Every UK #1 Single Of 1973 Discussion Thread

I've seen That'll Be The Day, that's the one where Ringo Starr plays a Teddy boy and it also features the interesting skiffle-rockabilly Ted band Rock Island Line, although I think they only play Jailhouse Rock. Haven't seen Stardust but I remember hearing Dave Edmunds is on it with a band named Stray Cats. Edmunds of course later produced the real Stray Cats so it gets me wondering if the band name came from the film.

 

That’ll Be The Day certainly launched David Essex in style. 1973-75 would be great years for him. After that he’d continue to have sporadic hits well into the 80s. His first 3 albums (Rock On, David Essex and All The Fun Of The Fair) are pretty good and were recently nicely reissued by 7ts/Cherry Red.

1974’s David Essex is my favourite. Features 3 hits, America, Gonna Make You A Star and Stardust. The Cherry Red CD includes both the album and single versions of the latter.

 

Some of you on here may have come across the infamous VT Christmas tapes (look them up, some are very funny) which this thread has helped bring them to the front my memory. Part mistakes in the style of a very naughty, It Will Be Alright On The Night, part showing off latest technology, and part humerous sketches.

Back in the days of VHS, I had three or four years worth, which was copy of a copy of a copy... I still have them somewhere in my loft.

There was a Cupid sketch, definitely performed by a woman, which I won't post here!! For some reason the tape had more dropouts in this part of the tape than anywhere else!

I almost posted this in the Suzi Q, Can The Can part, but better late than never. To the tune of He's In Love With You.

Warning, Kenny is being naughty on the intro!

 

'Skweeze me pleeze me' was not a song that Slade were particularly proud of and it was indeed put out as a stopgap after Don's accident. I wouldn't say that the released song was demo quality or intended as a demo - it is as well produced as their other hits, but with that song, to be honest, they were probably polishing a bit of a turd.

As for 'My friend Stan' failing to reach #1, it was basically a bit of novelty song and didn't even deserve to be an a-side.
They were forgetting they were a rock band in the studio.

'Kill 'Em At The Hot Club Tonite' indeed featured Jim on violin. It was basically one of their pre-gig dressing room mess-about jams finished off and released.
Not what people expected from them at all!

 

Are there any Slade albums after In Flame you recommend? That’s as far as I got.

 

It gets a bit murky for me after Flame.

Nobody's Fools:
The album they made to get radio play while living and touring the USA. It loses the Slade sound a bit, but a lot of people love it. Some good songs, some clunge. Worthwhile.

Whatever happened to Slade:
Precisely. They picked up on all the USA riff-rock and came back with a very tough-sounding, but un-commercial album that died in the UK. Again, a lot of fans love it. The reissue CD contains all their Barn singles and b-sides as well as the full album.

Slade Alive Volume 2:
I object to albums recorded in the studio with added crowd noise. Only half of this is live.

Return to base / We'll bring the house down:
First issued as Return to base, this was their LP at the time they were slogging away at Universities and clubs. Some decent songs on it. The band were about to split and then the 1980 Reading Festival happened, because Ozzy bottled out. Once they won the crowd back and started to become a going concern again, they reissued most of the RTB album with some good b-side padding and the title track added. The Reissue CD is called We'll bring the house down and contains all the tracks from the 2 albums and their Six of the best EP, which also died a death.

The amazing Kamikaze syndrome:
At this point, Slade were consolidating their comeback, getting some better gigs, etc. This had the hit singles My oh my and Run runaway, Plus the miss (And now the waltz) C'est la vie. the rest of it, you'd need to make your mind up about. Some love it, but I have come to wonder where the band I liked had gone. Jim Lea appropriated tunes from here there and everywhere and I began to spot the steals.

Rogues gallery:
A classier selection of songs, mainly recorded by Jim Lea. The band were off the road at this point, and like XTC, the need to reproduce songs on stage had gone. Jim Lea told me in Dec 83 that they were thinking of a (named) keyboard player to go behind a curtain and pad the sound out so they could play Kamikaze, etc. They would have needed him for this album. A couple of their best second-half of the career singles and some quite decent album tracks that should have been.

