Nobody's Fools

Since their rise to fame in 1971, Slade had failed to achieve a major breakthrough in the United States. During the period of 1972–73, the band began touring there as a step towards trying to crack the market. A number of American cities took positively to Slade, including St Louis, Philadelphia and New York City. However, in other areas, the band's anthemic, audience participation-dominated act was less enthusiastically received.[2] By 1975, the band began feeling stale and felt they had achieved as much success in the UK and Europe that they could. Slade and their manager Chas Chandler decided that the next best career move was to try and crack America. The band agreed to move to there and build a reputation for their live performances from scratch, just as they had in the UK. Holder said in 1975: "During the past five years when the band peaked, we did five major tours of Britain, six tours of Europe, two tours of Australia, two of Japan, visited the USA a few times, made a film... you can understand why we felt more than a little jaded. We reckoned that we needed to undertake a fresh challenge to regain that old spark."[2]

In Spring 1975, Slade relocated to New York City and throughout the year, the band toured constantly, often on packages with the likes of Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Black Sabbath. Often second on the bill, Slade honed their live show, taking the idea of playing skilfully seriously which went down consistently well with the American audience. While the success wasn't translated into US airplay, the band felt improved and rejuvenated.[2] In between tours, Holder and Lea got down to what Holder called some "serious writing". In mid-1975, the band booked themselves into New York's Record Plant and recorded the album Nobody's Fools. Speaking in a 1976 fan club interview, Holder said of recording an album in America: "The album is why we went to the States, not for tax reasons, folks! We wanted to get fresh ideas, we felt we were getting a bit stale living in England." For the album, songwriters Holder and Lea drew much inspiration from living in New York City.[3]

The album's lead single, "In for a Penny", was released in November 1975 and reached No. 11 in the UK. The second single, "Let's Call It Quits" also peaked at No. 11 after its release in January 1976. The album was released in March and reached No. 14. A third and final single, "Nobody's Fool", broke Slade's run of 17 consecutive hit singles in April, reaching only No. 53.[4] In America, "Nobody's Fool" was the only single to be released from the album, however the neither the album or single made any chart impact.[5] Reflecting on the album in an early 1986 fan club interview, Hill said: "Nobody's Fools was a bit different, wasn't it? That was recorded in America, but it didn't happen over there."[6][7]

The album has been noted for still standing up today as a "varied and highly entertaining listen" and the band themselves remain proud of the album. Both drummer Don Powell and Holder rate it as their favourite Slade long player. In a 1987 interview, Holder said: "That is the only one I can really sit down at home and listen to from start to finish."[8] In a 1976 interview, Lea said: "I am really proud of the album and believe it is the best album we have ever done. I have no especial favourite track on the album – I love them all. I'm sure you will see quite an American influence on a lot of the tracks and we believe the hard work we put in, in America had paid dividends."[9][10]

In a 1976 fan club interview, Holder spoke of the album's recording: "We recorded the album in New York, where we spent something like six weeks on it. We did it all in one go, more or less, well we also did a couple of days in a L.A. studio a couple of months before, just to get into the swing of things."[3] To allow the band to create what Holder described as a "really first class album", the band decided to take some time off from touring: "We decided not to rush the album, like we have done on past recording sessions. We wanted to get everything just so. It wasn't just a 'wam bam' job. We had six weeks in the studio to get better and better, so the playing got better, and the sound got better, so yeah in terms of improvement it's a big step ahead. The sound and production is the best yet."[3][11][9]

Speaking of the musical influences on the album, Holder revealed:

"Ya know we've been influenced by a lotta things, particularly soul. We used some coloured chicks for back-up vocals and I really enjoyed working with them, it was something different for us, and at the same time it gave our a lot of body! Those girls have great voices. We enjoyed doing all sorts of sounds, like country, funk, rock. I mean every track has its own particular style."

Lea also revealed in a 1976 fan club interview: "We just got a terrific buzz when we were working on the album. We were more relaxed than we've ever been, more willing and able to be more experimental in the studios, and we took it easy and relaxed. Certainly we felt we had a good product in the making, so it seemed right to put everything we had into it."

As a result of their experiences in the United States, Nobody's Fools presents a different musical direction. Described as having a "California" sound by AllMusic,[13] a genre popular at the time from bands such as The Eagles, the album explores various different genres. AllMusic said that "many of the numbers on this record are loaded with Dobros, mandos, and female background vocals."[13] The song features a strong influence from soul music, most prominently on the songs featuring female backing vocals.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
Cash Box	favourable[15]
Classic Rock	positive
Music Week	positive[16]
New Musical Express	mixed[16]
Record Collector	[17]
Record Mirror	positive[18]

Upon release, Record Mirror felt the album "offer[s] a lot of variety" with notable "arrangements", the use of female "backup vocals" and "lots of pace".[18] New Musical Express wrote: "...superficially the music here is of reasonable standard, [but] there's not a lot of depth. Really the album is just a collection of hooky little singles." Music Week described it as a "cracking album", showing Slade having "matured" and "playing better than ever".[16] American magazine Cash Box described the band as adopting a "laid back stance" on the album, noting that "rock is still around in abundance but, equally present, are pop subtleties and a couple of genuine mellow moments".[15]

AllMusic retrospectively noted: "Nobody's Fools has some really great songs on it, but all things considered it was the band's worst album at that point. Basically misguided from the get-go, Nobody's Fools is constantly trying to free itself from the oppressive production and arrangements."[13] In 2010, Classic Rock considered the album "worth exploring", describing it as "surprisingly slick-sounding". Colin Harper of Record Collector concluded the album was "engagingly eclectic, if not quite truly classic."[17]

Slade

• Noddy Holder – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Dave Hill – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Jim Lea – bass, backing vocals
• Don Powell – drums

Additional personnel

• Chas Chandler – producer
• Tasha Thomas – backing vocals
• Paul Prestotino – dobro guitar
• Corky Stasiak, Denis Ferranti, Gabby Gabriel, Gess Young – engineers
• Ian A. Walker – art direction
• Gered Mankowitz – photography