SO HERE IT IS.... DISCUSSION (WARNING contains spoilers)

[admin]

"Somehow we found time to write and record some material as well, and again Chas had been very shrewd. As ‘Coz I Luv You’ was being released, he booked us in for three gigs at a small place in Piccadilly in London to make a live album. We did it with 300 people off the street, pulled in to come and have a laugh! We needed an audience, and they just went along with it. We had to enhance that by going in the corridors and clapping to overdub onto it!"

So the crowd on Slade Alive! is 'enhanced'?

[admin]

"We’d got our eyes on a Christmas single though, having missed the number one slot the year before, and also because we wanted a strong end to a year that had featured such triumph and tragedy. The song we chose came from a bit of a chance remark the previous year when Jim’s mother-in-law said to him that nobody seemed to write Christmas songs anymore. That set him off. Then Nod went home to his mom and dad’s one night and wrote the lyric in one go after having a few beers."

That seems to contradict Jim's version of the writing of MXE, which in turn contradicts Nod's usual statement that Nod recycled the chorus of 'Buy me a rocking chair' for the song.

[steveclassic]

"Somehow we found time to write and record some material as well, and again Chas had been very shrewd. As ‘Coz I Luv You’ was being released, he booked us in for three gigs at a small place in Piccadilly in London to make a live album. We did it with 300 people off the street, pulled in to come and have a laugh! We needed an audience, and they just went along with it. We had to enhance that by going in the corridors and clapping to overdub onto it!"

So the crowd on Slade Alive! is 'enhanced'?

So the audience in attendance over the three nights were not - as has been consistently stated since the album was released - fan club members who were invited to attend upon presentation of their membership cards at the door???

Really Dave???

"The World of Slade According to Dave"

[admin]

I think Dave was too busy "being Dave" at times to take in such details.
That comes out in the book in places.

[Chris]

The story has always been rubbish.. the sessions were widely advertised in the national press..limited to 2 tickets per person available to the 1st 500 applications..which covers the 300+ per night in the audience. The fan club probably got tickets as well plus the ususal liggers.

[sde]

Just goes to show not even 1 live album ever released officialy is truly live.
Go and see a band yourself or get a decent live bootleg if you want a real- deal.

[mds]

"Somehow we found time to write and record some material as well, and again Chas had been very shrewd. As ‘Coz I Luv You’ was being released, he booked us in for three gigs at a small place in Piccadilly in London to make a live album. We did it with 300 people off the street, pulled in to come and have a laugh! We needed an audience, and they just went along with it. We had to enhance that by going in the corridors and clapping to overdub onto it!"

So the crowd on Slade Alive! is 'enhanced'?

I think the Set of Six video or the Golder's Green bootleg probably offer a more accurate representation of audience reaction/response from that timeframe.

[bullit27]

Does it really matter??

[mugsybaker]

I think H has probably got his gigs mixed up. The Golders Green show definitely pulled in people from the street as Jim remembers on the Slade at the BBC sleeve notes.

Everyone else seems to remember the Command Studio shows as being done in front of fan club members.

So he may have got it wrong about the crowd overbubs.

[steveclassic]

I think H has probably got his gigs mixed up... Everyone else seems to remember the Command Studio shows as being done in front of fan club members... So he may have got it wrong about the crowd overbubs.

I confess to being cynical about what comes to light in Dave's book since it was announced he was writing it. And upon this revelation, my cynicism hasn't diminished.

[noizefeeler]

"Somehow we found time to write and record some material as well, and again Chas had been very shrewd. As ‘Coz I Luv You’ was being released, he booked us in for three gigs at a small place in Piccadilly in London to make a live album. We did it with 300 people off the street, pulled in to come and have a laugh! We needed an audience, and they just went along with it. We had to enhance that by going in the corridors and clapping to overdub onto it!"

So the crowd on Slade Alive! is 'enhanced'?

