1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 264. Slade – Slayed? (1972)

 

Here come the lads from Wolverhampton. Whenever I’ve seen or heard Noddy Holder and Dave Hill in interview they’re such affable people it's hard not to love their music. Slade kind of do one thing – good old stomping rock and roll, but they do it with great gusto. 

Listening to the track The Whole World’s Going Crazee (Slade love their alternative spellings) made me wonder at what point rock and roll lost the original sound and was expected to be much heavier. This track is pure Little Richard style rock and roll, complete with piano, but with the Seventies fuzzy guitar and heavier bass and drums, not the comparatively frail and rickety noises of the Fifties. If the electronics had been there in the Fifties, would these rock artists have gone as heavy back then? Maybe. Remember the Jerry Lee Lewis live album – his vocals in that were not a million miles from Holder’s characteristic rock scream. 

Big singles from this album are Gudbuy To Jane and Mama We’re All Crazee Now (see what I mean about the spelling?), classic Seventies rock leaning into the glam phase. But as is often the case, step away from the famous ones and there’s some great music on display, especially showcasing what guitarist Hill and bass player Jimmy Lea can do – they may not be among the pantheon of greats, but there’s more to them than simple stomping rhythms. 
Other stand-outs are a cover of Janis Joplin’s Move Over (and it’s remarkable how much Holder sounds like Joplin), and the album closer which is a mash-up of R&B classics Let The Good Times Roll and Feel So Fine, building to a thundering crescendo and a perfect rock drums finish. 

Holder and Co. are never going to be the most sophisticated rock band ever, nor do they pretend to be. They just want to make some noise (or rather, noize), which they do, in spades.