By Jim Rowland
The latest releases in the ongoing Slade deluxe reissue series visits two pivotal years in the history of the hard rockin’ glam icons. ‘Live At The New Victoria’ sees Slade at the peak of their powers with this live recording from April 1975, just prior to their gradual decline in the second half of the 70s. ‘Till Deaf Us Do Part’ from 1981 sees the band resurrected, back on a major label and lovingly embraced by the metal hordes for what was undoubtedly their most ‘metal’ album.
‘Live At The New Victoria’ was the diamond in the treasure trove of live goodies released in the 2022 CD box set ‘All The World Is A Stage’, but here it gets a vinyl release for the very first time, on double clear and blue splatter, as well as a standalone deluxe CD issue. The April 1975 show from London’s New Victoria Theatre dates back to when the band were promoting the ‘Slade In Flame’ album and film.
This is Slade in their prime for me, with ‘In Flame’ being their best studio album as far as I’m concerned, although some may well disagree. The set is heavy on the material of that era, with the magnificently raucous ‘Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing’, ‘The Banging Man’, ‘Thanks For The Memory’, ‘OK Yesterday Was Yesterday’ and ‘Raining In My Champagne’ sitting alongside two of their finest ever singles in the shape of ‘Far Far Away’ and the sublime ‘How Does It Feel’. There’s still time for a handful of the old classics too, like ‘Everyday’, ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’ and ‘Gudbuy T’Jane’, and a choice cover of ‘Let The Good Times Roll’.
The sound quality is great and the band are in blistering form, which makes it all the more surprising that it wasn’t long after this that Slade’s gradual decline for the rest of the 1970s would begin.
It’s well documented that Slade’s last minute addition to the bill at 1980’s Reading Festival, where they went down a storm with an audience fully ensconced in the then-burgeoning NWoBHM scene, put the band firmly back on the rock’n’roll map. Following up on the well-received ‘We’ll Bring The House Down’ album, and now signed to RCA Records, 1981’s ‘Till Deaf Us Do Part’ tapped in to that metal market with the heaviest and most metal-leaning album of Slade’s career.
‘Ruby Red’ and ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’ were singles chart successes, belters ‘Rock and Roll Preacher’ and ‘A Night To Remember’ would become stage favourites during this era, as heard on the following year’s ‘Slade On Stage’ live album, and the likes of ‘Till Deaf Us Do Part’, ‘Let The Rock Roll Out Of Control’ and ‘Knuckle Sandwich Nancy’ are pure headbanging Slade nuggets. This album has been out of print on vinyl for some time, with original copies changing hands for a tidy sum, so this new black and white splatter edition is a welcome release.
The album is also released in CD media book format with b-side ‘Funk, Punk & Junk’ and a radio edit of ‘Rock and Roll Preacher’ as bonus tracks.
- ‘Live At The New Victoria’ and ‘Till Deaf Us Do Part’ are released on Friday (23 February).
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