Slade In Flame
Encyclopedia
Slade In Flame is a 1975 film starring the members of the band Slade
. In 2007, BBC film critic Mark Kermode
called it the "Citizen Kane
of rock musicals" and included its soundtrack among the 50 greatest soundtracks in cinema's history.
Record Mirror magazine voted the film at #4 on the top 10 best films in February 1976.
A paperback book was released, based on the film, written by John Pidgeon.
The film's book peaked at #3 in the best selling paperbacks according to the Sunday Times chart around April/May 1975. It was the largest printings that the published Panther had done for home market which was 250,000 copies.
), and the other, The Undertakers, fronted by Stoker (Noddy Holder
). Flame are formed from the two bands, with Charlie (Don Powell
) joining on drums, making up the same line-up as the real-life Slade. They are picked up by marketing man Robert Seymour (Tom Conti
) and with the help of publicity stunts the band's fortunes improve, but their former agent (played by Johnny Shannon) stakes a claim to their earnings, and uses
violence to try to get his way. The band members tire of the music business and the band breaks up.
was the experiment in the title but killed off after 8 minutes) before accepting Slade In Flame, an interpretation of the music industry.
Slade's soundtrack to the film was made up of Slade songs that had been kicking around but had not yet been recorded or published. The lyrics to many of the songs were re-worked to fit with the movie storyline. The movie's title track "How Does It Feel" was the first song Jim Lea
ever wrote.
Many scenes in the film, such as the lead singer of one band being locked in a coffin (which happened in real life to Screaming Lord Sutch
) and another being "roughed up" by associates of his former agent who still had a claim on the band were drawn from real events which occurred to groups of that period, but not necessarily Slade themselves. Slade became concerned that fans would consider Slade In Flame the true story of Slade so when the band returned to gigging after the release of the movie Noddy Holder would often explain on stage that "We wuz only acting, me and Jim is friends really".
Slade often cite that the amount of time that the making of the film took cost Slade and removed them from the eye of the British public, and could have contributed to their chart decline, and that the gritty “reality" of the movie may have done Slade more harm than good.
Slade In Flame has been released in VHS and DVD form, and was re-mastered and released in its original Cinemascope wide-screen format on DVD for the first time in 2007. The set also featured the album and the film together.
In a 1986 Slade fan club magazine interview with guitarist Dave Hill, Hill was asked about another Slade movie. Hill replied "I think if we did another one it would be different anyway. If we do a tour and get another album away - if things work out this time, we would probably have time to do another film. I'd like to do something extremely funny. We were in fact offered one about a year ago with the late Leonard Rossiter
. It didn't come off because they didn't get the money together. The parts in it were great. They actually wanted an older group to play the part. It was a spy film with Ronnie Corbett
in it - it was really funny. I fancied it, though it didn't come off. You never know, it might crop up again."
Guests in attendance were Lynsey de Paul, Chas Chandler, Alan Lake and his wife Diana Dors, Lulu, Roy Wood, Sweet, Gary Glitter, Alan Price and his wife, Kiki Dee, Rosko, Troggs and their wives, Jeff Relle, Colin Blunstone, Susan Hanson, Barry Blue, Mud, Bill Oddie, Arrows, Suzi Quatro and Pilot.
Upon release, Sounds magazine wrote "This film suffers less than most from the obvious imbalance of having musicians in the lead roles, surrounded by experienced actors. Slade play themselves at least as well as they usually do, and in Noddy Holder in particular, they have a natural scene-stealer. 'Flame' is basically the same old story, told more accurately and wittingly. Unlike "Stardust", it has strong music and stage image at the centre of it all, proving that Slade haven't lost their touch, and the music shines through."
Disc magazine at the time of release wrote "Before the film has been released, the album has already sold over 170,000 copies. The book is a different story again. To produce its paper, 550 trees were cut down, which weighed in at just under 30 tons. A quarter of a million copies have already been printed. It is the largest print that the book publishers, Panther, have done for the home market alone, in their entire history. I found the film interesting, purely to judge Slade's acting talents. Noddy came out best. He obviously found the whole thing a cinch, and was surprisingly natural. Don was good too. Jim was runner-up, and gave a fair performance. A film that Slade fans can't miss, a film that will make very interesting viewing if you like to see a handful of scenes that go behind the making of a pop star. Judge for youself!"
Joe Geesin of Get Ready to Rock wrote "Slade – you either love them or hate them, but if you’re a fan this DVD is essential viewing. Issued in the USA, it’s well worth picking up, because the music at least ends up pretty good, and the gags are good too. Set in the late 60s, the story depicts band life on the road, drawing on the many experiences of manager and former Hendrix manager and Animal Chas Chandler. There are also some parallels with the embryonic Slade, who were known at the time as The ‘N Betweens. The basic story follows two struggling (and actually quite piss poor) bands playing a mixture of god knows what. They could be playing a wedding one night and a bingo hall the next, while holding down day jobs. There’s the usual banter and rivalry; the scene where Noddy Holder (lead singer of The Undertakers) is locked in his coffin on stage by Dave Hill’s rival band is a nod towards one of Screaming Lord Sutch’s mishaps, a scene rightly sent up by Spinal Tap and it brings a few deserved laughs here. Blink and you miss the band's break up and amalgamation, but you suddenly get some decent music and the band start their road to success, gigs, records and etc."
