It's coming up to that time of year - and out comes this gem into our xmas setlist again and a chance to marvel at this songwriting.
Such an unexpected chord (for me) in the chorus - going from a G to a Bm - so far so diatonic - and then WALLOP - that Bb chord (..Everbody's havin..) before steadying the ship again onto the D.
Yes - overplayed it might be - and I realise this trick of borrowing from the parallel minor key has probably been done countless times by Bach, jazz cats etc.. but I still find it impressive they slipped this chord change in with the melody over the top and it's seamless.
The whole song is put together like a swiss watch.
Songwriting.
...she's got Dickie Davies eyes...
Comments
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Jim is poorly with prostate cancer. He recently sold off a load of his Slade memorabillia to fund his treatment.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
What is quite amazing there is Noddy's vocal performance- he is far more subtle than people first realise. A genuine vocal great....
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Listen to the lead break here at 2:30 -it's just perfect for the song...melodic, tasty, doesn't outstand it's welcome..
Slade - The Myzsterious Mizster Jones - YouTube
that's the point - you don't notice the "clever" chord change - it's just seamless. Doesn't draw attention to itself.
That makes two of us ....
It's Slade not Deep Purple.
In 70s glam bands they always had a flamboyant and or mental one.
Listen to the lead guitar parts in a song(merry christmas) with no solo and heavy keyboard parts. There's some decent little finger riffery going on.
Yes Jim was the multi instrumental song writing powerhouse but Dave played bass in the early days and is a half decent guitarist as well as being a visual foil when the front man is static at the Mic for large parts of the set.
On a tangential note, the most excellent all female tribute band Slady need a new guitarist for 2022 so if you know anyone point them their way
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Just to add to that, Jim Lea is a fairly decent lead guitar player. Check out his solo album Therapy and the live album from the only show he's played since quitting Slade. The live set is mainly covers, but Jim is excellent on this. As for the studio album, if it had been backed and promoted at the time by a major label, it may have been a hit. It's a very good commercial pop-rock album that showed that Jim had lost none of his songwriting prowess.