IMPORT TEAM - SLADE

The streak of imported pop music began with the memorable visit in 1976 of ABBA to TV Studio 2. Pagart, (Polish Artistic Agency) who brought the famous Swedes at the request of TV, soon scored another bull's eye. The British group Smokie came to Poland and performed in major concert halls on the threshold of their "golden season" in Great Britain and on the charts on both sides of the ocean. Add to this if you will the sensational performance of John McLaughlin & the Mahavishnu orchestra at the Congress Hall in Warsaw and the successful visit of the American group The Ritchie Family at the Forest Opera during last year's Sopot festival, it seems that our entertainment importers are not stuck for happy ideas recently.

One of them seems to be the invitation to Poland of the British group SLADE, one of the great leading rock bands of the seventies. This band - after a period of ruthless hard rock supremacy, became overloaded with not always happy ambitions – but have now returned to carefree, spectacular, crazy goodtime rock. The music and stage ideas of the British four - Don Powell, Dave Hill, Noddy Holder and Jimmy Lea were crazy - but even the titles of their first songs: "Coz I Luv You", "Gudbuy T 'Jane", "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" caused editors of all magazines, especially foreign ones, that published charts, to respond to hundreds of protests from ‘experts’ in correct English, all accusing the editors of these columns of linguistic ignorance! "Panorama" also received abundant correspondence on this matter, which was until the creators of "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me" got bored of shocking the audience with their schoolboy spelling! However, their goal was achieved.

Slade presented "Music to Watch", during their temperamental performances, for the first time in the history of the stage the group was characterized not only by spectacular effects (costume, lighting and even post-engineering) during concerts, but even by the spelling of their records, which could do nothing but get them noticed! These advertising gimmicks of Slade's management, is quite typical of the methods used when promoting new talents, this allowed the young band to gain a strong foothold in Western show business. The group, which initially recorded for the small record label Fontana, was soon signed by the international record company Polydor. The band first crossed the English Channel and began to be successful in Western Europe, and then crossed the ocean - reaching the American charts, as well as local discos and concert halls. .

"My Friend Stan", the first hit since the band returned to its more traditional spelling, was well received both on the island and abroad (it was also very popular with Polish lovers of youth music). "Slade Alive!", "Slayed", "Sladest", "Slade in Flame", "Nobody's Fools" are LPs by the band, which proved that they are able to broaden their musicality with not only circus numbers during concerts, but also interesting sounding, attractive music.

In recent years, Slade have cemented their legendary status in the show business world as a symbol of a particular style of rock music, Slade’s current market record seemed to show a downward trend, and frankly speaking, if Slade's performances were to take place even a few months ago, our stage importers would be accused again of importing out-of-date goods. At the moment, however, the group Slade is experiencing its renaissance on the rock scene. Although Great Britain does not participate in the Argentina FIFA World Cup, the Slade song "Give Us A Goal" has become the unofficial anthem of the World Cup and today it is played in all discos, not only in Buenos Aires.

At the end of April, the band's newest album was released, entitled "Slade Alive - Part II", containing recordings made "live" during concerts on three continents. At the same time, the British group presents a dynamic performance entitled "Whatever Happened to Slade", which is a kind of a scenic retrospection of the band's career so far. And we will be able to watch all of this program at eighteen concerts that the Slade group will give in several of the largest Polish cities.

Zygmunt Kiszakiewicz ~ Panorama – weekly

Original article supplied and translated by Official Polish Slade IN England special agent Piotr Walecki, transcribed and edited by David Graham... photograph copyright Piotr Walecki