Crackers:
Telstar gave them a trunk full of money to do this. Sprited versions of some well known Christmas and party songs, finally a sensible home for their version of the Okey Cokey, which Jim Lea absolutely hated. A couple of truly great studio re-recordings - Cum on feel the noize and Get down and get with it.

You boyz make big noize:
Jim Lea plays pretty much all of the guitars on this. Some decent tunes and a great sound. Roy Thomas Baker nearly bankrupted him, so they parted from him and did things themselves. Didn't do much in the charts at all, as they still were not playing live and Nod had lost interest altogether and gave the band two years notice.

B-sides:
Essential - if you can find it.

 

Thanks for that. I was thinking of trying Nobody’s Fools at least.

 

They are all worthwhile.
I loved all of the releases at the time - except Crackers, which I thought was a terrible idea, but which also sold very very well.

I'd get them in order.

 

Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me is a great example of a band being on such a hot streak that even an unremarkable single can bolt straight in to #1. It is indeed Slade-by-numbers, the kind of track that Noddy and Jim could come up with in their sleep. Cum on Feel the Noize is such a masterpiece that it probably gave the band two #1 hits, as I don't feel this track would have got to the top without riding its coattails.

Having said all that, even in cruise control, Slade were a great band. It's a really fun song that has a great ability to get stuck in your head for days after a listen. I really like the rhyming pattern in the verses, I just wish there was more of them, as the second half of the song is that chorus on loop. There's no real value beyond the 2:30 mark and I'd be inclined to listen to it a lot more often if it were a couple of minutes shorter.

 

I'd agree with 12stringbassist...get the albums in order.
My elder brother was a huge Slade fan and him constantly playing their albums around the house in the 70's sort of ingrains you into them.
I was very much into the early 80's '2nd coming' after the 1980 Reading Festival as I was a bit of a Metal
Head by then.
I think I attended nearly all the tours uptown The Amazing Kamakazi Syndrome...and for me they easily matched my fav HM bands on stage. I have fond memories of a lot of gigs from those days.
As I've grown older I appreciate their albums even more.
Imo they have released many excellent long players.
I only lost interest after after 1983's Kamakazi Syndrome.

Nobody's Fool (1976)
...is sorely underated and s very versatile album
5/5

Whatever Happened to Slade (1977)
... Heavy as they got, I love it.
5/5

Return To Bass (1979)
...patchy with weak production, Slade at their lowest point.
2/5

We'll Bring The House Down (1981)
Thrown together to make most of their post Reading appearance.
The best tracks off Return to Bass + recent ep and single.
3.5/5

Till' Deaf Do Us Part (1981)
I love this....it's a Rocker....
4/5

The Amazing Kamakazi Syndrome (1983)
Very enjoyable and for me....the last album I went out and bought first day....
3.5/5

The forementioned Crackers etc, to me this was crap and in part watering the bands hertige away.
Does nothing for the bands standing except open them up for the sort of cheap criticism that bands get for releasing so called party albums.


A great band tho...and their 70's albums when they were a massive singles band...are as good as anything from that era.

 

Some great opinions on the later Slade albums. I'll just give a little bit of puff to one that has had luke warm reviews so far.

The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome is my favourite Slade album bar none. It's a lovely mix of rockers, ballads & epics. Some of the lyics are delightfully knuckle headed and and others actually quite profound. Just the way you want it! C'est La Vie should have been massive.

Most of the others are also strong, especially You Boyz Make Big Noize which is practically Slade goes AOR but works brilliantly. Not wild about Rogues Gallery. It's not terrible but, for me, they took the Kamikaze blueprint and tried to make the same album again with slightly diminishing returns.

Happily I've never heard of Crackers. Doesn't sound like I've missed much.

