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By the time of 1987's That's What Friends Are For, Slade were not touring and close to a definitive disbandment. In a desperate move, they attempted to recruit producer Roy Thomas Baker in attempt to get recognition by "glam/hair metal" audiences and even attempted to add Hip Hop vocals on the title track (not included in the original issue), failing once more. "That's What Friends Are For" is a song with great arpeggio guitar hooks in the chorus, but the overblown production (especially vocals and drums) and the wide, off-key vocal choirs drag it down, "Still the Same" sounds like two songs mashed together, with stanzas/choruses clashing each other, is yet another rewrite of past Journey hits with slowed rhythm, and the rest suffers of similarly problematic production/songwriting issues.

Highlights: "That's What Friends Are For", "We Won't Give In".

1981's Till Deaf Do Us Part contains more theatrical post-Deep Purple organ/shrieking ("Rock and Roll Preacher (Hallelujah I'm on Fire)"), mid-tempo rocking ("Lock Up Your Daughters", amazingly ALMOST IDENTICAL to Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing"), rushing The Cars-like power-chording ("Ruby Red", one of many cuts derived from "Just What I Needed") and Pop Punk low-brow pseudo-humor ("Knuckle Sandwich Nancy"). Spectacular dynamics favored instead of more down-to-earth hooks: not the ideal.

Highlights: "Lock Up Your Daughters".

1981's We'll Bring the House Down was a minor hit record for the band, exploiting their Reading Festival exhibition and fixation with Heavy Metal, but the album itself sounds even more disappointing than past ones: a very short 30 minutes recueil of tracks already released on past albums ("Wheels Ain't Coming Down", "Hold on to Your Hats", the final three tracks) or singles ("Dizzy Mamma") because the band hadn't enough material for a full-length, the rest consists of mere three-note depressive Iron Maiden imitation (title track) and little else.

1977's Whatever Happened to Slade was released in pure Punk Rock craze, and the lone single "Gypsy Roadhog" was pulled by BBC due to drug references in the lyrics, thus confirming the band's commercial oblivion. Tracks consist of a bizarre, Hip Hop-heavy variation of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" ("Be"), progressively simplistic Slade-like rousing chants ("Gypsy Roadhog", "Dogs of Vengeance", "Dead Men Tell No Tales"), more Cream-derived Blues swing ("One Eyed Jacks With Moustaches") and, amazingly so, no ballads nor traces of "glam" Pop attire. Members were attempting to reinvent itself as "hard rock workmen", but the results sounded tad generic, save for the opener.

Highlights: "Be".

Slade were releasing singles in a hurry in 1972-73, and were designed to release even more stuff later on. However, in July 1973, drummer Don Powell suffered a terrible road accident where his girlfriend died and he suffered traumatic injury, resulting in suffering memory and mobility issues for the rest of his life. During this complicated period, Slade almost disbanded, but were convinced by their management to release a stop-gap compilation of past singles, Sladest. On a qualitative level, this is the album Slayed? never was: a true, pure collection of singles. It even includes some previous, rare material like "Wild Winds Are Blowing" and the attempt at cleaner Tyrannosaurus Rex imitation titled "Coz I Luv You". If you want to listen the band at their best and don't care about wider career retrospectives, this may be a good alternative.

Considered their finest hour, 1972's Slayed? contains much more vocal compression, less edgy, tapestry-like guitars and even louder, coarser dynamics, vocals and recording. Among complete major-key pentatonic atrocious ultra-shrieking ("The Whole World's Goin' Crazee"), three-chord ringing wonder ("How d' You Ride", "Gudbuy T'Jane") and extreme amount of background vocals ("Mama Weer All Crazee Now"), there's plenty to celebrate, if you're in the mood for aggressive partying. Problem is, three more singles were released and even charted ("Take Me Bak 'Ome", "Cum On Feel the Noize", "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me"), and NONE of them was included in the album's official edition (only on compilations and Japanese issues), and it all sounds dramatically incomplete without them.

