NEWS IN BRIEF

On the 18th September Slade flew out from London's Heathrow Airport to begin a months long coast to coast Tour of America .... Slade have also signed a new recording contract exclusively for the United States with Warner Brothers Records .... During the month of September Slade have been busily recording in Olympic sound studios. The ouTcome of this is an album to be released, just before Xmas .... Slade are returning from America on October 22nd. They then take a three day rest before they begin an eight Country-Eighteen City, month long tour of Europe .... Dave has just bought a dog to keep him company in his house. He has named it "Windsor"...... Nod has also been buying - a new Mercedes Sports Car in a sandy colour......... It was great to see Don at Brands Hatch - see report. He also thanks you all for the tremendous amount of Birthday cards and presents. I have not told the boys yet but Don received more cards and presents than the others put together....

Again I can supply the sheet music of Slade's next single "My Friend Stan," and once again it has a colour picture of Slade on the front cover. It's sold in the shops for 20p, but for Fan Club Members it is only 15p. Just send a 15p Postal Order or Cheque to me and I'll send it off to you as soon as possible.

 

A WORD FROM DON

Hi fans, it's nice to be talking to you again. Thanks for the super Birthday Presents, someone even sent her best wishes within a record disc.

My first official public appearance after my accident was at Brands Hatch. I must thank all those who came along to wish me luck, I was really knocked out. Officially I should have taken another couple of weeks convalescence, but the doctor reckoned I would improve quicker if I got backwith the others and start circulating again. I still use a stick to help cure a limp;the walking stick incidentally was given to me by Swin (Road Manager) after a holiday to Switzerland. Swin also sleeps in the room next to me when we are away from home so he can wake me up in the morning, because I still don't know where I am when I open my eyes.

We have just finished recording our next Album,its got alot of new things on it. Nothing very different or out of character, we've spent more time on arrangements and little ideas and effects. Incidentally a Pub Piano is played on one track by a local Landlord, Tommy Burton. He now owes us free booze for the rest of the year.

I cannot wait to see you all again, till then, my best wishes and love, DON XXXXXXXXXX.

 

SLADEST (POL YDOR 2442119)

The album was released on September 21st and is a compilation of the best of Slade, lets look at the 14 tracks in chonological order:

WILD WINDS ARE BLOWING was the first single that Slade made with their manager Chas Chandler. 'It came out just at our skinhead period', says Jimmy Lea.

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME also dates from that period, and was the theme tune from a film, 'Wild In The Streets' It was also the first song that the group played on Top of the Pops.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE started life as an instrumental called 'Genesis' which they were playing around their 'Ambrose Slade' period. Chas Chandler suggested that the boys write lyrics for it, and Don say's the words are mainly about Dave Hill.

POUK HILL is a local beauty spot just up the road from Noddy's gaff in Wolverhampton. Don't bother to look it up in the guides of beautiful Britain. Some bright photographer, they recall, had the idea of dragging the group up there to photograph them for a album cover. The difficulties arose when the snow was thick on the ground and the photographer insisted on shooting them naked for the waist up. They froze and subsequently all went down ith 'flu. You couldn't even see the bloody snow when the cover was printed they remember.

ONE WAY HOTEL is the kind of song that any band who've survived the miseries of being on the road with barely the price of a fish supper are bound to dredge out of their consciousness sooner or later. There were the four of us, plus two roadies, in one hotel room. Six beds. It was pouring with rain, and we were skint not even with the price of a pint between us so we wrote this song to pass the time.

GET DOWN AND GET WITH IT was Siades first Top 20 single and it had been thoughly market researched before it was issued. 'The first time we played this on stage the reaction was so fantastic that we knew it had to be a single. It was also the first time that we had laid down the vocals and backing at the same time to try and capture the feel. They got the feel alright and this is the song still tremendously popular on stage, which has become the groups national anthem.

COZ I LOVE YOU was that fearful animal the follow up single. 'This was the first time that we deliberately sat down to write a commercial song. We hadn't had to worry about follow ups before .... we hadn't had hit singles', Jimmy recalls 'We wrote it in about half an hour. We just got the feel right early on, we seemed to have found the right formula, simplicity, and atmosphere'. It got to No.1 after two weeks and stayed there for four weeks.

