For those old enough..........T.REX or SLADE ?

ESBlonde

Slade alive was a big influence on me. I bought a used copy off my school chum. 
Lots of good bands have been mentioned, sweet and even the rubettes did lots of great stuff and lasted for decades as working units. 
I feel I should mention pilot too, superb guitar work.

Philtre

ESBlonde said:

I feel I should mention pilot too, superb guitar work.

It's now February so too late for that.

AlexC

Although I’m too young to have been contemporary to these guys I’m a fan of both. However, Slade were a great rock band who got heavier and were more diverse than Bolan.
I recently got a box set of the first 5 Tyrannosaurus Rex/T Rex albums and...er...they’re pretty dire tbh. Acoustic ramblings about elves and cloaks and fairy folk with spoken word poems read by John Peel. Bolan didn’t hit his stride until Electric Warrior which was his sixth album. Then, sadly, his work declined pretty quickly. I would say T Rex had a run of brilliant singles for a couple of years, but Slade were a quality live band who made decent albums.
But Chicory Tip were better than both. (I’m kidding)

JAYJO

thecolourbox said:

JAYJO said:

thecolourbox said:

Who was it that did Tiger Feet?

Think that was Mud.

That's right that's right that's right that's right

    LOL!         That's Neat That's Neat That's Neat That's Neat....

Dominic

DB1 said:

I've got to bring Wizzard into this. Ball Park Incident, See My Baby Jive, I wish It Could Be Christmas, Angel Fingers - classics to my young ears. Actually, classics to my much older ears these days.

Yes,brilliant .........I saw wizard about 15 years ago ,still great and Roy was still rocking' it
I was a big fan of The Move too
I think Roy was originally the instigator of ELO with Jeff Lynne and they fell out very early on ; a great band would have been even greater.

57Deluxe

my first album...

Jez6345789

Bolan Trex for me
But Bowie for the win.

@p90fool ;
i watched that Bowie early years and saw it as someone learning and experimenting in an era where record contracts were handed out to fledgling bands and artists as loads of labels got caught with their pants down and needed to sign young artists. Much of what was embryonic in that early stuff was channeled in to his big success simply more refined and focussed.

that said my mate went to school with him and I asked him did he stand out back then and he said nope totally unremarkable so obviously took a while to find his stride

scrumhalf

Philtre said:

ESBlonde said:

I feel I should mention pilot too, superb guitar work.

It's now February so too late for that.

No, it's okay. It's magic.

(which has a brilliant intro)

lasermonkey

T Rex easily, though Bowie was best.

Freebird

Blaendulais said:

Slade How Does it Fell one of the best songs ever

It's a treemendous song 

octatonic

p90fool said:

Bowie is not even in the running. I watched a documentary about his early years the other night, and if you've ever wondered why he's the only superstar living or dead who's never had his back catalogue plundered, remastered and re-released you should watch it.

He was unutterably shit, and would perform any terrible old hokum you can imagine. His only goal was fame within any niche he could carve, without the slightest interest in actual quality. 

I agree Bowie's early work (laughing gnome period) was utter shite.
Some artists take time to find themselves.
Was he careerist? Yes, of course- but no less than Jagger or Lennon.

Space Oddity to Hunky Dory to Ziggy to Thin White Duke periods were all amazing though.
He surrounded himself with great players as well and gave a lot of unknown players a platform.

I even don't mind some of the Tin Machine and electronic period work.
Blackstar is probably the best final album of any artist I can think of.

boogieman

MtB said:

Apparently Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody is the most listened to record in the world, and earns the band over £500,000 every year in royalties. 

Not “the band”, it was mentioned on the radio the other day that only Noddy Holder and Jim Lea get any royalties from Merry Xmas. Which is presumably why Dave Hill still plods on with his version of pseudo-Slade. 

ICBM

octatonic said:

Blackstar is probably the best final album of any artist I can think of.

I would say Queen’s Innuendo is better.

octatonic

ICBM said:

octatonic said:

Blackstar is probably the best final album of any artist I can think of.

I would say Queen’s Innuendo is better.

I like it but it is a bit cheesy in places.

Jez6345789

Blackstar is probably the best final album of any artist I can think of. 

And thats why the loss of Bowie is all the sadder for me as much as some of Tin machine and experimental stuff did not reach me. 

I always felt he had more to say and think if his body had not given out we may well have seen a great 2nd coming I always thought he knew when he needed to be commercial and accessible then he could go back to tinkering around his more fringe activities. 

A much missed artist

octatonic

Jez6345789 said:

Blackstar is probably the best final album of any artist I can think of. 

And thats why the loss of Bowie is all the sadder for me as much as some of Tin machine and experimental stuff did not reach me. 

I always felt he had more to say and think if his body had not given out we may well have seen a great 2nd coming I always thought he knew when he needed to be commercial and accessible then he could go back to tinkering around his more fringe activities. 

A much missed artist

Indeed.
What is slightly strange is I was born on his birthday- 8th January.
He died on our wedding anniversary - 10th January.
It is probably just a coincidence.

Fretwired

T-Rex although I'd go for the earlier incarnation. I recall playing pool with my best friend from school whilst listening to My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows around 1970 - he was a Bolan nut who sadly died last year. Bolan was in a different league to Slade who were mainly a singles chart act - good singles mind but patchy albums.

shrinkwrap

Bolan had star quality and came up with you’ve got a hub cap diamond star halo

Blimey- just did a check on what was in the singles and album charts of 1971 - mostly terrifying.. but John Kongos' Step On and Dave and Ansel Collins.

1971 must be the year I started hearing rock and prog and was never the same after.

barry2tone

shrinkwrap said:

1971 must be the year I started hearing rock and prog and was never the same after.

February '71 saw the the release of the Yes Album, and my ears were perked by new musical winds.

HAL9000

octatonic said:

p90fool said:

Bowie is not even in the running. I watched a documentary about his early years the other night, and if you've ever wondered why he's the only superstar living or dead who's never had his back catalogue plundered, remastered and re-released you should watch it.

He was unutterably shit, and would perform any terrible old hokum you can imagine. His only goal was fame within any niche he could carve, without the slightest interest in actual quality. 

I agree Bowie's early work (laughing gnome period) was utter shite.
Some artists take time to find themselves.
Was he careerist? Yes, of course- but no less than Jagger or Lennon.

Space Oddity to Hunky Dory to Ziggy to Thin White Duke periods were all amazing though.
He surrounded himself with great players as well and gave a lot of unknown players a platform.

I even don't mind some of the Tin Machine and electronic period work.
Blackstar is probably the best final album of any artist I can think of.

I rather suspect that, without Mick Ronson’s input, Bowie would not have got as far as he did. For me it’s Ronson’s guitar work on Ziggy Stardust that elevated a good album into a great album.