B-sides

Union Square Music has now released the Slade ”B-sides”. This delightful double CD contains almost all of the band’s B-sides from their days as Ambrose Slade in 1969 to the end of the original band in 1991. The tracks are in chronological order and thus the 40 tracks take you on a journey not only through time but also through the development of the band and of their more unfamiliar songs.
Slade was one of those very rare bands were their B-sides were more or less as good as their A-sides. Most of them have never surfaced on CD before, only on the old singles, wherefore these songs are unknown to most. As Slade normally kept their singles-material and their album-material apart, most of the B-sides weren’t even to be found on their old vinyl albums.
The B-sides double CD contains a lot of fantastic songs. The early “One Way Hotel” and “C’mon C’mon” are worth a listen as they differ from more well-known versions. You’ll also find the swing-version of “My Oh My” and the instrumental version of “You Boyz Make Big Noize” as well as songs with respectively Powell- and Hill-credits. The Hill/Holder-penned “Do You Want Me” and the Lea/Powell-penned “Wonderin’ Y” are especially good. On a personal level I’m very pleased with this double CD as all my favourite B-sides are there, among them “My Life Is Natural”, “Don’t Talk To Me About Love” and my all-time favourite “Kill ‘Em At The Hot Club Tonite”. But no matter what kind of “Slade-music” you prefer you’ll be pleased with this collection. As usual the tracks are beautifully remastered by Tim Turan.
The packaging is also very nice including a 20 pages booklet where Chris Ingham, composer, producer, jazz pianist and writer, comments on the 2 CDs track by track. Here you get info on A-sides, labels and year of release as well as finer details on the music and interpretations of the lyrics.
Well done Slade and USM. This collection is what loads of fans have been wanting for years!