled himself after Noddy Holder vocally, because they sound nearly identical. Quiet Riot also covered "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" a year later, but it flopped.



My personal favorites are the excellent "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me" (which arguably contains the best rock vocals I've ever heard), "Look Wot You Dun", "Gudbuy T'Jane" and "Coz I Love You", but the absence of the equally great songs "My Friend Stan" and "My Town" from the original LP are sorely missed here; these can only be found on the "Wall Of Hits" import CD and the out of print "The Slade Story" Vols. 1 & 2 on the presumably defunct Bear Tracks label.



A great but overlooked band of the 70's, and a great collection of unforgettable rock songs! Get Down And Get With It!"

NOT ACTIALLY A COMPILATION

Alexander | 10/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I would like to tell you a few words about the release itself but not about the music. As I understand from other reviews the US release of Sladest LP contained My Friend Stan and My Town which originally appeared on their Old, New, Borrowed and Blue LP in UK. This particular release dates way back to 1993 european release which perfectly coincides with original 1973 UK LP release of the same name. Hence no quibbles regarding why this is not filled to the grills - such was the duration of LP. For most of Slade die-hards this is an individual record and hardly a compilation. Yes it does contain some tracks from their 1970 Play It Loud album, few from 1972 Slayed ? LP but all the rest were either previously unreleased (at that time) or appeared only on singles. 8 tracks out of 14 can also be found on Wall Of Hits 1991 compilation. Sound quality is good but please bear in mind that up to present this album does not exist in digitally remastered version.

The first major flaw concerning this certain re-release on CD - it does not contain (as very often happens) the full original LP artwork. It should be a beautiful full colour fold out sleeve (which is in black & white in CD booklet), band b&w snaps are also ommited but what a pity - Polydor in their CD release omitted also an album-sized full colour 4 great photos of their faces ! All aforementioned options, i.e. really faithfully restored artwork in paper sleeve (mini LP replica series) appeared in the summer of 2005 in ... NO, not in Japan, but only in Russia, which I am from ! As well as Slayed ?, Old, Blue, Borrowed and Blue, Slade In Flame, Nobody's Fools and Whatever Happened To Slade - all in paper sleeved mini LP's with full colour photos unlike lame german CD booklets in black & white. All in all for all Slade fans (as well as 70's glam rock fans in general) this album is essential and highly recommended.

And the second flaw - unlike their UK peers Sweet, T.Rex, Bowie and others who released double CD singles A's & B's compilations with killer sound quality Slade's Polydor still (as of autumn 2005) did not release such double CD. Therefore many Slade's b-sides are still not widely known and heard because it does not exist in CD format at all. The reason is behind me - maybe the original master tapes were lost or not located. Nonetheless all their b-sides were found and issued on CD (including beautiful Why Did It To Me, Wonderin' Why and many more) in a slipcase in Russia only. I hate bootlegs but concerning Slade releases I dare to say - Kudos russian bootleggers !"

Kick Ass Rock

Kilgore | Canada | 03/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These guys were great and I love Noddy's voice. As for a best of album this is pretty darn good."