This 5 cd set is the perfect Xmas stocking filler for the rock fan in your life. This contains 3 cd's that have never been officially released before, although I'm sure hard core Slade fans will already have bootleg versions, but will want these very clean sounding live albums. As well as the bands two classic live albums Slade Alive! And Slade on Stage are Alive! At Reading in 1980 when they were last minute replacements for Ozzy Osbourne, Live At the Hucknall Miners Welfare Club in December 1980, that isn't quite the Xmas party you might expect it to be and Live At The New Victoria in April 1975 at the very start of the tour to promote the classic Rockumentary Slade In Flame.
The first cd is the classic Slade Alive! From 1972, an album that isn't laden with hits at all, this is much more the bands then current live set. That opens with Hear Me Calling that actually sounds more like Status Quo than Slade, it is a good propulsive blues rocker with some great guitar and an audience clapping along and totally up for it and with Noddy of course doing his best to get the crowd going with him.
In Like A Shot From My Gun is a great tight rocker, They then cover The Lovin' Spoonful's Darling Be Home Soon far more sensitively than might be expected, well apart from the burping that is. The harmony vocal part is an unexpected treat if you don't know this classic album back to front that is.
Know Who You Are as the classic glam stomp underneath some rather psychedelic vocals and guitars. Keep On Rocking is classic heads down non nonsense mindless boogie with Noddy giving it his all and the audience joining in every chance they get as they pay homage to Little Richard with a good chunk of Tutti Frutti.
We then get the one big hit on the album as they tear into Get Down And Get With It with everyone clapping their hands and stamping there feet this is glorious good fun, a total rave up.
The set closes with one more well-chosen cover Born To Be Wild that they storm through like the wild men of rock they really were in 1972, Dave Hills guitar is stonkingly good all the way to the feedback laden ending that sounds like they are ready to destroy the stage as they leave the audience wanting more.
The second cd is Slade On Stage from 1982 that opens like a speeding train with Rock 'N' Roll Preacher that sounds like a raging garage punk classic with Noddy screaming out the vocals and the guitars just flying at you in an amphetamine haze. As soon as things break down in the middle the band start clapping along and going mental and roaring back every line Noddy throws at them.
When I'm Dancin' I Ain't Fightin' is a proper skinhead classic that's seeking to stop them beating the crap out of everyone and just have some fun and this is just perfect to get down and bang your head too.
Tak Me Bak 'Ome is greeted as the hit it was and they stomp on through it like the well-oiled machine of a band they are. Everyday is a great sway and sing along slowie.
A huge cheer goes up when Noddy introduces Lock Up Your Daughters this has a very NWOBHM feel to it, this could almost be Whitesnake. We'll Bring The House Down opens with a Don Powell drum solo and the audience singing along, before the speed punk guitars come in and this flies along.
Noddy makes some typical laddish comments that might be considered sexist these days before they fly through A Night To Remember like going Wham bam Thank You mam would be too much trouble, this is played at 150 mph until it breaks down in the middle, morphs into a very bass heavy Spirit In The Sky with another monster drum solo like Dave and Noddy have gone off for a cup of tea, it then goes all Irish jig complete with a mad fiddler. Next is the sort of Motorhead meets AC/DC ending.
They then please the crowd with a spot on version of Gudbuy T'Jane followed by blasting through Mama Weer All Crazee now with Dave Hill and Jim Lea sounding like the New York Dolls. They end the show with a good singalong with the crowd to We'll Never Walk Alone with the rude version that cuts out before it gets very insulting apparently still to rude to include in full in 2020.
CD 3 Alive! At Reading is the recording of the bands legendary set as last-minute replacement headliners for Ozzy Osbourne in August 1980.
Opening with the roar of the huge 80000 crowd welcoming them onstage as they launch into a good tight Take Me Bak 'Ome they sound like a super heavy rock band who know how to please a huge field of rockers who are clapping along and singing along with the band before the songs over, as they break thing down and start to have fun.
Noddy asks if it's loud enough before they launch into When I'm Dancing I Ain't Fighting, this is a good speedy version with a huge audience singalong to the harmony backing vocal bits, as they make sure everyone knows this set will be a hard rocking love in, even when Dave Hills guitar goes a bit Status Quo.
They then play a new song Wheels Ain't Coming Down about a near miss, this is a story about near tragedy set in a roaring and at times a touch ragged rock song with some fearsome jet engine noises.
They then go all Jive Bunny with a medley of a furious super speedy Somethin' Else that mutates into Pistol Packin' Mama and back again before they freak out and slip all sports of metal and rock tunes in from Purple Haze to a drum solo and on to a mad violin solo as Noddy gets everyone to Keep it Rockin' through a short blast of Black Sabbath come Motorhead madness.
Noddy then gets the crowd to sing You'll Never Walk Alone and it sounds as much like a football crowd as rock crowd as they then go into Mama Weer All Crazee Now that gets blasted full pelt. The singalong with the crowd was inevitable and it sounds like everyone is joining in.
Get Down And Get With It is of course a foot stomping romp that must have had a truly immense mosh pit, such a perfect hard rock pop song, a pity the audience can't manage to clap their hands in time, but by that point in the festival they are all the worse for wear, as they all try to follow all of Noddy's instructions.
