Oh well, okay (Elliott Smith) (LP 3818 - 3820)

Elliott Smith  XO (CD, Dreamworks Records, 1998) *****  

Elliott Smith  Figure 8 (CD, Dreamworks Records, 2000) ****  

Elliott Smith  From a Basement on the Hill (CD, Anti Records, 2004) ***  

Genre: Indie pop, indie folk  

Places I remember: HMV, Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Bottle Up and Explode! (XO)

Gear costume: Better Be Quiet Now (Figure 8)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Elliott Smith was a gifted musician who tragically took his own life in 2003. He was a member of Heatmiser for five years before embarking on a solo career in 1993/94. I don't have his first few solo albums, so we start with album #4 - XO, and the first for a major label - Dreamworks.

It's a gorgeous pop record - full of great tunes with Elliott's terrific lead vocals (often multi-tracked) providing an immediate dreaminess to the sound. Those inspired Beatley harmonies are a strong factor in my appreciation as well (try I Didn't Understand for instance).

Figure 8 was the last album released in his lifetime. He described it as "more fragmented and dreamlike", so it's hard not to hear it in those terms. Aside from those amazing harmony sequences, it sounds tougher to me, rather than dreamlike, but that's just me, I guess. 

The first posthumous release was From a Basement on the Hill. Planned as a double album, it was incomplete at his death. AllMusic says:  All of his trademarks are here -- his soft, sad voice, a fixation on '60s pop, a warm sense of melancholy -- delivered in a strong set of songs that stands among his best.

It certainly is the heaviest sounding of the three.

Where do they all belong? Elliott Smith was a creative guy who suffered in his short life - drugs and depression, and his death was tragic. He'd left behind an amazing sequence of albums. I'll be on the lookout for those first four albums for comparison to these last three. Plus: Heatmiser, an interesting alt rock band, have their own catalogue that is worth looking out for.

I am one (Smashing Pumpkins) (LP 3809 - 3817)

Smashing Pumpkins  Gish  (CD, Hut Records, 1991) ***  

Smashing Pumpkins   Siamese Dream (CD, Virgin Records, 1993)  ***** 

Smashing Pumpkins   Pisces Iscariot (CD, Virgin Records, 1994) ***

Smashing Pumpkins   Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (CD, Virgin Records, 1995) ****

Smashing Pumpkins   Adore (CD, Virgin Records, 1998) *****

Smashing Pumpkins   MACHINA/The Machines of God (CD, Virgin Records, 2000) **

Smashing Pumpkins   Zeitgeist (CD, Reprise Records, 2007) ***

Smashing Pumpkins   Oceania (CD, Martha's Music, 2012) ***

Smashing Pumpkins   Monuments to an Elegy (CD, Martha's Music, 2014) **

Genre: Grunge, rock, alt rock, prog rock 

Places I remember: Music store in Nelson (up to Adore), Marbecks Records (Adore)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: 1979 (Mellon Collie)

Gear costume: Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Mellon Collie), Today (Siamese Dream)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I first heard Gish via our neighbour's eldest son - Sam Sivak, in Nelson. He had a sampler and Gish was represented. I was knocked sideways by the tuneful, heavy, melodic rock music. The drummer was amazing, the bassist was fluid, the singer was unusual, the guitars were multi-layered and riff friendly. They sounded like a cross between Black Sabbath and The Beatles. I was sold.

Turned out the band had a cool name - Smashing Pumpkins. There's a hint of violence there but also cartoon like humour in smashing a pumpkin. Gish didn't disappoint when I bought a copy in Nelson. It's not perfect - a few of the end songs don't quite hit the heights of side 1 but side 1 is brilliant.

Who are Smashing Pumpkins? Billy Corgan is the frontman on guitar, vocals, James Iha is also on guitar, D'arcy Wretzky on that fluid bass, and Jimmy Chamberlin is the drummer.  

Their second album, Siamese Dream came with a great video clip for Today - the band (or maybe just main man Billy Corgan) knew Zabriskie Point! Excellent.

Siamese Dream is a more sustained/ coherent album. Butch Vig again produces a superb collection of sounds.

Pisces Iscariot is a collection of B-sides and outtakes recorded over several years, dating back as far as 1989. Billy Corgan is a prolific guy, and it was good to get these songs out there before they got too old. It also cleared the decks for their next album and the band's creative peak.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a tour de force - an embarrassment of riches as the band takes on a variety of looks over a long double CD album (28 songs over 2 hours plus). You have to admire the ambition, cheek and reach that emanates from the album.

All that plus it had a very commercial aspect - five singles were released from it - all very different in approach. It went multi-platinum, so the appeal of the band was vast and worldwide.

Adore was made under difficult circumstances - Billy Corgan's mother died during the sessions, and he was also going through a divorce, plus Jimmy Chamberlin left over his increased heroin habit. He was replaced by various drummers and a drum machine.

