Chris Charlesworth wrote in 'Feel The Noise': "The first American tour was uneventful; three weeks of support work as third on the bill to Humble Pie and The J. Geils Band in cities throughout the Midwest. They played 20 minute sets in arenas that were gradually filling up with audiences who'd never heard of them and had paid their money to hear Steve Marriott's post Small Faces boogie band. Occasionally they were promoted to second on the bill with Peter Frampton tacked on the end but Slade's music fell on deaf ears."
"By the autumn of 1972, we were starting to get a sniff of radio play in the States. We had been releasing records there since day one. Even our Ambrose Slade album Beginnings, had come out there, with the title changed to Ballzy. I have no idea what was wrong with Beginnings. No one ever explained it to us. The cover was totally different too. It had two big balls on it?
I don't think Play It Loud got an American release, but Slade Alive definitely did. It wasn't a big hit, but it caused some waves. It had also got us quite a bit of press and it had done really well in Canada. 'Coz I Luv You' and 'Take Me Bak Home' had both been played a lot by a few big radio stations in the States and Polydor wanted us to go out there to do some promotion. Apart from the fact that we were going to miss the release of 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now', it was a good time for us to go. We had just finished the Take Me Bak Home' tour and done a European tour. But we were determined not to disappear off to America and ignore our British fans. A lot of bands went over there for twelve months. We couldn't afford to do that. We were riding the crest of our career in both Britain and Europe. Plus, we were very much a singles-orientated act, so our fans expected to see us on Top Of The Pops at least every couple of weeks."Noddy Holder: Who's Crazee Now?
Slade Alive!
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