Noddy then makes the mistake of asking for any requests and the audience shout Merry Xmas Everybody, Noddy sings the first line and the audience do the rest before they launch into Cum On Feel The Noize and the place sounds like it's still going mental, a total romp to close the set.
They of course got an encore and come back out and stormed through Born To Be Wild with the total ease and power they seem to have on tap as they show just how to go and storm a festival you weren't even advertised as playing.
Disc 4 is also from 1980, but this time instead of in front of 80000 fans at Reading they are live at Hucknall Miners Welfare club for a Xmas show for a few hundred fans.
This opens fast and frantic with Dizzy Mamma that has some raging guitars with a good breakdown to allow Noddy to ask if everyone is Pissed up and ready for a good night.
Night Starvation is a song for the love starved and isn't remotely seductive, this is much more full-on bluster, wham bam thank You maam loving. Tak Me Bak 'ome is slightly faster than the Reading version and sounds a lot closer to the single version apart from the rumbling bass part in the middle after which things get looser and the band sound like there having fun with it and the first call and response sing along of the evening gets underway.
Wheels Ain't Coming Down sounds like classic Slade, but with it being the true story of a near death experience of a flight they wish they hadn't taken.
Lemme Love Into Ya is where things take a left turn with an intro that steals its ideas off of several reggae records, with some off the wall percussion noises, before the song gets going, they have reached the ballad section of the set as Noddy pleads to be allowed to give you his love. The ballads continue with Everyday that's a full-on sing and sway along builder.
Then it's back to full on Rocking on Something Else that's a bass led assault on this classic that morphs and mutates between the song, Pistol Packin' Mama and a good dose of Purple Haze and yet again the mad violin solo similar to the reading performance this is a tried and tested part of the bands set at the time, as they Keep A Rollin' full steam ahead.
As seems usual they blast through When I'm Dancin' I Ain't Fightin' a message that needed to get through to the more bone headed rock fans of the time. Before they play Gudbuy T'Jane Noddy advertises the then new Slade Smashes greatest hits album, this is a stonking run through a golden hit.
Noddy introduces early classic Get Down And Get With it as being off the new Ear bender single as he encourages everyone to join in with them, this is of course foot stomping heads down no nonsense boogie at its best and a perfect set closer.
The encores open with a sing along to You'll Never Walk Alone before they launch into Mama Weer All Crazee Now full pelt and that perfect blend of Punk, Metal and hard rock they made their own.
The second encore is the inevitable December run through Merry Xmas Everybody, they barely pause for breath before storming through I'm A Rocker that sounds like a statement of intent that should be at the start of a set rather than the end, it breaks down before they blast through born to Be wild to finish things off and leave everyone happy.
Disc 5 is Live At The New Victoria Theatre that's been home to Wicked in recent years. This was recorded in 1975 at the start of the tour to promote the Slade in Flame film.
This opens with Them Monkeys Can't Swing that retains some tape hiss and it a great garage rocker to open a set with as well as a super tasty guitar solo from Dave Hill. Noddy behaves like he's at the Wheel Tappers and Shunters club on the intro to Bangin' Man a song all about waking up with a rotten hang over and not having a clue what the woman next to you is called, this has the feel of a song written about life on the road as a rock band in the early 70's.
Gudbuy T'Jane is the first big hit of the set, the message of not giving it away so young was far more important then, when the dangers were all so prevalent than now. Before Far Far Away Noddy talks about In Flame before they play a great version of what has now become one of the bands big hits, it's also a very rare moment when they get out the acoustic guitars so everyone can sway along holding there Slade Scarves above their heads.
Thanks For The Memory (Wham Bam Thank You Mam) has a long intro to let us know it's Jimmy Lea on electric piano and that this is the original non bleeped lyrics, for this song of getting more than you bargained for on a one night stand, the piano helps to make this stand out as well as the almost whispered backing vocals as this diverges from the bands normal sound.
How Does It feel is as close to a ballad as Slade get and this has some more piano and the gentlest drumming of any Slade song you'll hear, Don Powell has never sounded so restrained.
They then up the energy back to almost normal Slade levels on Just A Little Bit that has some stellar and not too riff based guitar stuff that sounds quite new wave in places. As Noddy gets the call and response going the audience can just about be heard as this is clearly a mixing desk tape with no audience microphones set up.
Everyday slows things down again making this the least normal of the 5 cd's in the box, this has a lighters in the air guitar solo as Noddy sings with feeling about how much his love will show.
Noddy tells everyone they can stand up, but not on the seats before they play Ok Was Yesterday from In Flame that's a great slice of boogie rock. Raining In My Champagne is introduced as being the b-side to the new record, it has some cheeky lyrics, a good stomping beat, even if I can't imagine drinking champers to Slade, they are far more a real ale band surely. It also has a well strange dub breakdown into Day O.
Let the Good Times Roll ramps up the pace with a great drum and bass solo that's played super-fast before Dave Hill's guitar really goes wild. They close the show with Mama Weer All Crazee Now being the perfect sing and stomp along end to a show that would have guaranteed them an encore, even if it isn't on this cd.
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