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Say what you want about Slade – but underneath that misjudged veneer of being the producers of ‘the greatest Christmas song of all time’, and being fronted by the guy who starred in that Nobby’s Nuts advert a few years back, they’re also the heralds of some of the fucking greatest rock’n’roll songs of all time.
It’d be easy to sneer at this greatest hits collection. Taken the wrong way, Merry Xmas Everybody – Slade Party Hits could easily produce the sort of cringe heavy roll of the eyes usually reserved for the moments with which you catch your manager flirting with a girl half his age at the yearly mortification ritual known as the Staff Christmas Party. Uuurrrrggh. But actually, it’s a slice of bloody genius.
In fact, what’s happened to Rock’N’Roll? The last time anyone in the rock industry had even half as much fun as Noddy et al was when Andrew WK turned up nose-smashed and blood smeared on a one man mission to promote the good gospel of party (and if you can hear me Andrew, I miss you).
Cum On Feel The Noise (i.e. the finest foot-stomping anthems of all time), Coz I Love You (you know – ‘I wont laugh at you when you boo-hoo-hoo, coz I love you…’? Classic!), and Mama Were All Crazee are genuine, raucous, good time marvels and worth the album cost in itself, if you ask me. A large amount of the tunes on this little gem are tongue-in-cheek, party diamonds – Lets Dance, Let’s Have A Party and unbelievably the Okey-Cokey which sounds like the working mans club up the road have had their cask ale spiked with some cheap ass plant feeder during the Christmas Eve piss up. Awesome.
20 songs worth of Slade unwrapping the party platter however does get predictably monotonous and wears thin fast. But! In terms of a Christmas party album it gets the job done much better than that insult to good taste piece of shit attempt Bob Dylan brought out the other week. And think about it – wouldn’t you rather see your nana hitching her skirt up to her knees, downing babycham and singing along to Cum On Feel The Noise on Christmas Day than bloody Cliff Richard? I thought so.
Before I round this bad boy up, let’s also just take a moment to appreciate how important Noddy Holders feral yelping of ‘It’s Chriiiisssssstmaaaaasss!’ at the end of Merry Xmas Everybody is in announcing the beginning of the party season. It’s like the gun being popped at the start of a 20m sprint – on your marks, get set – drink! And for that we should be fucking thankful – just imagine the carnage that could ensue without it? I can’t imagine getting quite as excited upon hearing Mariah Carey’s cat strangling warblings’ or even, dare I say it, Wham.
So if you know what’s good for you this party season, I reckon Slade Party Hits would be a wise, if slightly insane investment. Party On.
Slade Party Hits can be purchased from today: http://tinyurl.com/yedqgeo