Slade - Far Far Away

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Slade
Far Far Away / O.K. Yesterday Was Yesterday
Polydor 2058 522 (1974)

At the time this 45 was released Slade were huge in the UK and Europe.  Wanting to expand their musical outlook their manager Chas Chandler suggested they undertook a movie project.  As well as staring in the movie, Noddy Holder and Jim Lea wrote the material for the soundtrack album.

The movie charts the history of "Flame", a fictitious group in the late 1960s who are picked up by a marketing company and taken to the top, only to break up at their peak. Described as the "Citizen Kane of rock musicals" by BBC film critic Mark Kermode, the film went on to achieve critical acclaim years after the mixed feelings on its original release.

Previously their 45 releases were known for being loud and raucous but this time round the ballad Far Far Away was chosen to be the lead single from the soundtrack album. It entered the UK charts at #3 and climbed to #2 only being held off the top spot by Ken Booth's "Everything I Own".

The song originated with Holder coming up with the opening line whilst in Memphis on a US tour.  With Lea's help the song was expanded and became what you hear today. Guitarist Dave Hill said in a 1986 interview that the song was "... written about being abroad wasn't it? "Yellow lights go down the Mississippi" and all that - being in the States and wanting to go back home. They were just experiences. Obviously, when you are on the road, you are writing about being on the road, you're writing about what's going on."

Both Holder and Slade's drummer Don Powell have stated that this was their favourite Slade song.








FLAC






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