Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody: Party Hits

  by Fiona Hutchings

published: 11 / 12 / 2009

---

Review

December, time of office parties turn punch ups, battered credit cards, comedy jumpers and the only month it seems wholly appropriate to own and play a Slade album. The much maligned Midlands foursome have been been around now for more than 40 years, believe it or not, and tracks such as 'Merry Xmas Everyone' with Noddy Holder's raspy shriek of "Its Christmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas" has become as traditional as mince pies. Its appearance on the radio and as you trawl round the shops is a way of heralding the coming festivities. So what do you get in this twenty track party album? Aside from the obvious opener there is a fair bit of dodgy covering. 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', the soft rock version, would be fairly inoffensive accompanying your tussle in Boots whilst buying your Gran smellies she neither wants of uses. But on your stereo at home, not so great. Ditto 'Here's to... (The New Year)'. And then there are the tracks which explain why they scored eleven top 5 hits between 1971 and 1974. The interesting spelling aside 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now' and 'C'mon Feel The Noize' are well crafted pop songs which have stood the test of time. But the gem of this and indeed any Slade collection is 'Coz I Love You', a song that sounds as fresh as it did in 1971 when Slade were the elder brothers of glam to the pixie prince Marc Bolan. I always forget this track is even by Slade. The vocals are silky compared to Noddy's normal style. It bounces along beautifully for the minutes until the la la conclusion. This album is worth buying for this track alone. Repackaging their greatest hits and presenting it as a Christmas party album is an effective if somewhat cynical ploy, but if you don't own a Slade album then for December at least it's time you did.

Track Listing:-

1 Merry Xmas Everybody
2 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
3 Mama Weer All Crazee Now
4 Let The Good Times Roll/Feel So Fine
5 Coz I Luv You
6 Gudbuy T' Jane
7 Were Really Gonna Raise The Roof
8 Cum On Feel The Noize
9 My Baby Left Me But That's Alright Mama
10 Skweeze Me Pleeze Me
11 Let's Have A Party
12 Hey Ho Wish You Well
13 Let's Dance
14 I'm A Rocker
15 My Oh My (Swing Version)
16 Standing On The Corner
17 Do You Believe In Miracles
18 All Join Hands
19 Okey Cokey
20 Here's To ... (The New Year)

Band Links:-

http://www.slade.uk.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSlade
https://twitter.com/sladenews
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slade

Label Links:-

http://www.umusic.co.uk/
http://www.universalmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/UniversalMusi
https://twitter.com/umg