Polydor Records (Polystar) - POLTV- 13
"All Riiight Everybody. Do you Feel Allriiight. Dooooo Yoooou Feeeel Alriiight. Welll Get Dowwwwwwwn. Get Dowwwwwwwwwn And Get Witttttttth Iiit."Sublety was never Slade's style. Loud, brash, exciting, overflowing with good humour, but never subtle. For Slade read fun. Fun means good times and for good times nothing beat Slade on a good night.
Their fans dressed like Noddy, sang along to all the tunes and waved their scarves like hysterical football supporters. Those of us who were lucky enough to witness a Slade celebration will know how unique those concerts were. It was the expression of a post sixties generation desperately intent on erasing the past and discovering heroes for themselves.
Those who never experienced Slade's hey-day can find some consolation in the tracks on this album. Their pure, straight from the gut approach has influenced scores of latter day bands but none have achieved anything as positive as the string of hits that Slade recorded between 1971 and 1974.
During that time, Slade notched up 12 top three singles, six of them No. 1's. Unquestionably the biggest singles band in the UK, they headlined at the giant Earls Court Arena and rocked their way around the country on sell-out tours that attracted thousands of fanatical followers.
November 13th, 1980Slade are still going strong today of course. Hit singles have been thin on the ground of late, but the band are still a big live attraction. They were the 'surprise' stars of this years Reading Festival. No surprise really, they've always been stars. Tip your hat then, to Noddy, Dave, Jim and Don, whose music fortified a generation. And who knows, a Slade revival may be just the antidote to the 80's depression."
Chris Charlesworth: Sleevenotes
After their appearance at the Reading Festival, Slade became the new delight of the burgeoning Heavy Metal scene. Eager to jump on the bandwagon, Polydor rustled up a new hits collection to capitalise on their surprise success.
Slade Smashes was released by Polydor on 1st November, 1980. The compilation is a collection of the band's biggest hits from 1971 to 1978. It successfully cashed in on Slade's resurrection, becoming their biggest 80's album release, peaking at #21 in the UK for 15 weeks. The compilation was the first Polydor Slade release 1976, featuring twenty tracks in total. The album was certified UK Gold by BPI in December 1980, selling 200,000 copies.
Issued in the wake of the band's new-found success following their Reading Festival appearance where, filling in for Ozzy Osbourne, they blitzed the crowd and stole the event gaining a new generation of fans. The album features most of the band's big UK hits from their early and mid 70's heyday, as well as less successful tracks from the band's 'down period' in the late 70's. This collection further cemented Slade's comeback in the UK and Europe.
The album was certified UK Gold by BPI (British Recorded Music Industry, formerly named British Phonographic Institute) in December 1980, selling 200,000 copies. Dave Hill sold his personal UK Gold Disc (awarded for 250,000 sales of 'Slade Smashes!') for charity in December 1984, The event was shown on the UK TV show 'Saturday Starship' and it raised £385.
In the November–December 1980 fan club interview, Noddy Holder was asked why Polydor were releasing a compilation now.
"It's not been the Reading Festival that has prompted the release of the Hits album – they had already made plans to release the album before we decided to do the show."
In a November 1980 Sounds magazine interview, (15th November 1980 Sounds Magazine Interview – Back From The Dead – Steve Keaton meets Noddy Holder and Jim Lea of Slade) Holder was asked if he was at all depressed at this preoccupation with past glories? Holder replied
"Depressed? No. This compilation will be great for the fans, a chance to get all the hits on one record. But we don't relate to them in the same way any more, the way we play them now is bugger all like the records anyway."
The November–December 1980 Newsletter claimed that the album was released because all Slade's singles were deleted except for "Merry Xmas Everybody". The fan club mag claimed some songs on the album were slightly remixed (a trendy term at the time) in the studio for a more '1980's feel'. In reality, some tracks used on the album were not the original recordings, but out-takes added by mistake via Polydor. Several songs on the album differ from the original releases.
"Slade Smashes contained three unreleased mix's of released singles. A mistake at the time of compilation where out-takes or playback tracks were used. The tracks were 'Coz I Luv You', 'Look Wot You Dun' & 'Take Me Bak 'Ome'. All three have slightly different run outs and are mixed differently. This anomaly was identified at the old Slade In England forum and brought to the notice of Holder and then Newman & co by Stu Rutter."
"From memory both 'Coz I Luv You' and 'Look Wot You Dun' were versions with different run outs, i.e. the ad libs by Holder were different, only noticeable when you get to the last 25 seconds or so. 'Take Me Bak 'Ome' on the other hand has a slightly different beginning as well as an altered run out."That extended run out version of Cos I Luv You would later be included - (Track 19) on the compilation album Whiskey In The Jar (20 Rock Classics From The 70s) on the Universal Music label, (who currently own the copyrights to the tracks on "Slade Smashes"), Catalogue Number 522 910- 2, released on 13th October, 1997!
Oddly, 'How Does It Feel' and 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me' are not the 45rpm versions, they are full length album tracks as have been used on every compilation album released to my knowledge. 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me' was released as a 45rpm first so the single version is not an edit. It was given an album release in it 4:35 format on the 'Sladest' album shortly after. The 7" recordings have never been made available other than on their original release."There are a few radio edits around that I have that have come across.... but by and large, apart from the notable exception of 'Smashes' most releases use the same versions on compilations."Dave Graham: Slade In England
Track listing:
Side A.
