Whatever Happened to Slade

Everyone knows Slade never really made it big in the United States. However, when seeking out who influenced some of my favorite bands in the 80s, Slade has been mentioned often. So I started getting the stuff from the 70s when they attempted to take America on. Sadly it didn't work out for them, but it helped make this kick ass album. As a hard rock album, it has aged well. My daughter even request songs while out driving from Whatever Happened to Slade. That shows how multiple generations have enjoyed Slade.

My son acquired the album through my account as he loves Slade and knows more about them than I do.'Be' lightning never strikes twice' , when fantasy calls', 'One-eyed Jacks with moustaches', 'Big apple blues' and dead men tell no tales' would have to be his stand-out tracks. In actual fact, I threw an impromptu 'ball' at my son to feed me this review, there fore the lack of detail.Now that I have listened to the album a number of times, I personally want to sing its praises. The album reveals more of its strengths with every listening. It never disappoints, displaying the band's enormous musical prowess. There is no disposable, insignificant track on the album. As the inner 'sleeve' notes state, this is the album Slade were bound to make - this is the sound they began with in 1970 and which, I believe, emerged clearly on the B-side of the early 'Coz I Luv You' single: 'My Life is Natural'. Even back then, the lyrics' acerbic attack on the wrongs of the world indicated that Slade had something to say.Although a lot of fun the glam singles could never equal the far more matured sound of 'Whatever Happened to Slade'. There are the hallmark ingredients like Dave's chiming, radiant guitar lines in the upper register and Noddy's frenetic, punchy but always beautifully nimble singing, but there is also more raunch and grind and dexterity and dynamics. I love 'Big Apple Blues', 'Dogs of Vengeance' and the brash, monstrous 'strut' of the intro to 'It Ain't Love But It Ain't Bad'. The album is a delectable banquet of hard rock. Get it.

Great!

Great CD ! Been looking for this for a while .

I love Slade and I love the fact that this CD was reissued with bonus tracks and at a reasonable price.

Must admit that this album delivers less kick the second time around. this album used to get my heart pumping when I first listened to it, but it no longer has that same drive and energy that were Slades' trademark. Still got a buzz out of Gypsy Roadhog though!!!

Shatner.

GOOD

Been a Slade fan from the Beginnings days and this was an old album I bought on vinyl years ago and now the extra tracks ... Brill, amazing, jaw dropping, a must for the Slade fans

A great rock album that would've been hailed as such had it been recorded by so called bigger bands. Missed a trick not titling it Rock Street as per the street sign on the cover. I played this to dea(f)th when it was released in 1977 and was stunned by the opening two tracks, namely 'Be' and 'Lightnin' Never Strikes Twice', the latter being the album's stand out track for me. Another highlight is 'It Ain't Love But it Ain't Bad'. In my opinion they should've included the heaviest tracks on the "We'll Bring the House Down" album, which mined Return to Base instead, and I think this would have increased their new metal fan base following Reading 1980. If you're a Slade fan you'll no doubt have this in your collection - if you've never got much beyond the hits but like great rock music, there's a treat in store for you here.

Slade at their best

Very interesting album. Don't buy it thinking it is like their previous albums with pop/rock hits. This is a hard hitting back to roots album I was very pleasantly surprised

Great album, quite heavy, not the commercial Slade stuff.