So the audience in attendance over the three nights were not - as has been consistently stated since the album was released - fan club members who were invited to attend upon presentation of their membership cards at the door???

Really Dave???

"The World of Slade According to Dave"

Actually Frank Lea told me just last Saturday in Wolves that he went to one of the three SA recordings - and at his one HE had to stand on the street and try and encourage the public to go into the show as it wasn't full.... So maybe the truth is it was Fan Club members and the general public who were there.

[noizefeeler]

I think H has probably got his gigs mixed up. The Golders Green show definitely pulled in people from the street as Jim remembers on the Slade at the BBC sleeve notes.

Everyone else seems to remember the Command Studio shows as being done in front of fan club members.

So he may have got it wrong about the crowd overbubs.

Just remembered, author & journalist, Richard Cox says he went to the SA recording that was used on the album. If you chat to him personally he tells how he got a coach of students together who came down from Derby for this recording. They were all drunk, and noisy, and they were the ones that can be heard on the album. They were not fan club members.

[Chris]

Richard wrote about it at the time. The review is around somewhere. This is the sort of stuff that should have been on the latest SA release.

[admin]

Does it really matter??

It's just new information.

[davidj64]

I think H has probably got his gigs mixed up. The Golders Green show definitely pulled in people from the street as Jim remembers on the Slade at the BBC sleeve notes.

Everyone else seems to remember the Command Studio shows as being done in front of fan club members.

So he may have got it wrong about the crowd overdubs.

Never be surprised by how little musicians remember about gigs (or footballers about matches for that matter).

[mds]

I think H has probably got his gigs mixed up... Everyone else seems to remember the Command Studio shows as being done in front of fan club members... So he may have got it wrong about the crowd overbubs.

I confess to being cynical about what comes to light in Dave's book since it was announced he was writing it. And upon this revelation, my cynicism hasn't diminished.

I don't imagine Dave's book will any more or less credible than Nod's or Don's let alone JWL's recollections in recent articles and interviews.
It doesn't surprise me that Chas would have had handclapping, boot stomping and shouting overdubbed on SA. He was all about showing Slade in the best possible light and if boosting audience reaction helped create the perception that Slade concerts were raucous events (which they were) then job well done. It is likely that there was some overdubbing of instruments as well.

[steveclassic]

...
I don't imagine Dave's book will any more or less credible than Nod's or Don's let alone JWL's recollections in recent articles and interviews.
It doesn't surprise me that Chas would have had handclapping, boot stomping and shouting overdubbed on SA. He was all about showing Slade in the best possible light and if boosting audience reaction helped create the perception that Slade concerts were raucous events (which they were) then job well done. It is likely that there was some overdubbing of instruments as well.

I'm not so sure Matt; for me, Lise's biography of Don had an authenticity and honesty to it that I felt was sadly lacking in Who's Crazee Now.

I do agree though, that after the success of GD&GWI and CILY, I would not have blamed Chas for incorporating some overdubbed hand clapping and boot stomping - if he felt it was needed - to SA! But I'm totally unconvinced there were any post recording overdubs of instruments. Aside from the proud "No Overdubs" stand that accompanied the album from both the band and the record company, a casual listen to the Granada Set of Six on the VBO DVD indicates to me that the playing on SA! is 100% authentic.

I appreciate that I may be considered somewhat naive in sticking with this thinking, however given both Nod and Don maintained the "no overdubs" line in their respective books, in the event that Dave claims otherwise (in relation to the music) in his new book - and to date I'm not aware that he has - I suspect that I myself, will be giving history the benefit of the doubt at the expense of Dave's memories.

[mds]

...
I don't imagine Dave's book will any more or less credible than Nod's or Don's let alone JWL's recollections in recent articles and interviews.
It doesn't surprise me that Chas would have had handclapping, boot stomping and shouting overdubbed on SA. He was all about showing Slade in the best possible light and if boosting audience reaction helped create the perception that Slade concerts were raucous events (which they were) then job well done. It is likely that there was some overdubbing of instruments as well.

