Slade - Live at the Randwick Racecourse , Sydney, Australia - 1973-01-28 (1973) - Bootleg

 (UK 1966 - Present)

(Review by Waz from Oz)At the time of this show I was a few weeks away from turning 17, so I was allowed to attend without supervision. I went with long-time schoolfriend Ruby, making me the older one this time around.

I have fond memories of this show as this is where we met Recy (Maree) & Roger, two fellow music lovers a year or so younger than us. The four of us attended many of the same concerts over the years, remaining friends off & on up to the present day.

Also, at this show but unknown to me at the time was Big Knob. Over the years I’d spot him at many concerts, we were finally introduced in the early 1980 & we got to talking. I’d mentioned I’d taped a number of shows he’d been at, running off some names, among those names happened to be his most loved band, of which I am also a fan. He mentioned he had taped a few shows himself in the 1970’s.

I asked who, he replied all four overseas acts at Randwick 28th January 1973, which were still on the original reel to reel tapes, he hadn’t played them in years. Not long after I transferred his master reels onto cassettes for both of us, this was before CD-R’s were on the market.

Last week I caught up with Big Knob, he refreshed me about how he recorded that concert which as of this writing is now 47 years ago. He’d lugged an Akai portable stereo reel-to-reel recorder to the show, he & his party where seated further back up in the stands. Once an act was about to kick off he would hold one mic, his wife the other. While each group was performing he’d hand his mic over to his mate and make his way down to the front section to take some photos of the bands. These photos appear on the CD artwork included here.

Estimates for the audience at this show range from 20,000 to 26,000, I’d say it was somewhere in the middle. Some brave souls even managed to get themselves up onto the roof of the stands.

The line-up for this show was supposed to be some Australian bands first, followed by English acts Caravan, Lindisfarne, Status Quo & Slade. All but Caravan were familiar to me as I’d brought singles & LPs by the others especially Slade. Slade being the most well-known of the bunch having by this time various Top 40 hit singles in Australia plus the extremely popular Slade Alive LP.

The night before the show it had pissed down, continuing overnight & only stopping a short time before the show, making the grounds something akin to a paddy field. Remember this was a racecourse so in front of the covered stands it was grass plus the actual dirt racetrack. I remember my platform shoes often sinking into the mud as well as the bottoms of my fetching flared jeans becoming mud catchers. I don’t recall that it rained again after the first act of the day was underway.

As the rain had soaked the stage plus everything on & around it, it had to be cleaned up & dried off before any act could go ahead. So the starting time of 1.PM was pushed back to 2.30 PM.

Because of this delay the Australian bands didn’t get to play. They were supposed to be Buffalo, Sherbet, Mother Earth and Robin Sinclair.

Newspaper reports state that no Australian acts played at this show due to the delay, however online I’ve read comments from people that attended this show that Aussie band Blackfeather (who had a No 1 hit 1972) did play but I don’t remember them doing so. Their name does not appear in any ads or review of the show.

After the clean-up finished, it was time for the first international act, Caravan unknown to us & probably the vast majority of the 20,000 spectators.

Sorry Caravan fans but to this 16 year old, Ruby, Recy, Roger and I’m sure countless thousands there that day their brand of music didn’t generate much interest. Lindisfarne, the 2nd act of the day ignited the audience from the start of their short set to the finish. The audience demanded an encore, but time restrictions put an end to that, but their performance set the tone for the rest of the day.

The 3rd act of the day were the headliners Slade, whom because of the fear of more inclement weather had swapped places with Status Quo. So that band closed the day’s activities. Slade were whom the bulk of the audience had dead set come to Randwick to see. Slade were extremely popular down under.

The Slade LP had been in the charts for 6 months, it was actually No. 1 when they arrived on these shores and stayed in the No. 1 position for three weeks.

From the end of February 1972 up to January 1973, they had 4 singles in the Australian Top 40, the highest reaching No 11. I would have bet money that they’d scored No 1’s to top 10 chart success, but no they hadn’t. T. Rex funny enough had higher chart success than Slade. But the latter had plenty of airplay all the same.

Slade - Backstage View

It should be noted that the band's singer / guitarist Noddy Holder can be heard making many vulgar comments. His comments were greeted warmly by the crowd who lapped them up. Noddy’s comments didn’t bother me at the time nor do they now, they were part & parcel of Slade’s live performances, like it or lump it I say!.

