Slade - We'll Bring the House Down
#95
By Tom Mott
Slade
We'll Bring the House Down
Genre: shout-along beer-chooglin' rock
Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Tom’s Rating: 4.1 out of 5
Allen’s Highlights add:
Wheels Ain’t Coming’ Down
Highlights:
We'll Bring the House Down
When I'm Dancin' I Ain't Fightin'
Dizzy Mamma
My Baby's Got It
9 to 5
Slade is one of those bands who get named-checked on the Listening Post--along with Suzi Quatro, Scott Walker, Gary Numan, the Rezillos--underdogs some of us keep rooting for, even if we admit over a few drinks we don't always have them on heavy rotation.
So let's cut to the chase: This is a solid rockin' album. Fun songs with shout-along choruses. You'll be spilling your beer and rooting for them all the way through, especially after knowing the backstory to this particular album. But is there anything on the level of past heights like Mama Weer All Crazee Now, or their future hit Run Runaway? Almost, but naah. Or maybe yes, but just barely. The stompers stomp, the rockers rock, the shouters shout ... they do what they do so well, but nothing surprises and we're missing that extra crunch that AC/DC brings to the party.
Mostly. That's the first impression. Second time through, the rating goes up slightly, especially with Dizzy Mamma, which is a head-shaking boogie reminiscent of ZZ Top's Tush.
I'm guessing a lot of us had a similar trajectory with Slade: Quiet Riot hit huge in the early 80s and then we all learned their two biggest hits were covers of some band we had never heard of called Slade. And then Slade had the big MTV hit with Run Run Away, and we were in awe of the giant guy swinging the log, and how un-photogenic the band was. But wow what a fucking great song! Electric guitars that sound like bagpipes appear to do some voodoo on our brains. (Ref: Big Country, AC/DC)
Anyways ... after the early-mid-80s, some of us music nerds moved on, while others of us music nerds found Slade's old records while crate-digging at Rhino and Record Surplus. Our relationships vary. I personally put Slade third on my list of pub-rockin' bubblegum glamsters: behind The Sweet and Suzi, but ahead of Mud. The Status Quo spring to mind as a similar beloved-in-the-UK hard rockin' beer chugglin' act. And yes, I keep saying The Sweet instead of Sweet mostly to make Allen squirm.
The Sweet and Quatro had Chinn-Chapman in their corners, but Slade wrote their own songs, even if they did have Chas Chandler helping steer the course. Respect!
One thing that's endearing about Slade is that they wear their rock'n'roll influences on their sleeves: Night Starvation sounds like a Help-era Beatles song turned up to eleven. I'm a Rocker apes Chuck Berry. My Baby's Got It conjures up a metallic version of Sun-era Elvis. 9 to 5 sounds like amped-up Buddy Holly or Dave Clark Five or maybe Dave Edmunds -- fun, boppy, and hooky. Okey Cokey is a coked-up, electrified version of the Hokey Pokey. It's dumber than Grand Funk's version of the Locomotion and may be the song that holds the key both to Slade's appeal and their limits.
HISTORICAL NOTES
Slade was HUGE in the UK in the mid-70s. The most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. In the U.S., we'd have to look at Elton John, Stevie Wonder, the Bee Gees, and The Eagles for comparable achievements in the 70s.
By the late 70s, their star was waning. But then Ozzy Osbourne abruptly dropped out of the Reading Festival in 1980. Slade was invited to step in as last-second replacements. They won over an initially hostile crowd and ended up the stars of the show. (Think Queen at Live Aid a few years later.) Racing to capitalize on their new-found fans, Slade dusted off their 1979 album which had done nothing on the charts and replaced the weaker songs with better ones. It was a short cut that paid off and re-launched their career. Huzzah! (This means technically, this album is a compilation. Shh, don't tell Allen.)
So this is Slade's comeback album. It's not a masterpiece, but it's a lot of fun, and Slade would probably spit up their beer over the word "masterpiece." They're making music to have fun to, and they're succeeding.
P.S. I'm getting a strong Cheap Trick vibe here--fun, loud rock with nods to the Beatles and Elvis--kindred spirits?--but a Cheap Trick needs to speak to that.
CRITICAL RECEPTION
"same old Slade style - thumping, no-nonsense, high-decibel rock" -- Daily Star
"Slade are essentially a live act and on vinyl the vital ingredient of spilt beer is sorely missed." -- Record Mirror
"a corker" -- Sounds
https://open.spotify.com/album/0NfCW02CvalhygyPgvzPXu?si=gdRMJNZLSrqBQpYX_Iij2w
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