Friday, December 7, 2012

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, SLADE



Rock and roll in the 70s was a funny thing. Bands tweaked with different formats, reached success, then decided to change their ways, only to fall into oblivion. Such was the case of Slade, which first two albums contained even violin solos, and weird songs such as "Martha my Dear" and "Knocking Nails into my House".

Then they found Chas Chandler, and became a powerhouse band, very successful in 71 to 74.

The problem is that when reaching success, lots of bands tried to emulate the Beatles, which as of 1967, experimented with more elaborate and sophisticated songwriting and arrangements. It did not always work, and it did not work for Slade.

Slade in Flame might actually be Slade's best album. There is no misspelled anthems like "Cum on feel the noize" that brought the band success. I did not actually watch the film, but have two versions of the album, the American and British one.

This is a nice song from that album, including the use of a clavinet, also used in "This girl" in the same album (American version).

Then in 1977 they decided to reverse course, but in spite of recovering some of their public, by then punk rock had come, and Slades fate was sealed.

Noddy Holder definitely has one of the most peculiar voices in rock

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