Slade: ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ : Party Hits
Released: 23rd November 2009
Label: Universal Music
It’s that time of the year again, when the temperature drops, the days draw in and you suddenly see big tins of sweets and advent calendars as you dash frantically round the isles of supermarkets, then as you bend down to reach the goose fat, blaring out of the poor quality shop speakers a song catches your attention and your suspicions are confirmed, Slade, Christmas must be on its way. Some form of Slade compilation released sometime around November/December has now become part of the Christmas tradition as much as Tinsel and Chestnuts, doubtless this compilation contains the same songs as every other year but since you had your Slade album out last year you have probably lost it/moved house/pawned it to fight the recession, so it’s worth picking up a new copy.
This year’s compilation comes in the form of a colossal 20 track party extravaganza, full of wonderfully cheesy but shamefully good tunes to get your feet moving, your bodies shaking and anything else you have quaking.
Aside from the essential Merry Xmas Everybody a tune that everyone from age 8 to 88 knows and now a Christmas staple, we are treated to some of the best of the rest of the band’s back catalogue, including the rather controversially titled Cum on feel the noise, which in all honesty sounds like a slightly less Christmassy version of the former track, but that’s not to its fault.
Aside from producing little slides of glam-rock gold, Slade also have to be given credit for wearing their broad Black Country accents with pride, they might not be to everyone’s taste, but with track titles like Gudbuy T’Jane and personal favourite and chart-stormer Mama Weer All Crazee anything else would just be plain wrong, these West-Midland fellows might not know how to spell but they sure do know how to rock and roll.
If any criticism were to be pointed in the direction at Slade it would be that De Ja Vu creeps in far too often, probably not helped by the very extensive playlist. Ten doses of Noddy Holder goodness would have more than sufficed, and to be honest as long as the album contained Merry Xmas Everybody it would have met the needs of most people buying the album perfectly. That said though the band’s 80’s stadium rock rendition of Santo Claus is coming to town is worth the price tag alone, quite when or why or how they ended up recording this is a completely mystery to me but it’s truly something special and might possibly eclipse the brilliance of their more well known track.
Slade have done well to create a legacy lasting more than 3 decades off the back of a couple of tracks, they are their own worst enemy though, finding a formula that works for you is fair enough, cashing in on it for 20 tracks however is in no way fair enough. A fun compilation for Christmas, birthdays and relevant holiday seasons it may be, but not one to stack next to your Radiohead and The Killers records.
Words: Kevin Angel
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.
-->
Posts: 1
Reply #1 on : Thu March 29, 2012, 12:12:13