LOOK WOT YOU DUN was a song that the group had lying about for some time. Jim and Don wrote it originally, but it was felt that the chorus wasn't strong enough to do much with. So it was recast, and it went to No.2.

TAKE ME BAK 'OME was a deliberate exercise to recapture the stage act on record. The group had felt that the previous two singles were not representative of the stage act; this was.

MAMA WEER ALL CRAZEE NOW found its inspiration in the scene after a Slade concert. "We went to look at the hall after a gig. It was devasted. Everybody seemed to have gone crazy that night. They also went crazy over the single; it went to No.1.

GUDBUY TO JANE is the only song which has very personal connotations for the group. "It was during our American trip in September 1972. We were on this telly chat show in San Francisco and there was this chick who just sat there beside the compere - that's all she did, just sit there looking gorgeous. She had this pair of shoes, called them her "Forties Trip" shoes. She thought they were marvelous though you could buy them in any Oxford Street store over here. She lost them just before the show and we helped here turn the place over to find them. When the group recorded the song it hadn't been rehearsed. There was some spare time during an album session. They played it through and laid it down in half an hour. It made No.2.

LOOK AT LAST NIGHT indicates that Slade are well aware of the fickelness of fame. It's about the people - and show bussiness has more than its fair share of them - who seek out the successful but disappear into the night when the good times are over.

CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE is yet another song inspired by Siades audience. "We did this gig in Liverpool I think, where you could actully feel the noise of the audience in our bones." So could the public ... it went straight to No.1 the first time that had happened since the Beatles.

SKWEEZE ME PLEEZE ME did the same straight to the top of the charts, and was again conceived as an audience participation song.

 

While I was at Top of the Pops Dave suggested a designing competition and said, he would choose a winner when he gets back from the European Tour. All that you have to do is design a new outfit for Dave to use on stage. Send in your entries to the Fan Club putting a large 'C' in the left hand corner.

"Happy sketching".

BRANDS HATCH

On this day out at Brands Hatch, arranged by Radio Luxembourg, saw Don with the rest of the Boys. The weather was stupendous as was the crowds, about 15,000 who by the looks on their faces enjoyed every minute of the meeting.

The racing was terrific, with average speeds ranging from 90 mph for the single seater racing cars to 66 mph for the Ford Escorts of the Radio Luxembourg Trophy. For this race Slade presented the winner, Ronnie Scott, with a large Silver Cup, and then went round the track with the Winner.

After a great day, the boys left Brands Hatch in a helicopter to reach a previous engagement in time.

 

EUROPEAN DATES

For the guidance of our overseas members, here is Siades Tour of Europe

25th Oct. - Brussels, Belgium

26th " Courtrai, Belgium

27th " - Zofiengen, Switzerland

29th " - Paris, France

30th " Poitiers, France

3 st " - Bordeauz, France

5th Nov - Oslo, Norway

6th " - Bergan, Norway

8th " - Gothenburg, Sweden

9th " Copenhagen, Denmark

10th Nov - Arhus, Denmark

12th " - Frankfurt, Germany

13th " - Hamburg, Germany

14th" - Berlin, Germany

17th " - Mannheim, Germany

19th " - Vienna, Austria

20th "- Munich, Germany

 

MY FRIEND STAN JAMES LEA/NEVILLE HOLDER

My friend Stan's got a funny old man Oh yeh, yeh,

He makes him work all night Till he can't do it right

Oh yeh, oh yeh.

CHORUS

And from the way you blacked my eye I know that you're the reason why

And from the way you fixed his tie, You bin gettin to him Bin gettin to him

My friend Jack's got an ache in his back Oh yeh, oh yeh

The doc said he'd be fine If he'd just take his time

My friend Pete says his body is weak Oh yeh, oh yeh

He told me he can't sleep and his temperatures steep

Oh yeh, oh yeh.

© Copyright 1973 by BARN PUBLISHING LTD