Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody - Party Hits
Slade: Merry Xmas Everybody - Party Hits
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Wednesday, 25, Nov 2009 08:41
Universal Music TV, out November 23rd.
What's it all about?
British good time rock 'n' roll legends Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jimmy Lea and Don Powell, known collectively as Slade return for the party season and unleash 20 stomping classics and covers on one compilation.
Who's it by
Fusing outrageous glam rock outfits to spot-on rock 'n' roll with a massive dose of fun resulted in Slade ruling the British charts in the early 70s.
In fact, between 1971 and 1974 the four lads from the Midlands notched up six number ones, 11 top five singles and six smash hit albums.
Originally called the In-Betweens in the mid-60s, then Ambrosia Slade, the band later crossed paths with Chas Chandler, the man who discovered Jimi Hendrix.
It was Chandler who suggested the band's name change to Slade and from then on the world was their oyster.
The Party Hits compilation features all the greatest Slade tracks including Merry Xmas Everybody, Cum On Feel The Noize and Mama Weer All Crazee Now alongside cover versions and reworkings.
As an example...
"I don't know an' I don't know why/Any more/Oh no/Cum On Feel The Noize." - Cum On Feel The Noize
What the others say
"What we've got here is a bit of a curate's egg featuring the best of Slade interspersed with a collection of Christmas classics and party favourites such as the Okey Cokey and Let's Dance. If you can't afford to hire a celebrity DJ like Diddy David Hamilton or Pete Murray for your festive family frolics then this CD is the perfect substitute, just fire up the radiogram and watch grannie go as she remembers the dance to Gudbuy T' Jane." - The Music Fix.co.uk
"SOUNDS LIKE: your uncle's drunk on brandy, your aunt's dancing on the table, and your dad's fallen asleep, whilst you're left to entertain the cousins and wash up. Typical Christmas fare, which even includes Okey Cokey, is forgiven at this time of year, but any other time, Noddy, and you'd be hung, drawn and quartered. YO'LL LIKE THIS IF YOU LIKE: waking everyone up at 6am on Christmas Day, dancing round the Christmas tree and dishing out the presents. For all those who don't fall down giddy at the thought of the Queen's Speech, reindeer and fake snow, you'll be reaching for the Off switch by track six." - Red Hot Velvet.co.uk
So is it any good?
You know it is! Slade can be filed under supreme guilty pleasure, or novelty guff depending on your tastes, but with this party hits collection ther''s a searing energy that only a band that has grafted for years and really honed their sound can deliver.
And Slade deliver in spades - from the blinding less glam rock and more proto punk oomph of Cum On Feel The Noize, which Johhny Rotten probably used to bop around to in his north London abode in the grim days of recession and strike-hit Britain in the early 70s - to the raucous end-of-the-pier rock of Skweeze Me Please Me.
Both these devastating sticks of sonic dynamite are on this hit-packed CD, which while making any party go with a bang, let's you hear how energetic and in sync frontman Noddy Holder is with his cohorts guitarist Dave Hill, bassist Jimmy Lea and Don Powell on drums.
Slade may be mocked and thought of the ultimate piece of retro Christmas Top Of The Pops footage, kicking up fake snow under flaring studio lights, but just listen to the scorching guitars and vocals on Let's Have A Party and the sheer vastness of Hey Ho Wish You Well, both from the band's curious 1985 resurgence, and get a new appreciation and a big smile on your face for gloriously well-drilled and slightly eccentric British good time rock.
But this collection also lets you get all festive with Merry Xmas Everybody, a track that was created in the mire of 1973's economic crisis and against a backdrop of a fragmenting society riven by strikes and chaos.
There's an undying optimism to that song that is oft regarded as an old chestnut and it's this upbeat nature drives Slade's music.
Fast forward to their 1985 cover of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. It may be slicker than Merry Xmas Everybody and very 80s in its production but there's still that big-hearted Slade chutzpah bubbling in, under and around the track. Like being happily drunk!
Party Hits also boasts Coz I Love You, the band's breakthrough hit and first number one, from 1971. This is the song that sees the beginning of the Slade sound, one which went stratospheric as the decade progressed in the shape of Gudbuy T' Jane, Cum On Feel The Noize and Skweeze Me Pleeze Me .
With this compilation there's all the excitement of Slademania from the 70s through to the brilliant confidence of their 1985 'comeback', guaranteed to kick the credit crunch into touch for the festive season.
Just one small gripe, however, there's no sign of the criminally neglected Radio Wall Of Sound from 1991. Cum on, sort it out, Noddy!
10/10
Lee Davis