Rockers

Outside of its cult following, the pioneer glam band Slade is mostly known for its two hits covered by Quiet Riot: “Cum on Feel the Noize” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.” This 37-song compilation makes good on its claim to have compiled Slade’s “hardest hitting tracks” from 1969 to 1987, starting with a cover of Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” that indeed plays harder than the original. The band puts a weighty boogie into “The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazee,” replete with a honky-tonkin’ parlor piano. And you really have no choice but to take Holder’s word when he sings the chorus of “We’re Really Gonna Raise the Roof.” The pedal-to-the-metal drive of “Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing” (from the soundtrack to Slade’s 1975 film Slade in Flame) makes for what could be the hardest-hitting track of this collection, if not the band’s entire career.