The band walked on, Noddy acknowledged the audience for having earlier sat out in the rain, then straight into "Hear Me Calling", the audience participation started from the get-go.

Ruby and myself were halfway between the stage & the grandstand, we were dead set packed tighter than a fish’s arsehole. It was even a task at times to raise one’s arms about one’s head to perform beat clapping

Slade were one of the loudest bands I’d ever heard in concert, Noddy’s voice was especially powerful it went right through you. This recording is just under being distorted because the band were so loud.

Noddy’s rude comments commenced after the first song finishes “If there’s any young ladies in the audience what’s feeling a bit warm by now, we wanna see them dropping their knickers (for Americans that’s panties) & we wanna see all the fellers having a quick feel” which is greeted by audience cheers.

He’s at it again after "Move Over" suggesting because it’s become even warmer that females should take their clothes off so see we can see a few tits. Then he asks the males in the audience to put their hands up if they want to see some tits. Countless hands went up accompanied by another roar of approval.

In "Darling Be Home Soon", he tries to get the audience to sing some football team songs, a popular exercise back in the UK but not so much here. He asks, gets a pretty lukewarm response, telling us he can hear fuck all, so it’s quickly dropped. Aussie audiences are somewhat shy when it comes to group singing at gigs, not so much beat clapping. Noddy had more luck getting the audience singing along in the last few numbers.

Another thing I remember was during Jim Leas violin solo right up on the roof of the grandstand a guy in a kilt (he must have been a true Scotsman because one 'n' all could see his meat & two veg) performed a jig for everyone’s entertainment. He was a brave soul as not only was he doing this on a roof, it must still have been wet from the earlier rain, it’s a wonder he didn’t highland fling himself right off. The same goes for Dave Hill who in his platform boots would get up on his stage monitors & buggerize around.

A few songs in we noticed a disturbance in the crowd nearer the stage in front of us. I knew it was a blue (Aussie slang for a fight, blue is also the Aussie slang for a person with red, ginger hair). I didn’t know it at the time, but it turned that we knew two of those involved in that blue.

After Slade & between Status Quo we wandered around, we came across two young person’s somewhat distressed & we spoke to them to see if they were ok. This was our first meeting with Recy & Roger who both became long-time friends of mine. They told us what had happened.

Once Slade were underway their Sydney skinhead fans started wading thru the crowd, pushing & shoving all in their way to get to the front of the stage. Unfortunately, Recy & Roger were two of the people in their way, Roger was first elbowed out the way, when he turned around to see what was going on he was punched a number of times. He’s a mild person & wouldn’t be able to defend himself against one person let alone a few of them. His assailants were probably pissed off even further because at the time he sported long curly hair plus was wearing an Hawaiian shirt.

Recy being of Greek-Cypriot heritage could get dead set fiery at times & she jumped on the back of one of Rogers attackers. While she was flailing away on the back of the skinhead it distracted attention away from Roger, who had managed to drop to the ground, crawling away to safety through the legs of audience members, a feat in itself seeing how packed it was. He watched the rest of the show from the side.

Some of the skinheads not only made it to the front of the stage but were invited up to dance with Slade. They can be seen dancing onstage in one of the you tube links at the bottom of this post.

Listening to this recording with fresh ears it struck me at just how many excellent singles Slade released in the period ranging from 1971 to 1973.

In the early CD-R period I traded copies of this show, which has been on DIME in the past but equ’ed from the CD-R. As this is from the master tape it will be superior to all previous versions.

Ruby & myself also attended the Slade / Caravan show at the Hordern Pavilion on the 6th February 1973.

On Slade’s 1974 Australian tour we fronted up at the two Sydney shows also held at the Hordern on the 21st & 24th February 1974. I didn’t tape any of these shows, the reason being we usually ended up in the front sections at the Hordern. With Slade audiences being rather overtly enthusiastic it would have been a chore to record a show amongst a non-stop moving audience plus we wanted to enjoy ourselves.

Please remember sensitive souls who abhor beat clapping that this practice can be heard quite regularly in this recording! Thanks to Big Knob for the recordings & photos, thanks as always to audiowhore.

Enjoy - Waz

Gold Record Presentation Sydney (taken from YouTube Clip)

This post consists of FLACs ripped from master audio tape (thanks to Big Knob) and includes various Artwork sets. This is a great recording folks and it was captured Down Under. Also included below are some rare YouTube clips featuring concert promotional footage taken from GTK / ABC camera crews.