Given all that, how Adore turned out so well is beyond me, but it did. In many ways it's my favourite Smashing Pumpkin's album. There is plenty of gothic darkness but it's also done in an acoustic style some of the time which gives the album a real point of difference and an overall cohesive feel. 

MACHINA/The Machines of God became a bridge too far for me. It's a concept album and typically the band were in progressive mood but I feel they over-reached this time. Jimmy was back in the band, but D'arcy was gone (replaced by Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur), and the band was in the process of breaking up at this point.

There are certainly some excellent moments on the album like single The Everlasting Gaze, but there aren't enough of them to sustain my attention, and the concept ideas are baffling to me.

Better was Zeitgeist which came after a seven-year gap (that included Zwan - we'll get to that one eventually). Only Billy and Jimmy returned for the album, and although it got a mixed response from the critics, I actually liked the more mainstream rock moves on the album.

The next album on my list is the eighth Smashing Pumpkins studio album - Oceania. By this time, Billy Corgan is the only original member - with a variety of others filling in the drums/bass/guitar support roles. 

Critics saw it as a return to form (but it doesn't sound too different to Zeitgeist to my ears). It does return to more prog metal sounds (like Siamese Dream) and the songs are marginally more memorable, but I still like Zeitgeist!

The final album on my list is their ninth - Monuments to an Elegy. It's more of a solo album though, with Corgan employing electronica again. I find it annoying - it's not like Adore, so I won't be playing this one again much.

Where do they all belong? I'm not a completist, although at one time I could have been. I certainly own a lot of their CD singles up to MACHINA/The Machines of God. But beyond that album my interest waned. So I don't own a copy of their final album - Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. Nor do I have the albums that have followed it.

Happiness Stan (Small Faces) (LP 3807 - 3808)

Small Faces  Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (CD, Castle Records, 1968) *****  

Small Faces  Ultimate Collection (2CD, Sanctuary Records, 2003) ***** 

Genre: Pop

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: After Glow

Gear costume: Lazy Sunday, What'cha Gonna Do About It? (Ultimate Collection)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I have mentioned their Autumn Stone album before in the blog, but not their celebrated album of 1968 - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Famous for the circular packaging, some classic Small Faces songs and Stanley Unwin's off this planet links between songs.

I think of Small Faces as mostly a singles band, with one exception - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Even this album is weird though, with a variety of styles plus the Happiness Stan story featuring Stanley Unwin.

Amongst all this psychedelic weirdness is some amazing, inspired music. As such, it became the band's crowning achievement.

Where do they all belong? A best of compilation like Ultimate Collection is the best place to start. It's a double CD split between Decca sessions and Intermediate sessions. So, you get stone cold classics all over the place.

Rise up (Slim (LP 3806)

Slim  Drive Thru (CD, Wildside Records, 2001) ***  

Genre: NZ Music, indie rock 

Places I remember: Roger Marbeck gave me a promo copy of this album.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Real world

Gear costume: Bullet in My Hand

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Slim was a rock band from Christchurch, active in the late nineties until 2003, made up of Aaron Hogg (vocals, guitar), Donald McClure (vocals, bass), Scott Mason (drums), Simon Meehan (guitar).

They made some smart catchy singles, two of them represented in the selections above.

Where do they all belong? Amazingly, the band is still active in 2025.

We'll bring the house down (Slade) (EP 3795; LP 3796 - 3805)

Slade  Alive at Reading 1980 (CD, Salvo Records, 1980) *****  

Slade  We'll Bring the House Down (CD, Salvo Records, 1981) ****  

Slade  Till Deaf Do Us Part (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1981) ****  

Slade  Slade on Stage (CD, Salvo Records, 1982) *****  

Slade  The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1983) ***  

Slade  Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1984) ***  

Slade  Rogues Gallery (CD, Salvo Records, 1985) ** 

Slade  Crackers (Vinyl, BMG Records, 1985) *** 

Slade  You Boyz Make Big Noize (CD, Salvo Records, 1987) *** 

Slade  Feel the Noize: Slade Greatest Hits (CD, Polydor Records, 1997) ***** 

Genre: Hard rock

Places I remember: Fopp

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Dizzy Mama (We'll Bring the House Down)

Gear costume: Something Else medley (Alive at Reading), Ruby Red (Till Deaf Do Us Part)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: The eighties started off with Slade replacing Ozzy at Reading and killing it! The resulting EP was a six-track rock lesson for all the pretenders. Short sharp and brutal. Try the amazing version of Something Else during the medley! Slade was back in business part one.

They followed that up with the equally rocking We'll Bring the House Down. They take the energy from punk and blow it up all over these tracks - five retreads from Return To Base, and some new ones. Slade was back in business part two. It still sounds remarkably fresh in 2025. 

