The Noize

Don’t you just love, when a book does exactly what it promises to do? I certainly appreciate it and “The Noize” is for sure such a book.

Over the years, loads of books have been written about the British (glam) rock band Slade that had its heydays in the seventies, but none have taken a thorough look at the releases by the band. This is what the two authors, Ian Edmundson and Chris Selby, set out to do.

In the author’s notes, the two authors say that “this book’s primary aim is to catalogue and discuss all of Slade’s UK releases and take in the most interesting overseas versions of these and some unique foreign releases,” and that is exactly what it does. Meticulously and faithfully, every UK release is listed chronologically, from the very first 1964 acetate disc by the Vendors (forerunner for Slade as the band included Don Powell and Dave Hill) to the latest 2018 solo EP from Jim Lea, decades after the original Slade had packed it in.

No matter if it is a single, EP, album, box set or an acetate or test pressing, as long as it is connected to Slade, the release is examined, discussed and presented with every possible recording and package info, track descriptions, contemporary reviews and photos. This is very impressive as the research alone must have been difficult and extremely time consuming. The authors deserve nothing but respect for this work.

The book is spiced up by short biographical information about the band and its members as well as personal and sometimes funny observations by the two authors. This makes the book an energetic and entertaining read instead of a dull and repetitious catalogue.

For a hardcore Slade fan like myself this book is a must, and for others it is a unique opportunity to dig into the releases of what was one of Europe’s most successful bands in the early seventies. I bet you’ll be surprised and entertained of what you’ll find, so put on a good Slade record and start reading!

I’ll give “The Noize” five out of five stars: ***** (and it’s not due to the authors calling my official biography about Slade drummer Don Powell “the absolutely definitive Slade autobiography”, because it isn’t. It’s a biography).