After the film was played on British TV for the first time on Channel, 12 December 1987, many reviews were released from the British press. Daily Mail wrote "Though a top band, Slade never cut much ice with rock snobs; ironic that they should star in one of the best ever rock films from this side of the Atlantic. The play a Northern group packaged and hyped by Tom Conti's slick promoter all the way to disaster - a telling tale of the sixties music biz."
The Sun gave a fair rating and wrote "Remember sideburns, flares and awful rock music? Slade do - and the Seventies pop group decided to base a whole film around them."
Today wrote "The pop group Slade in surprisingly sharp satire about the rise and fall of a band - not entirely unlike themselves. With Tom Conti, Johnny Shannon and Noddy Holder leading the stomp on numbers like "Far Far Away
".
London Evening Standard wrote "Slade, Tom Conti, Johnny Shannon. Old hat story of a pop groups rise and fall given some mild interest by the clash between the band and the manager's background. Otherwise listen to the soundtrack."
The Guardian wrote "A shrewdly discerning examination of the mid-Sixties pop music scene using the rise and fall of a band played by Slade to comment sharply on media manipulation and the strain of snatched success. Also starring Tom Conti and directed in 1974 by Richard Loncraine."
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
. In 2007, BBC film critic Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
called it the "Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
of rock musicals" and included its soundtrack among the 50 greatest soundtracks in cinema's history.
Record Mirror magazine voted the film at #4 on the top 10 best films in February 1976.
A paperback book was released, based on the film, written by John Pidgeon.
The film's book peaked at #3 in the best selling paperbacks according to the Sunday Times chart around April/May 1975. It was the largest printings that the published Panther had done for home market which was 250,000 copies.
Synopsis
Slade In Flame charts the history of "Flame" a fictitious group in the early 1970s who are picked up by a marketing company and taken to the top, only to break up at their zenith. The film begins with the future members of Flame playing in two rival bands, one with a singer named Jack Daniels (Alan LakeAlan Lake
Alan Lake was an English actor, best known as the third husband of Diana Dors.-Biography:Lake was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire on 24 November 1940...
), and the other, The Undertakers, fronted by Stoker (Noddy Holder
Noddy Holder
Neville John "Noddy" Holder MBE is an English musician and actor. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist with the rock band Slade....
). Flame are formed from the two bands, with Charlie (Don Powell
Don Powell
Don Powell is a drummer who founded the English glam rock group, Slade.- Biography :As a child Powell joined the Boy Scouts where he became interested in the drums after being asked to join the band on a Sunday morning parade. After Etheridge Secondary Modern School he studied Metallurgy at...
) joining on drums, making up the same line-up as the real-life Slade. They are picked up by marketing man Robert Seymour (Tom Conti
Tom Conti
Thomas "Tom" Conti is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.-Early life:Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious...
) and with the help of publicity stunts the band's fortunes improve, but their former agent (played by Johnny Shannon) stakes a claim to their earnings, and uses
violence to try to get his way. The band members tire of the music business and the band breaks up.
Background and release
Slade were offered a number of suggestions for a movie screenplay (such as "The Quite A Mess Experiment" a comedy reworking of the Quatermass Experiment, where Dave HillDave Hill
Dave Hill is an English musician, who is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist in the English glam rock group, Slade. The music journalist, Stuart Maconie, commented "he usually wore a jumpsuit made of the foil that you baste your turkeys in and platforms of oil-rig-derrick height...
was the experiment in the title but killed off after 8 minutes) before accepting Slade In Flame, an interpretation of the music industry.
Slade's soundtrack to the film was made up of Slade songs that had been kicking around but had not yet been recorded or published. The lyrics to many of the songs were re-worked to fit with the movie storyline. The movie's title track "How Does It Feel" was the first song Jim Lea
Jim Lea
Jim Lea , is an English musician, most notable for playing bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, and singing backing vocals in Slade.-Career:...
ever wrote.
Many scenes in the film, such as the lead singer of one band being locked in a coffin (which happened in real life to Screaming Lord Sutch
Screaming Lord Sutch
David Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
) and another being "roughed up" by associates of his former agent who still had a claim on the band were drawn from real events which occurred to groups of that period, but not necessarily Slade themselves. Slade became concerned that fans would consider Slade In Flame the true story of Slade so when the band returned to gigging after the release of the movie Noddy Holder would often explain on stage that "We wuz only acting, me and Jim is friends really".
Slade often cite that the amount of time that the making of the film took cost Slade and removed them from the eye of the British public, and could have contributed to their chart decline, and that the gritty “reality" of the movie may have done Slade more harm than good.