Track Listing:

01. Noddy Holder's Introduction
02. Hear Me Calling
03. Look Wot You Dun
04. Move Over
05. Gudbuy T’ Jane
06. Darling Be Home Soon
07. Keep On Rockin’
08. Jimmy Lea Lady Be Good Violin Solo
09. Coz I Luv You
10. Take Me Back ‘Ome
11. Get Down & Get With It
Encore
12. Mama Weer All Crazee Now

Slade were:

Noddy Holder - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar & Rude Comments!
Dave Hill - Lead Guitar & Backing Vocals
Jimmy Lea - Bass Guitar, Violin & Backing Vocals
Don Powell – Drums

Slade Live In Sydney Link (224Mb)

Live Randwick footage 1973

"Get Down & Get With It"

Interview with skinheads & audience members,

Slade’s Sydney Press Conference & Gold Records Presentation

Live Randwick footage with dubbed sound

Interview with skinheads dancing on stage

Slade - Slade Alive ! (1972) & Slade Alive Vol 2 (1978)

 (UK 1966 - Present)

Slade started out as The 'N Betweens, in Wolverhampton, England, in 1966, with Noddy Holder on vocals and guitar, Dave Hill on lead guitar, Jim Lea on bass, keyboards, and violin, and Don Powell on drums.

In 1969, The 'N Betweens became Ambrose Slade, and began to record tracks for an album. The first LP by Ambrose Slade, Beginnings, was released on Fontana Records in April of 1969. At the same time, Chas Chandler, a former member of The Animals and the manager of Jimi Hendrix, assumed the duties of manager and producer for the band. He firmly believed that Ambrose Slade had the potential to make it to the top. Their name was soon shortened from Ambrose Slade to Slade, and at the behest of Chas Chandler, the four musicians had their long hair cut off, briefly taking on the look of skinheads as a means of promoting their music. 

Their first album as Slade, 'Play It Loud', was released on Polydor Records in 1970. Slade are probably best described as a "band of (and for) the people". Hated by critics, loved by the average Joe record buyer, they wore their working class, northern British roots loudly and proudly on their gawdy glittery sleeves.

Although 'Play It Loud' did not sell in great numbers, it did establish the musical style that later would make Slade famous. Slade let their hair grow long again and finally broke through in November of 1971, when their newest single, "Coz I Luv You," swiftly became a hit in the UK.

Slade are probably best described as a "band of (and for) the people". Hated by critics, loved by the average Joe record buyer, they wore their working class, northern British roots loudly and proudly on their gawdy glittery sleeves.

Lumped in with the Glitter/Glam Rock movement with Bowie, Marc Bolan and T.Rex and even Gary Glitter, Slade looked and sounded like none of them (big hats and awful sparkly outfits notwithstandin). Their sound was loud guitars and boot-stomping heavy beats with basic songs (deliberately misspelt) delivered in a voice that would strip the paint from an old Holden.

Any discussion of glam rock requires a mention of Slade, more as a result of their appearance than their sound. Dave Hill, in particular, gained a reputation for taking the gaudier aspects of glam rock to a cheeky extreme. He always went out of his way to appear as colorful as he could, adorning himself with shiny outfits, platform boots, and plenty of glitter. The other members of Slade were slightly less colorful, but still quite flashy. Their songs, however, were completely down-to-earth: loud, driving, and cheerful, with an impudent tunefulness that was hard to resist.

The remarkable thing about this album is that there is a remarkable lack of pretense. The audience love the experience and make the vibe of the show (and this recording) almost tangible.

Slade Alive! was a record that was recorded live to tape without any studio altering. It was done live in a purpose built studio in front of 100 fan club members and was a fortune changer much like "Alive!" was for Kiss. Slade's previous few albums flopped and the live album gave them a big hit that they were desperately looking for. The band were already a big live draw, so it was a canny move to capture that on record.

Again, artistry and technique are not matters of contention here. Songwriting prowess is not a feature here. Most of the seven songs are covers, along with two originals never recorded in studio form, but they are done with the same big voiced, stomping feel that drove audiences wild back then. Noddy Holder's vocals are ear splitting but yet it sounds compelling. His charm in conversing with the audience between songs just highlights how much fun the whole experience is.

