Slade- ‘Beginnings’ & ‘Alive! At Reading’ Vinyl Reviews
11th August 2023The first thing that will strike you upon opening these 2 Slade albums is the way they look. Beginnings is translucent yellow and red splatter with Alive! At Reading is opaque Orange with black splatter.
The big question is, do they sound as good as they look? Yes, they do.
Their debut album Beginnings has been restored and is now under the correct name of Ambrose Slade. Originally released in 1969 before they dropped the Ambrose, this isn’t Slade as the glam rockers that you know.
Beginnings was just at the tale end of the psychedelic years so there’s plenty of experimentation with stereo panning, and different guitar sounds, and is a little Pink Floyd in places. I’ll be honest, this is my favorite Slade album as it was before they found their glam rock formula.
As with most albums released around this time, there are only 4 original tracks and the rest are made up of covers and they are really good. The Beatles Martha My Dear, Frank Zappas Aint Got No Heart and the Steppenwolf standardBorn To Be Wild are standouts for me.
Although Beginnings was critically panned it’s finally starting to find its own audience. Which is nice.
Score 7/10
‘Alive! At Reading’ is a legendary recording and performance from 1980. DO NOT expect soundboard quality audio, although it is significantly better than a bootleg from this era. There are flaws in the transfer but that’s caused by the original source. It adds to its charm, especially as Slade where on the verge of packing things in due to a lack of ticket and album sales. They were a last-minute addition to this festival that boasted UFO, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, and headliners Whitesnake. Slade was the honorary heavy metal act chosen to replace Ozzy.
They went down an absolute storm. Even tho the festival was back in August, the audience requested Merry Christmas Everybody and Noddy left them to sing it themselves.
What a show this had to have been to witness. Slade absobloodylutely slayed.
Score 8/10
Beginnings Track List
Side A:
1. Genesis
2. Everybody’s Next One
3. Knocking Nails Into My House
4. Roach Daddy
5. Ain’t Got No Heart
6. Pity The Mother
Side B:
1. Mad Dog Cole
2. Fly Me High
3. If This World Were Mine
4. Martha My Dear
5. Born To Be Wild
6. Journey To The Centre Of Your Mind
- Take Me Bak ‘Ome
When I’m Dancin’ I Ain’t Fightin’- Wheels Ain’t Coming Down
- (Medley Somethin’ Else, Pistol Packin’ Mama, Instrumental Jam, Keep It Rockin’
- You’ll Never Walk Alone
- Mama Weer All Crazee Now
- Get Down And Get With It
- Merry Xmas Everybody
- Cum On Feel The Noize
- Born To Be Wild
Release – 15th September 2023
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