Highlights: "How d' You Ride", "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Let the Good Times Roll / Feel So Fine".

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".

USA pianist George Winston was not only a pivotal musical act in the branding of "New Age" music, but also a key figure in understanding instrumental, non-communicative 2000's music. Died in 2023, aged 74, after dying of the fourth, non-declared cancer of which he suffered, he spent years in an alleged musical sabbatical, before submitting a demo to the owner of Windham Hill Records label: despite its alleged un-commercial nature, 1980's Autumn became a hit, enough to become Platinum disc and starting the instrumental New Age piano phenomenon, of which Winston was not the first (Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert may be a pioneer), but surely was the most noticeable name of the niche.

Despite its apparently inoffensive nature, the material (one of the few albums without any covers, only original stuff) carries a depressive, mournful and pessimistic quality in its lack of lyrics, very abstract titles revolving over visual, naturalistic elements that carry a deeper, spiritual meaning (key term: "Mono no aware") and non-fixed rhyhtms. Most of the cuts show a prevalent melodic, Pop-like direction, despite the technical, dual-hand arrangements reminiscent of certain forms of Jazz/Fusion (Vince Guaraldi and Bill Evans immediately come to mind) and a few nods to neo-Romantic counterpoint and minor-harmonic leads (most noticeably at the beginning of "Woods"). "Colors / Dance" becomes pretty recognizable, despite its long duration and free-form structure, due to the repetition of grievous, F#-minor/A-major chording and repetitive rhythmic patterns and bass shifts. Tons of The Sims 1-like moods here.

Not exactly tonal music (plenty of suspended 2/4 chord voicings, occasional highly dissonant sequences, as on "Longing / Love" or the pentatonic scale runs on "Moon") but far too peaceful and melodic to be considered contemporary-classical, this is music that defies easy categorizations, because it's a synthesis of centuries of piano study and playing, where no macro-genre truly prevails. Even its concept and alleged themes are very contradictory, exactly as the cover artwork, showing a sky apparently serene, but with dire, heavy rainstorm far in the distance. Probably not the best of its kind, but beautiful on its own, despite the somehow poor piano production.

Highlights: "Color / Dance", "Longing / Love", "Moon".

While Television gained critical acclaim and are remembered as one of the pivotal rock acts of all time, there were ex-members of the band who… got a one-hit wonder and largely retired from the public eye. Case in point, vocalist Richard Lester Meyers, who helped form Television, but left over a dispute on creative control. He then helped from the Heartbreakers with ex-New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders, and then… quit again, forming a solo project named Richard Hell and the Voidoids. As a band, they however recorded just a studio album before disbanding, reformed and disbanded twice, and then held some concerts in 1990 and 2000. As of now, Meyers rarely tours anymore, fading into obscurity even among punk circles.

Right from Blank Generation’s cover artwork, the bravado of Hell & company is perceptible. Still, as a punk album, this one is actually definitely more technical than contemporary stuff by Ramones and Sex Pistols, featuring jangling, synchronized dual guitar playing with augmented triads (“Love Comes in Spurts”), Rockabilly swing (“Liars Beware”), lengthy, nervous attempts at Funk (“Another World”) and “romantic” slow balladry akin to Mink DeVille (“Betrayal Takes Two”). Vocals are spoken-word and barking dog-like, while the choruses and vocal harmonies are more reminiscent of 60’s “beat”, especially early The Kinks. Lyrics are supposed to be “poetic”, but are either too abstract/abstruse or rhyme-based to make much of an impression.

Blank Generation has definitely shown its age, and sounded old-time music even at the time of its release, especially due to the guitar’s vintage, honky sound and the a-melodic, “look-i-am-a-jerk” vocals. Considerable a punk classic for historical reasons, not so much for its qualities or outdated sonic prowess.

Highlights: “Love Comes in Spurts”, “Betrayal Takes Two”.