Disco de Slade: “Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply”

I still love pulling out my old cassette from high school and listening. Run Runaway is a Great, feel good tune, the drums at the start are incredible on a good sound system. If you like hard rock ballads like Sister Christian by Night Ranger, you'll love My Oh My. The other songs are hit and miss, and I agree with another review, probably not worth the high price here.

I saw Slade at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden in about 74, with a band called Aerosmith as opening act. Noddy and the boys just blew them away. What a show--I was exhilarated and exhausted. I like to think of myself as a pretty staid guy, (as you will see if you read my other reviews) whose taste doesn't go to much rock and roll, and if there, I like more sophisticated and skilled stuff like Richard Thompson and The Who. But wow, Slade knew how to rock, and this album, a return after several years of lesser material, was exploding dynamite.

It is not perfect. But it's close. That whole "Ready to Explode" stuff is so silly even I cannot bear it. With simple-minded songs and boom-boom tunes, if they don't work, boy they don't work. But the rest is utterly knock out rock and roll, visceral and pungent that absolutely prevents you from sitting still. I am almost ashamed to admit this is on my favorite LPs list, as it is sexist, rude, vulgar, coarse, raw and insulting. Certainly in Roger Kimball's causes of the end of civilization Slade would be near the top of his list. Yet I love them. Can't be in a bad mood with this stuff blaring.

If you enjoy ballads, you'll enjoy this album. My Oh My is an phenomenal song with Noddy Holder's electrifying voice complementing the piano playing of James Lea. C'est La Vie is another great ballad.

However, if you are looking for hardcore Slade music, you may want to stay clear of this album. Can't Tame a Hurricane is the only song that bears any resemblence to the Slade of old. In the Doghouse is awful and Ready to Explode never quite reaches the electrical potential of classic Slade.

I was on my way to Colorado Springs or Pueblo, on I-25 near the Air Force Academy, when I heard "Run Runaway" for the first time. (I'm surprised to discover now that the song got as high as #20.) Believe it or not, I had never heard of Slade until the Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply album came out in mid-1984; it was only then that I learned that Quiet Riot's "Cum on Feel the Noise" was a cover of a classic Slade tune.

Slade was huge in the UK before we could get any radio play in the states. A pity too because they had some great songs. This album was my first Slade and I immediately bought it on CD when it was released. To say it strayed from their style is no different than any other band's progression. Don't tell me you think the early Beatles sounded like the later Beatles. I still get pumped up when I unexpectedly hear Run Runaway on the radio. I played this numerous times at my friends when we had parties, everyone got into it. When I got married in 2004 we selected My Oh My as one of our reception songs. I would like to see the original members reunite for a show or tour before it's too late. I would like to see that.