The guys were on a roll again with another album in 1981 - Till Deaf Do Us Part (their tenth studio album). No change in approach - just more great rock'n'roll from these seasoned campaigners. It's fairly amazing how they managed to maintain the quality rock through all these years.

Slade on Stage is their third live album - recorded at Newcastle City Hall, December 1981. Like the other two, Noddy whips the crowd into a frenzy, and the guys deliver superior hard rock. Opening song, Rock'n'Roll Preacher outdoes AC/DC! We'll Bring the House Down sounds like Motorhead!

Seems the motto for Slade at this point of their career is - play it faster, play it harder, and pummel the audience into submission. Three five-star live albums and one 5-star live EP! Pretty amazing!

Things get a little confusing in 1982/83 with The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome album first appearing and then being repackaged with some song changes a year later for the American market as Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply.

Apart from songs in common, each has a terrible title and a terrible cover! The actual sound is a further extension of Till Deaf Do Us Part. That is to say - terrific, even if it is aimed squarely at the American market - hence the special edition (Keep Your Hands Off...).

Rogues Gallery was their studio effort of 1985. A retro band look on the cover was okay and the songs - okay too, but that's about it and all with synths attached. Noooooo!! 

The band had never had much truck with keyboards prior to the early eighties but here was Jim Lea adding synths as per requirements for the necessary 'modern' soundscape. No thanks Jim! If they'd got rid of the slick production and those keyboards, the songs might have had a chance. Might have. They are pretty uninspired.

Now what? In four years, they'd gone from the highs of We'll Bring The House Down/ Till Deaf Do Us Part and Slade on Stage to the low of Rogues Gallery. Could they regroup again? Did they have the energy reserves to go again?

The bizarre answer was - Crackers. A Christmas party album, also of 1985. It's a nutty mix of the band's previous hits, some re-recorded songs and a selection of covers. According to the band it was a lot more of a fun project than Rogues Gallery. The run of dodgy cover art continued though.

An interesting side story to the recording: While recording Crackers, Hill discovered Victor Herman, a busker, who was playing bagpipes in Oxford Street, London. As the band were due to record their own version of "Auld Lang Syne", Hill invited Herman to add an authentic touch to the recording. Herman agreed, and when he'd finished recording his part, Slade gave him an envelope with a sizeable sum of money in it, along with their thanks and best wishes. Two days later, the envelope was returned by post, along with a letter from Herman, saying that he'd enjoyed himself so much in the studio that he didn't want the money. Slade later invited him to their Christmas party on 18 November 1985 – the release day of the album. At the party, Slade presented Herman with one of the band's Gold Discs as a keepsake (Wikipedia).

Unlike Rogues Gallery the band are able to inject some fun into these tracks and that's infectious as it's a raucous, loud, singalong album. Hey! It's Slade - what did you expect? 

Their final studio album as the original foursome was 1987's You Boyz Make Big Noize. That's fer sure! The synths raise their head again unfortunately, so I rate this as similar to Rogues Gallery. Not a great end to their studio career.

There are a large number of greatest hits compilations out there. I bought one back in the late nineties - Feel The Noize. It has a good range of singles from Get Down and Get With It onwards. They were a terrific singles band and so a compilation like this is a no brainer.

Where do they all belong? As mentioned previously, I'm still looking for a copy of Whatever happened to Slade. I'm also keen to find a copy of Jim Lea's autobiography, having read Dave Hill and Noddy's effort, plus the biography of Don Powell.

Genesis (Slade) (LP 3787 - 3794)

Ambrose Slade  Beginnings (CD, Salvo Records, 1969) ***  

Slade  Play It Loud (CD, Salvo Records, 1970) *** 

Slade  Slade Alive! (Vinyl/ CD, Polydor Records, 1972) ***** 

Slade  Slade Live at the BBC (2CD, Salvo Records, 2009) ****

Slade  Slade in Flame (CD/DVD, Salvo Records, 1974/2015 reissue) ***

Slade  Nobody's Fools (Vinyl, Polydor Records, 1976) ****

Slade  Slade Alive, Vol. 2 (Vinyl/CD, Barn Records, 1978) *****

Slade  Return to Base (Vinyl, Barn Records, 1979) ***

Genre: Rock, pop 

Places I remember: Fopp (Beginnings/ Play it Loud/ Live at the BBC/ Slade in Flame/ Alive Vol 2); DJ Records for my original Slade Alive!, Chaldon Books and Records for the UK version with a gatefold cover and JB Hi Fi for the CD; Real Groovy (Nobody's Fools/ Return to Base).

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hear Me Calling (Slade Alive!)

Gear costume: Know Who You Are (Slade Alive!) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Image wise it was a rough beginning but musically there are plenty of great indications about both where they were coming from, and the direction they were going to in the seventies. This post will feature their very productive seventies period. I'll get to the patchy eighties and beyond in the subsequent post.