Slade's fortunes soured in the late 70s as the gimmick wore off. They picked up again in the 80s and tailed off again post 1985 until they split up in the 1990s. This album has been cited as an influence by countless bands, but in recent years this album seems to have gone out of favour with writers and collators of "best of" lists.

Slade Alive ! Review  (by Dave Graham: Attendee)

Released on the 24th March 1972, the group's critically acclaimed and most loved live album, instantly recognisable in it's bright red 'negative image', gatefold sleeve. This album became a Rock Icon almost overnight and even the following years of teeny-bopper mania could not erase the impact made.

In October 1971, Slade played at the Command Theatre Studio in London, to an audience of a hundred or so, mostly fan club members. Of the three nights recording, most of the album comes from the second nights recording. The set-list would have been the same as their touring set, kicking off, as always, with Hear Me Calling. It included Coz I Love You, Coming Home, Good Golly Miss Molly & Nights In White Satin (none of which made the release) before culminating in eight minutes of unbridled mayhem. Born To Be Wild, Steppenwolf's best known song is given the Slade treatment (complete with air raid siren hand-cranked by one of the roadies) and is far better for it. The result, coarse, raw and gritty... just how you like 'em!

"Nights In White Satin was played during the recording but omitted from Slade Alive due to contractual stuff with the Moodies record company, Chandler was toying with idea of making it a double LP. The rumours about those master tapes persisted for decades, they don't exist, nothing was kept."

Recorded at a cost of £600, Slade Alive! not only broke the band in the UK, it went on to be the biggest selling album in Australia since Sgt.Pepper. Hence AC/DC..."

Noddy Holder's recollects: Classic Rock 2011

"Chas Chandler come up with the idea of us doing a live album because he'd been Jimi Hendrix's manager, and he'd seen how some of Hendrix's live performances had been turning points in his career. So we booked a little studio-cum-theatre down on Piccadilly for three nights- the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

''The bulk of the album was from the Wednesday night, which was mayhem. Coz I Luv U was Number 1, and we'd come straight from doing Top Of The Pops. We were still wearing our clobber from the telly, and we went pretty much straight onstage. There was only about 100-odd people in there. A lot of them were fan club members but some of them had walked in off the streets as well.

''Our aim onstage was to hit the crowds between the eyes and grab them by the balls. Make a show that people would remember forever. Most bands thought it was uncool to have audience participiation, so back then it was only us doing that. We've never been cool. But when people saw the reaction we were getting, they started nicking our ideas.

''One thing I do remember about those shows is that we'd been on the road for a week or two before that, and Dave had got some of his old stage clobber in a suitcase in the dressing room, and it stank to high heaven. The whole dressing room stank of his sweat. Chas said, 'I'm gonna turn that fucking case into a bonfire outside ! You can't have record company people coming in here with that stink.' So there's Dave, trying to guard his precious clothes before we covered them in lighter fuel to stop them stinking the place out.."

Chris Selby (Slade Historian) talks about the album

Despite Noddy's recollections, it's unlikely that they came direct from TOTP's when "Cos I Love You" was #1 because on the 20th October it was at #26. Of course, they could still have performed on TOTP's because "Cos I Love You" had been released.

The 1st "Coz I Love You" performance on TOTP is listed to date 21.10.71, the next week it was audio only that the audience grooved to, as the record slowly climbed the chart to the top subsequent performances would later be reshown.

The sleeve art was designed by a fan. Chas decided to run a competition, held by The Sun newspaper and the band chose the winner from thousands of entries. Thankfully, it was used on the inside coz only God knows what the Teddy Bears have to do with Slade but surprisingly, the 1971 artwork by M. Webb has become as much a part of Slade as Noddy's topper?

Album Gatefold

"I have always thought the release of Slade Alive was both, a brave and strange choice for Chas Chandler and the group to have made. Considering at that stage in their career Slade had a few 45s, one of which had just managed to make the Top 20 and a studio LP which did nothing.

To build on the modest success of "Get Down With It", the accepted step would be another single and another studio album. The 45 would be Coz I Love You but they then release a Live album. I can't think of any other group who have done that.

In the meantime, following the accepted path of a studio album and the lack of original material the group had (as we are led to believe), I would suggest Chas got them to record their 'live' act as a studio album but for some reason the decision was made to go with a live album."

It is also strange in the fact that it was a single album. Most live albums, especially during the seventies, were double or sometimes even triple albums. It would have made perfect sense to include another disc which could have included Coz I Love You, as that was the groups #1 single at the time and Coming Home which Noddy referred to as "on our new album" on French TV. It's certainly food for thought?

