REVIEWS:

Proof that the glam kings were one of the UK’s best live acts. Cum on feel the power...

Having been one of the million-odd people that helped send their Cum On Feel The Noize single straight to Number One on its first week of release - almost unheard of back in 1973 - by nicking ten bob from my mum’s purse in order to buy it, I can surely be forgiven for suggesting that back then there were good time Top Of The Pops bands, of which Slade were the undoubted masters, and then there were ’serious’ artists like yer Purples and Sabbaths.

A pity, because as this marvellous two-CD collection of previously unreleased tracks makes plain, Slade were not only capable of producing top-drawer album material, they were easily one of the best live bands this country - or any other - has been lucky enough to call their own.

The first CD comprises 20 tracks from Slade’s pre-fame days when they relied mainly on cover versions. Not just any covers though, but tasteful - not a word usually associated with Slade but fully justified here - versions of songs by estimable artists. The best of the bunch here include impressive readings of Delaney & Bonnie (Coming Home), Moby Grape (Omaha), Janis Joplin (Move Over), Fairport Convention (It’s Alright Ma, It’s Only Witchcraft) and of course, Little Richard with the band’s apocalyptic take on  Get Down With It, recorded in session here for Stuart Henry’s 1971 show and one of the best balls-out rock tracks Led Zeppelin never recorded.

The second disc is a 12-track recording of their live 1972 show from the BBC’s Paris Theatre in London’s Lower Regent Street and includes all their hits up until then - from Coz I Luv You to Mama Weer All Crazee Now - as well as, delightfully, their instrumental cover of Gershwin’s Lady Be Good, affording Jim Lea the opportunity to whip his fiddle out, if you’ll pardon the unfortunate mental image.

Even the specially recorded radio jingles are pretty ace - from the days when Radio 1 could still be considered a place where "we’re all having fun".

An excellent 24-page booklet with notes from the band members completes this eye-opening package.

8/10

Mick Wall

Classic Rock

There seems to be no limit to the amount of musical goodies that can still be unearthed from the vaults of the BBC and the newly released ‘Slade Live At The BBC’ (Salvo) 2CD set is a good case in point. It focuses on the group’s early career, drawing on material from the years 1969 through to 1972 when Slade metamorphosed from a bunch of West Midlands’ skinheads peddling their own brand of fairly hardish rock into all-conquering, chart-topping, long-haired, garishly clothed glam rockers.

It was a fascinating transition as on CD1’s ‘live in the studio recordings’ Slade come over as a competent, hard-working, earnest rock outfit with good but none too special compositions of their own and some fairly workman-like covers of songs by the likes of Traffic, Fairport Convention and even the Beatles but on CD2, which captures Slade in concert in 1972 when they were close to their peak, motoring along at breakneck speed, their performance was rebel-rousing and driven by the pneumatic drill-like shrill vocals of the charismatic Mr. Noddy Holder. There are superb renditions of their earliest and glorious glam anthems, ‘Coz I Luv You’ and ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now, which first revealed what were to become their signature miss-spelt song titles but it is the band’s energy that really grips you and despite this concert recording now being thirty-eight years old, it stands the test of time incredibly well. Although they were not without their knockers, when you look beyond their comic outfits and concentrate just solely on the music, it is easy to see how Slade were more than a little influential on a number of later bands, most notably Oasis.

Anthony Loman, Westmoreland Gazette