We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
It is viewed now as one of the better “live” recordings of all time. The English band Slade had a couple of hits in the US later in their career…( you are all familiar with the covers of Cum On Feel The Noize and Mama, We’re All Crazee Now by Quiet Riot)…but in 1972 they wanted to catch the energy of their live show on record. They recorded before an audience at a theater in Olympic Studios which allowed them to get a better engineered product than most live venues would have allowed at the time. The album was produced by former Animal Chas Chandler.
The album is a collection of back to basics rock & roll that is effective in it’s simplicity. “Keep On Rocking” is credited to the band but it doesnt get written without Little Richard and Chuck Berry. They also cover Born to Be Wild and “Hear Me Calling”, a Ten Years After rave-up.
Two highlights are also “Get Down &Get With It” and “In Like A Shot From My Gun”
The one oddity on the record is a cover of ‘Darling, Be Home Soon” a quiet little tune when the Lovin Spoonful did it…here turned into a power ballad before we had a name for such things. It includes an accidental belch from lead singer Noddy Holder which he said he had to do everytime the band did the song thereafter or the audience would be unhappy.
Holder’s raspy voice is perfect for this stuff and the band was no slouch either. Dave Hill on Lead guitar, Jim Lea on bass and Don Powell on drums bash their way through this with good-natured aplomb. Hill delivers some solid solos among the three chord slamming.
There were a number of later bands that used Slade as an example…Quiet Riot of course…but also Kiss when it came to the simplicity of the music. They even called their live record “Alive” in homage to the English lads who combined the basic licks with the glam look for alot of hits in the UK.
side one: 1. Hear Me Calling 0:00 2. In Like a Shot from My Gun 5:43 3. Darling Be Home Soon 9:16 4. Know Who You Are 14:56 side two: 1. Keep on Rocking 18:37 2. Get Down with It 25:09 3. Born to Be Wild 30:35 All rights belong to BMG Right Management (UK) Ltd and Slade. Enjoy.
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