I’m a fool for these riffs and this song. When I saw them they weren’t so good, or rather they were good when they actually played but spent too much time cheerleading the crowd, or trying to. Don’t tell me to clap my hands and stomp my feet, make me clap my hands and stomp my feet. Like this, and may I say “look out.”
No one will ever have to cheerlead me for Slade. I could talk all day, but just a few comments:
1) This is actually an old “skinhead” Slade song. I know it best from “Slade Alive.”
2) Never came close to seeing them live. Seems no one who saw them in the States ever says they were any good, so I’m not even sure what to say about missing them.
3) Noddy – I believe one of the best rock singers ever, although the snoots would never say so. Don Powell – Great drum pounder. Jimmy Lea – Great singer, songwriter and nothing wrong with his bass playing either. Dave Hill – Really kinda weak lead player. He does some cool subtle stuff but I truly believe he didn’t have the ability to play anything fancy. But looks? C’mon. Did you ever see something so ugly and pretty at the same time?
That guitar riff is one of the greats when played right, which he only does a few times. Pulling off down the fretboard fast twice in a row is hard as hell, which I know because I decided to record this song last night and let’s just say I’m not finished.
They can play rocknroll, which a lot of “better” musicians can’t.
At the risk of being Captain Obvious, it seems only right to point out that this is a Ten Years After cover, not a Slade original. However, I can’t find any other version on youtube that has half the chutzpah as this one by Slade.
“Chutzpah” probably defines a lot of what I like in my rock ‘n’ roll.
I never shy away from “boogie woogie” either.