Slade In Flame has been released in VHS and DVD form, and was re-mastered and released in its original Cinemascope wide-screen format on DVD for the first time in 2007. The set also featured the album and the film together.
In a 1986 Slade fan club magazine interview with guitarist Dave Hill, Hill was asked about another Slade movie. Hill replied "I think if we did another one it would be different anyway. If we do a tour and get another album away - if things work out this time, we would probably have time to do another film. I'd like to do something extremely funny. We were in fact offered one about a year ago with the late Leonard Rossiter
Leonard Rossiter
Leonard Rossiter was an English actor known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British comedy television series Rising Damp , and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin...
. It didn't come off because they didn't get the money together. The parts in it were great. They actually wanted an older group to play the part. It was a spy film with Ronnie Corbett
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, OBE is a Scottish actor and comedian of Scottish and English parentage who had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the British television comedy series The Two Ronnies...
in it - it was really funny. I fancied it, though it didn't come off. You never know, it might crop up again."
Reception
The premiere of the movie was held at The Metropole Theatre, Victoria in London on 13 February 1975. The skys that evening were lit up by World World 2 army searchlights and the band arrived on back of a vintage fire engine.Guests in attendance were Lynsey de Paul, Chas Chandler, Alan Lake and his wife Diana Dors, Lulu, Roy Wood, Sweet, Gary Glitter, Alan Price and his wife, Kiki Dee, Rosko, Troggs and their wives, Jeff Relle, Colin Blunstone, Susan Hanson, Barry Blue, Mud, Bill Oddie, Arrows, Suzi Quatro and Pilot.
Upon release, Sounds magazine wrote "This film suffers less than most from the obvious imbalance of having musicians in the lead roles, surrounded by experienced actors. Slade play themselves at least as well as they usually do, and in Noddy Holder in particular, they have a natural scene-stealer. 'Flame' is basically the same old story, told more accurately and wittingly. Unlike "Stardust", it has strong music and stage image at the centre of it all, proving that Slade haven't lost their touch, and the music shines through."
Disc magazine at the time of release wrote "Before the film has been released, the album has already sold over 170,000 copies. The book is a different story again. To produce its paper, 550 trees were cut down, which weighed in at just under 30 tons. A quarter of a million copies have already been printed. It is the largest print that the book publishers, Panther, have done for the home market alone, in their entire history. I found the film interesting, purely to judge Slade's acting talents. Noddy came out best. He obviously found the whole thing a cinch, and was surprisingly natural. Don was good too. Jim was runner-up, and gave a fair performance. A film that Slade fans can't miss, a film that will make very interesting viewing if you like to see a handful of scenes that go behind the making of a pop star. Judge for youself!"
Joe Geesin of Get Ready to Rock wrote "Slade – you either love them or hate them, but if you’re a fan this DVD is essential viewing. Issued in the USA, it’s well worth picking up, because the music at least ends up pretty good, and the gags are good too. Set in the late 60s, the story depicts band life on the road, drawing on the many experiences of manager and former Hendrix manager and Animal Chas Chandler. There are also some parallels with the embryonic Slade, who were known at the time as The ‘N Betweens. The basic story follows two struggling (and actually quite piss poor) bands playing a mixture of god knows what. They could be playing a wedding one night and a bingo hall the next, while holding down day jobs. There’s the usual banter and rivalry; the scene where Noddy Holder (lead singer of The Undertakers) is locked in his coffin on stage by Dave Hill’s rival band is a nod towards one of Screaming Lord Sutch’s mishaps, a scene rightly sent up by Spinal Tap and it brings a few deserved laughs here. Blink and you miss the band's break up and amalgamation, but you suddenly get some decent music and the band start their road to success, gigs, records and etc."
After the film was played on British TV for the first time on Channel, 12 December 1987, many reviews were released from the British press. Daily Mail wrote "Though a top band, Slade never cut much ice with rock snobs; ironic that they should star in one of the best ever rock films from this side of the Atlantic. The play a Northern group packaged and hyped by Tom Conti's slick promoter all the way to disaster - a telling tale of the sixties music biz."
The Sun gave a fair rating and wrote "Remember sideburns, flares and awful rock music? Slade do - and the Seventies pop group decided to base a whole film around them."
Today wrote "The pop group Slade in surprisingly sharp satire about the rise and fall of a band - not entirely unlike themselves. With Tom Conti, Johnny Shannon and Noddy Holder leading the stomp on numbers like "Far Far Away
Far Far Away (song)
"Far Far Away" is a single from rock band Slade which appeared on the album Slade in Flame. It was written by lead singer Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea...
".
London Evening Standard wrote "Slade, Tom Conti, Johnny Shannon. Old hat story of a pop groups rise and fall given some mild interest by the clash between the band and the manager's background. Otherwise listen to the soundtrack."
The Guardian wrote "A shrewdly discerning examination of the mid-Sixties pop music scene using the rise and fall of a band played by Slade to comment sharply on media manipulation and the strain of snatched success. Also starring Tom Conti and directed in 1974 by Richard Loncraine."