Review Summary: Old but not forgotten; new but quite good
The next proper album that followed the successful
Slayed?, as it may be clear from the title, turned out to be disparate. And it is not like the band lost its fervor or its predecessor was a fluke. Quite the opposite. We see a practically fully realized attempt to diversify its repertoire and somewhat move away from the image of tough rockers.
The album was recorded during heavy touring, and it was darkened by an incident that put existence of the band and the life of one of its bandmembers into doubt. Drummer Don Powell was involved in a near-fatal car crash and spent weeks recovering. As a result, he managed to do it, though not fully, and returned to the ranks, which allowed the band to finish recording. And, despite all of this, the LP sounds light and easy.
The record starts off fast and loud. Even though it is a cover of the Rosco Gordon song from 1959,
Just Want a Little Bit as performed by Slade is an evolutionary jump from rock ‘n’ roll to blues and hard rock in miniature. A great opening is followed by an enjoyable and warm power pop of
When the Lights Are Out (no wonder it was covered by
Cheap Trick in 2009).
On the whole, the album includes several nods to the past, both in stylization to honky-tonk of the 1950s (
Find Yourself a Rainbow) and to power pop, now from the 1960s, with fat basslines and bouncy keyboards (
Miles Out to Sea). A country rock like
How Can It Be feels like an unpublished cut from the early period
The Beatles, even though it is a lot more muscular.
Everyday, which was released as one of the singles, is a surprising ballad reminiscent of
Queen, yet Holder’s vocals make it rougher compared to what the latter one would do. At the end of the day his singing is more suitable for tracks like
We’re Really Gonna Raise the Roof and
Don’t Blame Me, with their mix of rock ‘n’ roll and hard rock (although they turned out to be a bit too loud and rather lackluster). Luckily, they are easily overshadowed by
Do We Still Do It,
My Friend Stan and
Good Times Gals, all-around excellent and fast-moving glam rock cuts.
In the end it can be summed up that while
Old New Borrowed and Blue is not a precise torpedo like
Slayed?, it definitely demonstrates onward progress on the part of the band. They not only found themselves but also refuse to tread water preferring instead to find new (and quite often successful) musical areas. And through this perspective we can see an addition to the list of Slade’s classic albums.
