Nobody's Fools



This album is mainly known as Slade's "American album". It was recorded during Slade's self-imposed exile from the UK during 1975 and 1976.

To say that the album is an attempt to create a sound that US radio programmers would warm to is an understatement. It is difficult to review the album separately from a basic narrative of where they were at in their career at the time.

Previously, Slade had had limited success in the USA and their small following was gained via word of mouth following live shows (often supporting clearly inferior acts that they wouldn't have dreamed of having on three acts below them on a bill in the UK).

Being hailed previously as 'The New British Beatles' has served to get their prospective audiences backs up and, to be honest, did them very few favours at all with radio and concert promoters.

The band had decided, along with Chas Chandler, that an all-out assault on the only market that they hadn't conquered so far was the only way forward. They had done a series of short US tours previously, but going home to tour at the point where their US presence was beginning to make a difference didn't make sense to them. They felt the UK was safe territory and that they could afford a 'year out'. . Whether or not that was correct is debatable.

The group have spoken many times since of the fact that they were 'going stale'. Whatever the actual truth of the matter, the whole 'Nobody's fools' album displays a huge desire to radically change the band and it's sound. The band certainly achieved that objective and the results covered a wide spectrum of styles and gave Slade a new lease of life, if not the chart placings that the album deserved.

The title track, 'Nobody's fool' features a strident piano intro from Jim Lea (edited on the 45 release) and double tracked guitars from Dave throughout. The beat is a little more disco-fied than usual for Slade and the presence of girl backing singers let you know this is a quite different Slade to that we previously knew and loved. The single was released to coincide with their 10th anniversary celebrations and, without a supporting tour, failed to set the charts alight. Another single release that suffered from both sides being on the album.

'Do the dirty' is slightly 'spaced out' funk rock. Nicely and tightly arranged, but with largely meaningless lyrics, the band were pandering to the stoned audiences thay had seen on their tours.

'Let's call it quits' showed that the band were absorbing their influences from what was happening around them in the US. In the case of 'Quits', they ended up settling out of court with Allen Toussaints publishers. Despite some very unsubtle innuendoes, the song did respectably in the UK charts, supported by a striking video. If Slade ever showed any signs of being stale, it's on this weary effort.

'Pack up your troubles' is a whole different story. The band again sound like they are enjoying themselves. Paul Prestotino's Dobro guitar adds some very nice slide touches and the acoustically driven song chugs along very nicely with a good-time feeling to it.

'In for a penny' was another single, written in predominantly minor keys and without a chorus. The guitar break that Dave Hill plays on this song has to be one of his finest ever. Harmonium and jazzy sounding bass, plus melodic trademark Slade backing vocals make this an almost irrisistable, if slightly gloomy, record. It charted respectably in the UK, mainly because people were in the habit of buying Slade records and also because they appeared on UK TV to support it.

'Get on up' showed that the band hadn't forgotten at all who they were and what made them great. This took it's place in Slade's live set for a number of years to come. The backing vocals are a definite nod in the direction of the soul style vocals that you would hear on the radio over there (check out David Bowie's 'Young Americans' for a comparison). Again the girls voices (again, Tasha Thomas multi-tracked) enhance the song, rather than detracting from it. One of the album's great successes and practically the only song to survive for any length of time in the Slade live show.

'LA Jinx' deals with problems that the band encountered whenever they played in Los Angeles. The guitars on this are excellent. It doesn't sound at all like the Slade we knew up to this point until the chorus kicks in. If the object of the exercise was to show how different they could be, they were succeeding.

'Did ya mama ever tell ya?' is neat slice of what Nod referred to later as 'Wolverhampton reggae'. The band go all bluebeat on us and Tasha Thomas adds neat backing vocals throughout. A pleasant enough effort. It possibly didn't make sense to UK fans at the time, but it wasn't specifically meant to.

'Scratch my back' is soaked in innuendo and is a restrained rocker, with Nod in fine voice. Dave's guitar style is economical, while Nod's remains simple and solid. Jim's bass playing on the whole record is also simplified from his usual style in an attempt to reach out to US radio.

'I'm a talker' is as far from Slade as it is possible to get - drug and alcohol references abound - this is a party song after all. Only Dave's agile double-tracked guitars remind you that this is Slade. It sounds much more like Noddy Holder guesting on someone else's record.

The final song on the original release; 'All the world is a stage' is many fans favourite on the album. This was a song recgnisable as being by Slade, even though it was mainly keyboard driven. The lyrics are loosely based on odd quotes from Shakespeare and the comments in the booklet accompanying this CD try to make out that the song is 'pretentious'..... well, make your own mind up! Nod bows out , thanking the audience for being wonderful before some familiar sound effects kick in.

Bonus tracks:

'Thanks for the memory' was released shortly after the 'Flame' movie was released and was the single at the time of the 'Flame' tour, just before the band went over to the USA. If it couldn't go on the Flame CD, then it does really belong here. Slade go all instrumentally complex, get some rude lyrics banned and write one of their finest choruses ever. A long song and a great listen. The remastering reveals an extra piano part that seems to have been somewhat submerged in the mix previously.

The b-side to that single was 'Raining in my Champagne'. It features Nod in excellent voice. The band basically reprise 'Twist and shout' to great effect. They sound like they are enjoying themselves.

'Can you just imagine' (the b-side of 'In for a penny') is all about the making of the Slade film 'Flame' and spiritually belongs on that album, even though it was written some time after the film was finished!! A nice tight track, with good lyrics and again a few good Dave Hill guitar parts. Nice to hear a pristine copy again.

'When the chips are down' is another reasonably obscure b-side (to 'Let's call it quits'). The band must have been fond of this song, as they used different lyrics when the song became the theme song for a BBC Insight special ('Six days on the road'). They have obviously jammed their way through this song to get a nice loose feel before the song breaks down into a quiet section towards the end, ended by one of Don Powell's most forceful drum rolls before Nod's voice incites further anarchy. The re-mastering certainly helps this song come across as powerfully as it does.