Cover songs

When Slade started out as The N'Betweens in 1966 they were mostly a cover band, and although they went on to writing their own material since their first album as Ambrose Slade in 1969 it has never stopped them from recording a great cover song now and again. Slade has covered anything from Rodgers & Hammerstein over Marvin Gaye and Chuck Berry to the Beatles, Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa. Here are five of my favourites.
Slade's cover of Janis Joplin's "Move Over" on the "Slayed?" album from 1972 is undoubtedly their best. The interaction between bass, drums and Nod's vocals is fantastic. Nod's voice is very close to a male version of Joplin's. I mean, you can't compare Nod's voice to anything except maybe hers. They both have the same raw, raucous strength. Nod masters anything from the deafening loud roars to the soft, intimidated begging and the interplay between the raw and the soft is superb on this track. Jim plays his bass like it was a lead guitar, perfectly interacting with both drums and vocals whereas the real lead guitar almost takes over the part of an ordinary bass except for a few sharp twangs. Also Don's alternations between the loud pounding drum sound and the fast but tinny sound of sticks against cymbals adds to the experience of this being a song of lover in both despair and hope. This cover is perfect and fully as good as Joplin's if not better.
Then there's "Just A Little Bit" written by Thornton/Bass/Washington/Brown/Thompson and included as track one on the 1974 "Old, New, Borrowed and Blue" album. The lyrics for this song was not featured on the album sleeve but it is hard to say whether this is due to the fact that the song is not penned by Holder/Lea or if it is because of the content of the lyrics. Nod's screaming loud voice, which can be reduced to the softest of whispers, is superb for this type of song, putting a lot of sexual innuendo into the lyrics. Bass and drums work perfectly together as a backdrop for the wailing parts of the vocals and are blown up to a massive sound and joined by the sharp guitar for the desperate ones.
Next is Slade's medley of 2 Elvis Presley songs "My Baby Left Me"/"That's Alright Mama" that was released as a single in 1977. This is a perfect medley for a hard-rocking band like Slade. It seems to be made for Don's metronome precision and pounding sound on the drums, Nod's roaring vocals and Dave's thorough guitar. Dave has always reminded me of a typist or something with his very meticulous work on the guitar neck. But it works for the "big boy" and for the medley.
The 2 last ones are both from Slade's "Alive!" album, 1972. "Hear Me Calling" is for many fans the opening number at Slade concerts, and this live version is fantastic. It really gets people going right from the start with great rhythms, characteristic guitar and Nod and Jim's superbly blended vocals. Actually Jim's voice outdo Nod's in this version! The number builds up all the time to a total frenzy. Some fancy bass-works while Nod urges people on to get in the mood and gets Don's voice on record. The fast-rocking number continues with renewed speed and ends stubbornly tough. Alvin Lee apparently earned more royalties from the Slade-version of this song than from his own with Ten Years After.
"Darling Be Home Soon" is the last one up. You wouldn't think that this soft John Sebastian tune would be well chosen as a cover song by Slade, but it is because Nod's voice can be as gentle as it can be raw. The song has a very soft beginning where you especially notice Nod's subdued vocals and the great bass. The song continues with Nod, Dave and Jim's beautiful vocal harmonies where Jim once again outdoes the others. The tempo builds up before the band leaps into hard rock. What this version is most famed for is Noddy's burp, though. Mid-song the band almost stops playing and you can hear someone saying, "We're finished," before Nod burps loudly. In his autobiography Noddy says that it was an accident, because he had been drinking all day, but to me it sounds well rehearsed. The bass is waiting for it and the guitar is setting the scene for it. I always wondered if maybe the guys found the song too wet and decided to add a burp in the middle to put their thump-mark on it. Who knows? The song continues afterwards, once again building up to a hard-rocking tune with Nod's voice going from gentle to loud. Perfect.