Slade: Coloured Rain

I never got on with Slade. The worst kids at school loved them, and I could (just) remember the music of the Sixties. Though I followed the charts avidly in 1973 and 1974, I sensed even at the time that it was no golden age for the singles chart. And they couldn't spell.

But this is a good cover of a song from Traffic's first LP - respectful, but stamped with Slade's identity. It's taken from the album Live at the BBC and is on the first disc, which is taken from sessions the band played between 1969 and 1972.

Coloured Rain was also covered by Eric Burdon and the Animals during Andy Summers's short stay with the band. That version includes one of the longest guitar solos that had then been recorded.

And perhaps covering a Traffic song was a way of Noddy Holder paying his dues to Steve Winwood. Here he is talking about the Spencer Davis Group:

"Of all the bands I saw in those days, they were the ones who impressed me the most. They had this small public address system, one of the smallest I had seen and were very unassuming on stage, and then this spotty kid on the organ suddenly opened his mouth and screamed "I LOVE THE WAY SHE WALKS..." and launched into an old John Lee Hooker number. Gosh - my mouth fell open and I felt a chill down my spine! That was the night I discovered Rhythm and Blues for the first time."