Simone Appolloni's Album Reviews
One of the most notorious acts of the 70's "glam rock" scene were UK's Slade: possibly even more influential than Tyrannosaurus Rex, especially for 80's acts like Guns 'n' Roses and Mötley Crüe. The band exists as "Slade II", where guitarist Dave David John Hill is the only original member left: the others either retired (vocalist/guitarist Neville John "Noddy" Holder, bassist/violinist James Whild Lea) or were kicked out due to longtime health problems (drummer Donald George Powell). Members of the band started forming musical projects around 1964-65, and spent years playing live together around Wolverhampton. By the time of their 1970 album, Play It Loud, they had already released a debut album, 1969's Beginnings, but due to being released as "Ambrose Slade", it's considered less official. Also, despite being categorized as "glam rock", Slade were far more appreciated by the low-class audience and the football hooliganism culture, because of various factors (the band's "skinhead" phase in 1969-1970, when they had their hair very short, Nodden's vocals and lyrics written in youthful slang English).
Far less noisy than later releases, this album contains quieter arrangements and recording with different influences to sign out. "Raven", for example, features staccato bass/guitar A notes derived from early Deep Purple and rhyhthms akin to later Iron Maiden, but never truly explodes. "See Us There" has slower rhythms reminiscent of contemporary Black Sabbath, and is where the band shows louder dynamics and vocals. "Dapple Rose" sounds like a pure re-write of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", having the same exact bass lines and almost identical chords in the stanzas, but the chorus is drastically more oriented on rural British Folk. Ohter cuts consist of covers (Bread's "Could I", Max Frost and the Troopers's "Shape of Things to Come", Neil Innes' "Angelina"), a re-arrangement of "Genesis" from their debut ("Know Who You Are") and some more nostalgic balladry ("Pouk Hill").
While the music is as simplistic and low-class like other "glam" acts, Slade featured more prominent guitars with bits of increased distortion (the band proved influent also in Punk Rock and Heavy Metal circles), and Nodden's vocals, totally fixated on throat-shredding old-hag screaming, are far from a pleasurable listen (not everyone can be Robert Plant, we guess). Though the album contains no true hits, it helped Slade cement their fanbase and, retrospectively, has a bit of a charm on its own. Just don't expect anything special.
Highlights: "Know Who You Are", "Pouk Hill".
Far less noisy than later releases, this album contains quieter arrangements and recording with different influences to sign out. "Raven", for example, features staccato bass/guitar A notes derived from early Deep Purple and rhyhthms akin to later Iron Maiden, but never truly explodes. "See Us There" has slower rhythms reminiscent of contemporary Black Sabbath, and is where the band shows louder dynamics and vocals. "Dapple Rose" sounds like a pure re-write of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", having the same exact bass lines and almost identical chords in the stanzas, but the chorus is drastically more oriented on rural British Folk. Ohter cuts consist of covers (Bread's "Could I", Max Frost and the Troopers's "Shape of Things to Come", Neil Innes' "Angelina"), a re-arrangement of "Genesis" from their debut ("Know Who You Are") and some more nostalgic balladry ("Pouk Hill").
While the music is as simplistic and low-class like other "glam" acts, Slade featured more prominent guitars with bits of increased distortion (the band proved influent also in Punk Rock and Heavy Metal circles), and Nodden's vocals, totally fixated on throat-shredding old-hag screaming, are far from a pleasurable listen (not everyone can be Robert Plant, we guess). Though the album contains no true hits, it helped Slade cement their fanbase and, retrospectively, has a bit of a charm on its own. Just don't expect anything special.
Highlights: "Know Who You Are", "Pouk Hill".
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