Slade II at RSH Gold 1994: Preserving a Glam Rock Legacy with Far Far Away and My Oh My
The RSH Gold performance from 1994 featuring Slade offers an important historical snapshot of the band during a transitional era. By this point, the group was no longer operating with its classic seventies lineup. Following the departures of Noddy Holder and Jim Lea in 1992, the band continued under the name Slade II.
The 1994 RSH Gold appearance therefore featured two original members, guitarist Dave Hill and drummer Don Powell, joined by lead vocalist Steve Whalley. This distinction is essential when assessing the performance. Although many listeners may instinctively associate Slade’s live sound with Holder’s unmistakable rasp, the voice heard in this recording belongs to Whalley, who had taken over frontman duties during this second phase of the band’s career.
The set includes Far Far Away, originally released in 1974 and written by Holder and Lea. The song was part of the soundtrack to the feature film Slade in Flame and became a significant UK hit, reaching the Top Five of the UK Singles Chart. Its melodic structure and reflective tone marked a slight stylistic departure from the band’s more raucous glam anthems, demonstrating their capacity for emotional nuance within a commercial rock framework.
Also performed was My Oh My, first issued in 1983 from the album The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome. The track achieved notable European chart success and marked a strong period of revival for Slade in the early nineteen eighties. Known for its anthemic chorus and accessible melodic progression, the song became one of the band’s enduring later era signatures.
In the RSH Gold recording, Whalley approaches both songs with evident respect for their original phrasing and structure. Rather than attempting a direct imitation of Holder’s vocal timbre, he delivers performances that preserve the melodic integrity and rhythmic punch of the originals while adapting them to his own voice. Hill’s flamboyant stage presence remains intact, visually linking this lineup to Slade’s glam rock roots, while Powell’s drumming continues to provide the solid rhythmic backbone long associated with the band’s live sound.
This 1994 appearance underscores how Slade II functioned not as a mere nostalgia act but as a working continuation of a legacy. With two founding members maintaining the instrumental core and a new vocalist interpreting established material, the RSH Gold performance stands as a documented chapter in the evolving history of one of Britain’s most influential glam rock groups.