 

About the Return To Base / We'll Bring The House Down thing: I have the latter LP and have only heard the former once, but to me it seems that what they tried to do here was not so much to pick the best songs for reissue, but rather to change the tone of the album to make it more rocking. The songs they left out tended to be slow or mid-tempo and less straight-forward. Two of them had been released as singles. I thought Return To Base sounded interesting enough in its original form too. Something a little different there again.

The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome is a favourite here too. Check out the racing epic "Ready To Explode (the warm up, the grid, the race, the dream)".

 

I recall we had this one with the german sleeve at home. Agree with what others already have said about Skweeze Me Pleeze Me, Slade is relying a bit too much on the well-tested formula here. However, in 1973 the band was still at the top of its game, even their less inspired moments they pulled off with assured hooligan aplomb. But I guess the band also sensed they had to diversify their style. Next single My Friend Stan is dominated by the pounding piano which we hadn't heard since Look Wot You Dun, follow-up Merry Xmas Everybody is, given its subject, an altogether move relaxed affair, and Slade started the next year (1974) with the release of Everyday, a ballad!

 

I liked Everyday. It was far better than Gary Glitter’s ballad of around the same time, Remember Me This Way... That was perhaps his worst single.

 

Everyday - wot a stunning song.

 

Speaking of films and Tubular Belts, how was The Exorcist received in the UK?

I understand it was banned from home video a decade later.

 

Oh sure, Everyday is okay. And it made perfect sense for Slade to release it at that moment, as a breather. However, Everyday also marked the end of Slade's hegemony on the european mainland. After that the band's popularity started slipping, which is a shame really, because later singles like Far Far Away and How Does it Feel are among their very best. But I guess the mainstream public was less interested in a more "mature" Slade.

 

Far Far Away did well here, but How Does It Feel all but flopped. To be honest I didn’t really hear it until Radio 2 (Terry Wogan?) started playing it many years later.

 

I don't know how it was received at the time, but it is very highly regarded now. I believe that for some film critics, it is their favourite film.

It probably helped tighten Tubular Belts grip on the charts!

 

Far Far Away, which I really like, reached number two in the charts, and How Does It Feel? didn't make the top ten, stopping at number 15. It deserved much better.

Excepting the fantastic Thanks For The Memory, which peaked at 7, Far Far Away, was Slade's last big top ten hit of the 70's.

My Oh My, should have reached number one, instead of two; it was receiving more airplay and outselling Only You, but shops were running out of the single, and records couldn't be pressed and delivered to the shops in time. Shame.

 

I don’t remember how the film did in 1973, but do recall seeing the video in a shop in the early days of the format.

It would be about 1981. Not that many people had VCRs then. There was no ‘sell-thru’ market at the time so if you wanted to buy a film on videocassette at that time it would cost you about £40!

The Exorcist was on Warner Brothers video. I recall seeing the black case with the famous creepy cover and looking inside to see alongside the tape there was a little card with the cast members listed.

We did get a VCR a little later and I watched lots of horror pictures including The Exorcist. Things like Straw Dogs, The Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Driller Killer. Most of these would be ‘banned’ for years shortly afterwards. To be honest, I found most of them disappointing horror-wise... Not scary or gory enough on the main... Then again, anyone who follows my music tastes will understand I have a high tolerance for the grim and gruesome.

 

I was listening to Slade In Flame just today. I suppose by their standards they were playing it safe... Nothing too heavy on it.. Great album though and lots of pictures of Dave in his new Pam Ayres wig.

How Does It Feel is the absolute highlight. It should have been the start of something great for them instead of being the beginning of the end of their 70s hits..

 

Bobby, did you see In Flame, at the cinema? Unlike That'll Be The Day and Stardust, I did see it, I guess, Them Kinda Monkeys Can't Swing, is more typical Slade.

I remember How Does It Feel? really well from the time, and was shocked when it stalled; it really is an excellent song. Far Far Away would have made a deserved number one.

 

I’ve never seen Slade In Flame. Isn’t that disgraceful?!

 

Shocking, you should make amends!
Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Slade in Flame [CD + DVD]

Hope you like it more than Cheryl did!