If you’ve not heard of Chris Slade then chances are you’re in good company as his is a name which doesn’t exactly feature all too often in conversation. But, if you’re a rock fan of a certain vintage, you’ll certainly know of his pedigree, drummer with Tom Jones throughout his 60’s heyday, then Manfred Mann’s Earthband for seven years, drummer with Asia for six years and drummer with AC/DC for several years, Not to mention being drummer with Uriah Heep on their Conquest album as well as drumming behind Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers in their mid-80’s band The Firm, in other words, he’s been around and knows the score!
Since 2012, however, he’s been fronting his own band, Chris Slade Timeline, which’s been touring all over the place and who’s finally gotten around to recording an album. Timescape is a double CD, with one disc devoted to original band compositions, and the other to versions of songs Slade played in his previous bands, which includes five AC/DC tunes and one each from Uriah Heep and Asia plus two others from Earthband.
From the outset, though, it’s quite apparent they’re better at playing other people’s songs than original material, and it’s noticeable the best track on the first disc is Earthband’s ‘Joybringer’, of which they perform a creditable version. What they’ve written and performed is all good solid stuff, particularly tracks like ‘Freedom Song’, ‘Questions’ and ‘Time Flies’, but it’s all very much what you’d expect to hear the support band playing, or what you’d hear in the pub at the weekend, and there’s very little which stands out.
However, they really come into their own on the second disc, particularly on the AC/DC tracks. Both ‘Razor’s Edge’ and ‘Big Gun’ rocked hard, with vocalist Paul Davis offering very credible attempts at emulating the throat-shredding shrieks of Brian Johnson. They also perform admirable attempts at ‘High Voltage’ and ‘Hells Bells’, complete with bells, though ‘Thunderstruck’ didn’t quite hit the mark. Earthband’s ‘Blinded By The Light’ was handled well, as was ‘Free’, from Asia’s Aura album, though performed slightly heavier than Asia. Uriah Heep’s ‘July Morning’ was rockier but lacked the ‘feel’ David Byron put into the original vocals.
In all, this is good solid mid-table Championship stuff, but with nothing to suggest the Timeline will ever reach the Premier League.
