Slade - Slade in Flame - Soulfood Music Distribution / DVD

When Slade embarked upon their one and only movie 1974, fans and critics alike were expecting something akin to a Glam Rock update of The Beatles 'A Hard Days Night', released a decade earlier. After all, in the dark days of a Britain beset by strikes, power cuts and a collective musical identity crisis, Slade were the ultimate good time band: irreverent, loud and armed with a terrific songbook of singalong stompers.

However, expectations were confounded upon the release of the film. Gritty realism, exposing the mythology of band life in the late Sixties, was the order of the day, and Slade in Flame is alle the better for it.

In the mid Seventies Glam Rock, a movement spearheaded by Slade, alongside T.Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music and The Sweet was on the wane and for a period lifeless prog. rock filled the nation's stadia and concert halls and the aforementioned pioneers were replaced on the charts by personality free popsters (as opposed to popstars) one hit wonders and novelty acts (at least until the onset of punk a couple of long years later).

Now released for the first time on DVD, including a newly recorded interview with Noddy Holder providing fascinating insight, this marvellously entertaining time capsule is set to be reassessed once more. As scripted rock and roll films go, this is destined to join the hallowed ranks of A Hard Days Night, The Girl Can't Help It and The Monkees' Head at the top of the list.