The SLADE Box

Let joy be unbounded, let the trumpets sound and let me get to the CD player! O yes, the waiting is over and I am now the proud possessor of 'The SLADE Box', the long awaited four-disc anthology set. And it is marvelous.

Re-mastered sounds are washing over me. I've already heard some of the re-mastered tracks on the re-issued albums so it's great to hear tracks from albums not scheduled for release until next year. Four CDs with over 70 minutes of music on each. I'm working my way through the discs as I type.

The packaging is wonderful with a 72 page glossy booklet inside - it's virtually a book in its own right - with a long essay by Keith Altham about the band and it's full of glorious photos of the lads, including a series of photos from the 1974 tour of America. There's a big double page portrait pic of the band over the legend, 'This band is gooder than shit' attributed to Lester Bangs.

I'm discovering new SLADE songs - singles that weren't on the albums and, of course, the 'B' sides of those singles! I've discovered a new favourite - 'It's Alright Buy Me', a 'B' side from 1978 which sounds fresh and new and never-before heard!

In some respects it's quite a strange track selection - it might have been obvious to focus on the glory years of the early/mid '70s and the renaissance in the early '80s but this selection covers the full recording career. I'm pleased it does. The glory years have already largely been covered by the albums released so far (with the exception of 'Flame' which is due next year) so this anthology treats us to an odyssey of developments and changes in SLADE's music including singles that hardly troubled the charts but are all part of the legacy. And what a legacy it is.

As Nod would say, 'Keep on Rockin'!'