The album cover has become an icon in Slade history. Instantly recognisable though not immediately obvious that it is in fact a posterized image of the band at a live performance. The photo was part of a shoot taken by Chris Walter at The Marquee Club in London's Wardour Street.

Slade Alive Vol II

The band's second Live Album, and titled "the follow-up to the commercially and critically successful 1972 Album, 'Slade Alive!' ", this collection, taken from the USA Autumn Tour of 1976 and the UK Spring Tour of 1977, also failed to make a chart appearance in the UK, as with the previous year's album, "Whatever Happened To Slade".

Nevertheless, "Slade Alive! 2" is an excellent live. Different from the first, the group having evolved and the public too. Slade goes from the club atmosphere to that of a concert hall.

In March 1976, the album “ Nobody's Fools ” was released, recorded in New York the previous year. Slade were performing concerts in the country to try to break into the American market which still remained closed to the glam-rocker group. Back from the United States, Slade lost popularity, the punk-rock fashion swept away everything in its path and glam rock gave up the ghost. Groups like Sweet , Wizzard or the old rocker Gary Glitter will fall by the wayside. Slade will continue on the voice of a more pure and hard rock by adding a hard rock to their sauce ( Worcestershire obviously! ) and the whole will give the album " Whatever Happened to Slade ". It will be a commercial failure despite good reviews, it will be considered the precursor album of the Grunge movement, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana will cite it as an influential album.

Following the commercial failure of the last album, Slade will continue to set fire in the concert halls and a new live album is born in 1978 with a melting pot of the titles of the tour in the United States in 1976 and in Great Britain in 1977 . The advantage of this live is that we find the group's hits that had not yet been released at the time of the first “ Alive! ". 

Slade's New Look 1978

Hyper boosted versions of " Take Me Back 'Ome ", " Mama Weer All Crazee Now " and " Cum On Feel The Noize ". Between each hits, the group will slip more recent songs, "Get On Up" with its drum riff and its short bass solo is the perfect title to attack the set, "Burning In The Heats Of Love" huge title which will be covered by Girlschool on their album 'Play Dirty' produced by Holder and Lea . "One Eyed Jack With Moustaches" with its wild boogie would knock the panes off the windows and the cover of "My Baby Left Me" rushes like an unbridled heavyweight and has nothing to do with the original version of Big Boy Crudup . 

Slade demonstrates well in this live album that they could unleash the small rooms and that they could master the biggest ones. Mind you, its a a live album that could have been longer with other hits like “ Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me ”, “ Coz I Luv You ” or even titles from the album 'Slade in Flame'. [extract from edeblocnot.]

This Slade post has been a long time coming. It has always been my intention to add some Slade to the blog, in particular their career breaking live album which introduced me to the band for the first time. Slade Alive! was nothing like other live albums being released at that time (some of which were either dubbed with studio enhancements or even worse, studio recordings with added fake audience interludes) and the raw energy in Slade's performances were breath taking for me.  Needless to say, Slade Alive! was on my turntable 24/7 for a long time. I think it was Peter Frampton's Comes Alive that finally broke the spell. 

Although Slade Alive Vol 2 didn't have the same affect on me as their first, I have always looked upon these two live albums as a pigeon pair, so how could I not post Alive Vol 2 here as well.

Both ripped from CD in FLAC, full album artwork for CD and Vinyl is included, along with artwork for a special CD release which included both albums (see above).    

Slade Alive!

A1 Hear Me Calling 5:20

A2 In Like A Shot From My Gun 3:10

A3 Darling Be Home Soon 5:35

A4 Know Who You Are 3:30

B1 Keep On Rocking 6:20

B2 Get Down With It 5:15

B3 Born To Be Wild 7:10

Slade Alive! Vol II

A1 Get On Up 5:39

A2 Take Me Bak 'Ome 4:14

A3 My Baby Left Me 2:32

A4 Be 3:50

A5 Mama Weer All Crazee Now 3:34

B1 Burnin' In The Heat Of Love 3:30

B2 Everyday 3:30

B3 Gudbuy T' Jane 4:42

B4 One-Eyed Jacks 3:20

B5 C'mon Feel The Noize 3:57

Slade Alive 1 & 2 Link (671Mb)

New Link 06/09/2023