2022 Charity Shop Purchases #53 - Slade -Slade Smashes!
After an excellent week in Salachy we took the picturesque Spean Bridge to Newtonmore road en route to Carrbridge our second week destination.
Sadly the Highland Hospice charity shop in Newtonmore has now closed. Undetered we progressed to the next town Kingussie which has an excellent Community Shop and Bookshop.
Some home baking and homemade jam was duly purchased with Mrs CC buying some poetry books. I hit the small CD and LP section where I struck lucky.
I picked up a vinyl copy of Slade Smashes a compilation of their hits released by Polydor in 1980 for a couple of quid. For its age it is in pretty good condition. The sleeve had come apart in one corner but the record was fine with a few snap, crackles and pops which you would expect for an album of that vintage.
It is the first album by Slade that I've ever had although I probably had a couple of singles back in the 70s.I saw them play at the Glasgow Apollo when they had moved on from Glam to Heavy Metal. Not sure why given it is a genre that I have no time for.
I'm glad to say that Noddy, Dave, Jim and Don are still with us even if they are all not necessarily talking to each other
The album sleeve states that a Slade revival may be just the antidote to the 80's depression. 2022 anyone?
I don't think I've ever told you this, but Jo and I saw Dave Hill in Waitrose in Wolverhampton a few years ago. He had no hat on, and he is quite short.
ReplyDeleteYou did mention it and it was included in my previous Slade post!
Deletethat was two years ago. I can't remember what I did 2 days ago!
DeleteYou can't whack a bit of Slade. Busy trying to break the US, they sort of stuffed their UK audience. I believe they would've / could've been hailed as the Godfathers of Punk. The change to Heavy stuff produced some good stuff with RCA, and when poised to crack the US market, the band started falling apart.
ReplyDeleteA phenomenal run of singles in the 70s ended when How Does It Feel (probably their best song) failed to get in Top 10.
The albums were none too shabby either (Old New Borrowed And Blue being a recommendation if you're interested).
Couldn't agree more, How Does It Feel got an airing on Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show a while back and I'd never heard it before, so when he mentioned it was Slade (Slade...!), I had some serious revision to do. What a song. What a relief it hasn't been covered by warbling wannabe's on saturday night or whimsical folkstrels for a supermarket festive advert.
DeleteI second Rigid Digit's praise of 'Old New Borrowed And Blue', their finest album I reckon. What a singles band they were though. You picked up a corker there CC.
ReplyDeleteNoddy looks almost like an ordinary bloke on that cover. Dave Hill's hair always freaked me out though.
ReplyDeleteThat bit in Reeves & Mortimer (Slade At Home) whenever they cut Dave's fringe around a saucer was based on a real event
DeleteAs someone who will remember early 70s ToTP where they were practically the house band, it's high time you got yourself a Slade album. Nice to know they are still all with us as other bands from that era have not fared so well.
ReplyDeleteNoddy and Dave - what a pair out front. Noddy looking very much like a Wolverhampton bloke in a funny hat and Dave in his outrageous clothes and comedy haircut. We miss having bands like Slade in the mainstream nowadays.
There is a picture on the back from when they were skinheads!
ReplyDeleteCoz I Luv You was my favourite of theirs but I'm old enough to know them from their Ambrose Slade skinhead days and what that meant at the time. I've always given them the benefit of the doubt and that they were just looking for an identity but.........the NF were strong back then and Wolverhampton particularly had a sizeable right wing smell about it, no doubt cultivated and inspired by Enoch Powell and others.
ReplyDelete