I'm not so sure Matt; for me, Lise's biography of Don had an authenticity and honesty to it that I felt was sadly lacking in Who's Crazee Now.

I do agree though, that after the success of GD&GWI and CILY, I would not have blamed Chas for incorporating some overdubbed hand clapping and boot stomping - if he felt it was needed - to SA! But I'm totally unconvinced there were any post recording overdubs of instruments. Aside from the proud "No Overdubs" stand that accompanied the album from both the band and the record company, a casual listen to the Granada Set of Six on the VBO DVD indicates to me that the playing on SA! is 100% authentic.

I appreciate that I may be considered somewhat naive in sticking with this thinking, however given both Nod and Don maintained the "no overdubs" line in their respective books, in the event that Dave claims otherwise (in relation to the music) in his new book - and to date I'm not aware that he has - I suspect that I myself, will be giving history the benefit of the doubt at the expense of Dave's memories.

Steve,

I have no info that would support my statement about instrument overdubs; it is based more on the reality that during the course of an energetic performance with a lot of movement there is the probability that a bum note or two will emerge. If SA! is truly instrument overdub free then good on the boyz!
As for Don's bio I agree it is a more intimate narrative than Nod's but on the issue of MXE and the SA! audience he didn't add any additional insight.

[admin]

Slade Alive! just appears to have the boosted crowd noise. The band's performance is as it was on the nights.

[bullit27]

Does it really matter??

It's just new information.

Was more intended as a reaction on sde's comment...

[steveclassic]

Well, it's great that once again we appear to be having a robust discussion about the things that matter to us as Slade fans!

Have to admit that I really hope the biog Chris Charleworth's Omnibus Press commissioned does see the light of day, and that the author's will truly attempt to address some of the pressing questions and put them to the band members individually.

[admin]

Just goes to show not even 1 live album ever released officialy is truly live.
Go and see a band yourself or get a decent live bootleg if you want a real- deal.

The album has some boosted crowd noise. The band are as they were on the night.

[steveclassic]

Just goes to show not even 1 live album ever released officialy is truly live.
Go and see a band yourself or get a decent live bootleg if you want a real- deal.

The album has some boosted crowd noise. The band are as they were on the night.

"The album has some boosted crowd noise..."; according to Dave.

I was lucky enough tonight to have the time and space to have a good listen to Slade Alive!, and all I can say after listening to it is, if Chas Chandler felt the need to record and and integrate some additional crowd noise to bolster the album, then fair cop to him, coz as far as my ears are concerned, aside from the obvious edits between some of the songs, it all sounds pretty legit to these worn out old ears.

[micka]

Just goes to show not even 1 live album ever released officialy is truly live.

I often thought this sde, when I read about "live" albums

[admin]

You can hear the 'studio crowd noise' on the Salvo remasters as they don't fade the final track off at the very end. It finishes slightly after the real crowd sound. It makes no difference to me.

[Up the Chute]

This is fascinating stuff! Every great live album has had some tinkering, with the exception of Purple's Made in Japan - that's probably authentic because the band didn't give a toss about it until they heard it.

Thin Lizzy, Live & Dangerous: Dodgy backing vocals replaced, Southbound had audience added (it was a soundcheck), and some say some guitar parts were improved.

UFO, Strangers in the Night: Audience reaction authentic, but amplified (hear Doctor Doctor for proof); Mother Mary and one other (I'm a Loser?) recorded in the studio, audience imported; Rock Bottom a composite.

Led Zeppelin, Song Remains the Same: Most tracks are composites from two or three concerts; some of Plant's stage announcements are incomplete.

Mott the Hoople, Live: Bender's solo from Walking with a Mountain edited.

Slade, Alive 2: We all know the story about this one!

None of these facts/rumours spoils any of these albums, for me at least.