- "Cum On Feel the Noize"
- "My Friend Stan"
- "Far Far Away"
- "Coz I Luv You"
- "Everyday"
- "Gypsy Roadhog"
- "Thanks for the Memory (Wham Bam Thank You Mam)"
- "The Bangin' Man"
- "In For a Penny"
- "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me"
- "Mama Weer All Crazee Now"
- "Look Wot You Dun"
- "Take Me Back 'Ome"
- "Let's Call It Quits"
- "Give Us a Goal"
- "Merry Xmas Everybody"
- "How Does It Feel"
- "My Baby Left Me/That's Alright Mama"
- "Get Down and Get With It"
- "Gudbuy T'Jane"
"People keep telling me there's a Slade revival going on, but it's hard not to laugh. It's more than interesting to watch those who've seen them live attempt to convert those who keep their look of bemusement and incredulity intact during the discourse. It's also funny to watch the curious become fervent disciples whose faces light up at the mention of Slade. They're the ones who stumble across the truth, via the experience, that there is no Slade revival. The word revival always implies that the band were redundant for a period between their 'hey-day' and their current 'resurgence' but Slade have remained constant throughout. They slogged up and down the toilets and flea-pits of this country for five years before their first hit 'Get Down And Get With It' gave everybody the opportunity to realise that they are one of the best live attractions in this land. Their aggressive, energetic and enthusiastic stage show was successfully translated into a string of raucous singles that celebrated the mythical rock 'n' roll spirit with a vengeance. Songs like 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now', 'Cum on Feel The Noize', 'Take Me Bak 'ome', 'Gudbuy T' Jane' and the others contained on this 20 track precis of the time when Slade and the record buying public connected are the best reminders of the power some felt and others ignored. Those who have realised the power of Slade will already have the majority of the songs on this collection. Those who have only recently caught up with the fact that Slade have remained constant and those that have reconnected with a fundamental lynch-pin of that mess we call rock 'n' roll will find this set a useful but ultimately unsatisfying reminder of the joy and exuberance of the Birmingham quartet of Noddy, Jimmy, Don and Dave. Those who have yet to find out had better start here and then grasp the opportunity to 'feel the noize' at the first chance."Record Mirror: 27 November 1980
"We've been treated to re-issues of some of the old time heroes who made my own teeny weeny days go with a grin and mucho din...Big Gal Glitter, the soon-come Judge Dread double and now this mighty meaty big and bouncy collection of twenty timeless Slade faves. For once I'm speechless, well almost anyway, and it's only with near superhuman self-restraint that I prevent these perspiring pinkies from tapping out the full horror-show history of my Slade memories, from that initial encounter on the Eammon Andrews Show blistering through 'Get Down And Get With It' with cropped-head conviction, through hundreds of backing track adolescent adventures, right up to undoubted chart supremacy and Earls Court mayhem with, I must confess, silly hat and cape flying in the wind.
The Download Link is here: Download.All I'm gonna say is that, as far as I can see, this collection is a perfect reminder of the glories that were, marrying raucous rock and sing-along pop in a superb celebration of unpretentious good times. They're all here, the rowdy faultless chart-toppers 'Coz I Luv You', 'Take Me Bak 'ome', 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now', 'Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me', 'Merry Xmas Everybody' – ten silver discs, two gold discs, one platinum. There's the mighty scarf-waving anthem 'Everyday' too, and the similarly moving homesick, howsyafarver 'Far Far Away', not to mention the pre-Rejects football fave 'Give Us A Goal', then the R'n'R circus medley 'My Baby Left Me/That's Alright Mama', the stompin' stormer 'Get Down And Get With It', and even, whisper it, one or two I ain't so fond of like 'Thanks for the Memory' which makes me think maybe, just maybe, the rot was setting in even before the American failure. But they're just the exception that prove the proof of the pudding washes whiter. Because what we're talking about here then, men, is a near miraculous disc that every home should have. And what's interesting is that recent live performances indicate that the band, despite their Methuselah-like antiquity still rock like good'uns and Noddy is still the same colourful clown with the prime primal power-lung scream, so maybe there's a chance that Slade'll become heroes for a new generation... For the moment, however, I don't give a monkey's toss about speculating and such like, all I wanna do is put this on again full blast and dodge the missiles from the ignorant barbarians who I'm forced to share this under-paid under-staffed office with."Sounds: 29 November 1980
Filename: Slade Smashes.rar Filesize: . MB
RUSSIAN BOOTLEG CD's!
Russian Bootleg CD!
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| ( A Privately-Made CD! ) |
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| ( ...Plus the UK Cassette, that it was mastered from! ) |
In May, 1984, sixteen out of the twenty tracks were presented to us again in a very similar compilation, this time titled:- Slade's Greats (The Very Best Of Slade).
My thanks to Dave Graham and Ashley 'AJ' Smith for this write up. Wikipedia is not a reliable source but I know AJ's Slade contributions are top notch information.
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