SLADE IN POLAND
Our appetite for foreign pop stars here in Poland is huge and hard to satisfy, even more so as the so-called average music lovers are not as sure of their tastes as they used to be! Music lovers are fickle and the more they see and hear "with their own eyes and ears", the more they turn their nose up and complain!
No one has ever quite managed to hit the "jackpot" of these tastes, but in recent years we can boast of performances in our country by renowned and interesting groups - from the Soviet Union, Orera, from Yugoslavia Bijelo Dugme and the Hungarians Locomotiv GT, others, starting with Procol Harem, Mud, Brotherhood of Man and Manhattan Transfer have also made inroads.
Now however we are going to have a controversial band, SLADE FROM GREAT BRITAIN tour Poland. Slade were formed in 1968 as the In-Betweens, grouping three musicians from an amateur band from Wolverhampton and the former singer of another local band, The Mavericks. The band played small venues such as youth clubs, giving their audience concerts consisting with a repertoire consisting of a mixture of reggae, Beatles and Tamla Motown covers. As the In-Betweens the band recorded an unsuccessful album, spent some time overseas, and after changing their name to Ambrose Slade and (seemingly) style and direction, they got a new record label deal and in 1969 recorded ‘Beginnings’ their first album on the Fontana label. .
The album was unsuccessful but a new spirit was found by the musicians when they met Chas Chandler - known to our music lovers as the bassist of The Animals, and later famous as the manager of Jimi Hendrix. Chandler, since his split with Hendrix, had been searching for a new project, and with Ambrose Slade he saw that he could finally realise his idea of launching a new dynamic beat group, one that he could utilise his organisational and management talent to project them onto the world stage. He shortened the name of the band to Slade and using his contacts at Polydor Records, the band were signed to the label where in 1970 they recorded their first successful long playing record "Play it loud"
In the spring of 1971 the band had their first single success with their debut hit, a cover of a Bobby Marchan and Little Richard song, “Get Down and Get with It”, a popular live song from their show replicating the live feel and excitement that the band engendered on stage. From the spring of 1971 to today, 22 singles later (almost all hits and popular), were co-written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea.
Slade became quickly recognised as THE MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT PHENOMENON OF THE 70's, Slade’s career path kind of copied The Beatles; they performed their own songs, they starred in a film about themselves (like A Hard Day's Night), the singer imitated John Lennon, all of which gave birth to Slademania. Unfortunately, The Beatles were intelligent and created Art, while Slade are musical primitives (it does not matter that it’s intentional, or conscious), screaming and rumbling. In appearance similar to the heroes of the movie "A Clockwork Orange", Slade's musicians address their songs to teenage audiences, for whom (we cite after "Melody Maker") a doll and a ball are enough for entertainment, and a substitute for adulthood - beer. That opinion of the band did not change even after the aforementioned movie "Flame", which launched the ballad "Far Far Away" and announced a new stage of the band's career. It is said that a Slade show "stays in the eyes and ears of the listeners for a long time", so let's hope that it will be something to look at and listen to ...
SLADE WILL APPEAR IN POLAND: July 24 and 25 - Sopot, 27-29 VII - Szczecin, 31 - Bydgoszcz, 2 VIII - Poznań, 3 - Łódź, 4 and 5 VIII Warsaw, from 7 to 10 - Kraków, 12 Katowice, 13 - Opole, 14 August - Wroclaw.
Band line-up: Neville "Noddy" Holder - vocals, guitar; Jim Lea - bass guitar, vocals; Don Powell - drums; Dave Hill - guitar, vocals.
Discography (longplays) "Beginnings"(1969),"Play It Loud"(1970),"Slade Alive!" “Slayed?" (1972),"Sladest" (compilation of the greatest hits 1973),"Old, New, Borrowed and Blue" (1974),"Slade in Flame" (film recordings 1975),"Nobody's Fools" (1976),"Whatever Happened to Slade" (1977). Hits: “Get Down And Get With It”, “Coz I Luv You” (1971), “Look Wot You Dun”, “Take Me Bak ‘Ome”, “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”, “Gudbuy T’ Jane” (1972), “Cum On Feel The Noize”, “Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me”, “My Friend Stan”, “Merry Christmas Everybody” (1973), “Everyday”, “The Bangin’ Man”, “Far Far Away” (1974), “How Does It Feel”, “Thanks For The Memory”, “In For A Penny” (1975), “Let’s Call It Quits”, “Nobody’s Fool”, “Gypsy Roadhog” (1976), “Raining In My Champagne”, “My Baby Left Me” (1977), “Give Us A Goal” (1978).
Slade records for the Barn division of Polydor. During the tour in Poland, the band's new single and album will be released.
Dariusz Michalski ~ SZTANDAR MŁODYCH July 1978
Translated by Piotr Walecki and transcribed and edited for Slade In England by David Graham
My thanks go to Slade In England official Polish operative Piotr Walecki who not only provided the original article and a translation but also an insight and maybe a glimpse into life and attitudes as they were then in Poland
Piotr ~ "Don't expect normal live reviews from the Polish press that time. Most of musical journalist hated Slade and were embarrassed that they came to tour Poland. I called Polish Radio one day to ask why they hadn't mentioned Slade touring Poland, it was after the Warsaw gigs. One of the best known radio guys picked up the phone and told me that Slade were shit and the only reason they were invited was they were very cheap at the time.
He went on rather disparigingly to tell me that he had no time to explain such things to somebody (me) who is at the same intellectual level as Slade! I met this guy years later while my band Sapo was touring and we played a Slade kind of music (we were called Polish Slade by some people) and he was so very kind to me and being compere at this gig said about us over the PA that Sapo is the band which show you how to play rock and roll nowadays. I was shocked and asked him about it after the show. He told me that we now live in dfferent times!