Beginnings, where they look like typical sixties hipsters from the black country, is well named. Ambrose Slade, as they were named after being 'N Betweens since 1966, were well on their way to becoming Slade. Incredibly they had the same lineup since 1966! 

The album had a few promising self-written songs as well as some patchy covers. The Zappa one is terrific (Ain't Got No Heart), as is Knocking Nails Into My House (The Idle Race) but the Beatle cover is a weird choice (Martha, My Dear). Even so - the Fabs inspiration is evident on the album, and they even sound close to Badfinger style power pop at times.  

Play It Loud has them in their misguided skinhead phase (not their idea, but they went along with Chas Chandler's instructions). The rudiment of their sound is there, and Noddy's vocals are sounding more like Noddy's vocals. There were more original songs this time - Know Who You Are was a reworked Genesis from Beginnings, and one of my favourite Slade songs.

Those two albums would come much later, however. My first taste of Slade was via singles and the radio. Coz I Luv You and Look Wot You Dun paved the way for Take Me Bak 'Ome. After that I had to buy Slade Alive! and that wuz me dun. A Slade fan for evermore.

It's hard to understate the impact the album had on me as a teenager. Hear Me Calling is perfect and from then on it's an adrenalin rush (even Darling Be Home Soon is a muscular version) culminating in the earth shattering version of Born To Be Wild. Lightning CAN be caught in a bottle!

I listened to the whole thing hundreds of times in my bedroom, a million light years away from England's Command Theatre Studio, but I loved this racket all the same.

It was a no brainer to get Slayed? and Old New Borrowed and Blue when they came out (both of them have already featured on the blog).

In 2009 Salvo released a live retrospective double CD - Slade Live at the BBC. The first disc has songs recorded for various BBC sessions between 1969–72, along with Radio One jingles recorded in 1973–74. The second disc is a twelve-song set recorded live at the Paris Theatre, London, in August 1972. The guys perform all of those BBC sessions with gusto!

As a manager, Chas Chandler followed The Beatles playbook, so American tours followed UK success (but they failed to replicate the Fab's success there), and a Hard Day's Night style film was his next agenda item. Except, rather than a jolly hijinks caper, Slade In Flame was a gritty look at the rise and fall of a fictional sixties band - Flame.

It saw the band changing style - adding horns and a different feel, moving away from the successful formula of Slade Alive! and Slayed? I like the changes and there's still some straight ahead rock (Them Kinda Monkeys) as well as some quality ballads (Far Far Away, How Does It Feel), but commercially it wasn't as successful. 

Nobody's Fools is a return to what the band does best - power pop. Yes, they were aiming at an American audience, but this varied collection is especially strong. Jim Lea, Don Powell and Noddy regard it as their favourite studio album and I can see why. It gets better and better with time.

So does Slade Alive, Vol. 2. It's a triumph from start to finish. Everyone plays out of their skin but Dave Hill's lead guitar work is exceptional on this live album. The weird thing is that the world didn't care, and this amazing live set went unheralded in the late seventies. I guess the boys were unhappy, but they kept on doing what they do best - playing heavy rock and tearing up concert venues. Slade Alive, Vol. 2 is a fantastic record of their show.

The guys were undaunted even though Whatever Happened to Slade?* failed to sell as their albums had done in the past and ended the seventies with their eighth studio album - Return to Base. It's generally an unloved album, selling poorly and not well promoted at the time. Punk had shaken everything up and Slade were seen as a hard rocking anachronism by many.

Where do they all belong? *Still looking for a copy of 1977's Whatever Happened to Slade? Eighties and beyond coming next. Whatever would become of Slade?

Living in the seventies (Skyhooks) (LP 3786)

Skyhooks  The Skyhooks Tapes (Vinyl, Mushroom Records, 1977) *****  

Genre: Pop, rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Let It Rock

Gear costume: Revolution

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: This album has a unique place in my collection. I had to buy a second copy because of an event that led to a personal epiphany at Auckland University in 1977.

While at varsity, I had wandered down town, bought a copy of this Skyhooks compilation, and returned to the university library. I put the album (along with a second album I'd bought) in my bag and left it in a cubby hole in the baggage storage room outside the library.

After studying for a while I returned to the storage room and 'my' cubby hole to find that both albums had been stolen. The epiphany was an 'everybody cheats' moment. Naively, it hadn't dawned on me that dishonest people attended Auckland University! But now I knew. 

Eventually, I had to rebuy a copy to wipe away the stain of that memory. The album itself is a fantastic collection of their best work. These guys knew how to write hit songs. They made living in the seventies a lot of fun with catchy, beautifully played songs, and they had a charismatic lead singer to boot. Go Shirl my boy!

Where do they all belong? As mentioned - The Skyhooks Tapes is a crucial part of my collection.