When Manny, and later Dan passed away in 2022, I revisited my old studio albums. Here's what I thought of them.
Razamanaz (May 1973)
Rampant (April 1974)
Hair of the Dog (April 1975)
Close Enough for Rock 'n' Roll (March 1976)
Play ‘n’ the Game (November 1976)
Malice in Wonderland (February 1980)
The Fool Circle (February 1981)
Nazareth (self-titled debut - November 1971)
Tracks: Witchdoctor Woman / Dear John / Empty Arms, Empty Heart / I Had a Dream / Red Light Lady (Parts 1 & 2) / Fat Man / Country Girl / Morning Dew / King Is Dead
Way back when it seemed maybe a little too diverse, but in hindsight it was a fitting introduction, it has the grinding rock, blues, country, a cover of a folk tune, a lush AOR ballad… it’s like they were setting the table for the career to come, “This is what you’re going to get from us over the decades”, next LP will be folky, following that, a rocker, etc etc.
While the debut might not rank among their giants, it’s a solid first step, and with standouts like the soaring, King is Dead, with its riveting lyrics, gorgeous strings and harmonies (and Dan's gentle, moving leads), it has moments of brilliance.
Interestingly, Pete Agnew takes over vocals on I Had a Dream, and does well by it, his singing is appropriately smooth and mournful.
Exercises (July 1972)
Tracks: I Will Not Be Led / Cat’s Eye, Apple Pie / In My Time / Woke Up This Morning / Called Her Name / Fool About You / Love, Now You’re Gone / Madelaine / Sad Song / 1692 (Glencoe Massacre)
This one has not been well received mostly because it’s not hard rock, it’s more a bluesy, folky collection. But I've always liked it, maybe because I’m a folky myself and really enjoyed the acoustic and orchestral sounds. I dig this swampy version of "Woke Up This Morning" near as much as the rocking version on Razamanaz, and "Called Her Name" is a groovy, yearning winner.
I see where "Madeline" has been compared, negatively, to a Badfinger ballad, yeah, so what, it's a pretty number, with a sweet 12-string guitar - it's another ace track to my ears.
Note: Pre-Queen, Roy Thomas Baker was the producer.
Tracks: Razamanaz / Alcatraz / Vigilante Man / Woke Up This Morning / Night Woman / Bad, Bad Boy / Sold My Soul / Too Bad, Too Sad / Broken Down Angel
While I’ll always defend Exercises, Razamanaz takes the band to whole other level and establishes their signature sound. It consistently rocks, but with a taste of the country or folk stylings they're drawn too. They cover Woody Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man”, for example, but give it a stomping, bluesy flavor.
Each musician is at their peak powers - focus on an individual instrument and be gobsmacked. The thumping backbone provided by Sweet and Agnew creates a formidable foundation, Charlton's skill with phrasing and motif... yeah, his licks scream, but he's as brilliant at making that guitar speak, it's a voice as strong as Dan's, both soulful, expressive and pulse pounding.
Many fans consider it their greatest LP, and at least production wise, it might be my favorite - it has a real muscular, low-end sound, with the kind of heavy bass and drums presence I dig.
Loud 'n' Proud (November 1973)
Tracks: Go Down Fighting / Not Faking It / Turn on Your Receiver / Teenage Nervous Breakdown / Freewheeler / This Flight Tonight / Child in the Sun / The Ballad of Hollis Brown
The Scottish rockers 2nd release in 1973 is an outstanding follow up to the previous album, and from the first to the last, you'll not find a weak track in the lot. LnP can really sizzle, though my favorites on it are more melodic and hookier. “Turn on Your Receiver” is a countrified toe tapping rocker, while “Child of the Sun” opens with some pretty harmonies and features some slick guitar work.
And the covers are a delight, Little Feats “Teenage Nervous Breakdown”, and Joni Mitchel’s “This Flight Tonight”, which became a hit for them. The record closes with a blistering take on Dylan’s “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” - The band drenches it in feedback and fuzz, which transforms the tune into a 9-minute nightmare. (posted above).
Tracks: Silver Dollar Forger (Parts 1 & 2) / Glad When You’re Gone / Loved and Lost / Shanghai’d in Shanghai / Jet Lag / Light My Way / Sunshine / Shapes of Things - Space Safari
The 3rd and final album produced by Deep Purple's Roger Glover, and though it’s not quite up to the level of "Razamanaz" or "Loud ‘n’ Proud" or the God-Tier album that came after, "Hair of the Dog", you still have plenty of head boppin' boogie blues rockers to enjoy - plus there's Dan's raspy howl and Manny's fluid guitar work to hold you, and keyboards are brought into the mix nicely. My favorite tracks? I like the spacy purr of Light My Way, which takes us to the smooth acoustics that open the catchy Sunshine.
This is one of those records that I've come to enjoy more over the years, I've even come around on their raucous Yardbirds cover that closes the second side.
Tracks: Hair of the Dog / Miss Misery / Love Hurts / Changin’ Times / Beggar’s Day / Rose in the Heather / Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman / Please Don’t Judas Me
Or as it might have been titled Heir of the Dog… as they weren’t allowed to call it “Son of a Bitch”.
Revisiting it, and boy, chills went down my spine, there’s a reason this tops many Nazareth favorite album lists. That first side is sublime, opening with the title track (one of the all-time great driving songs with a killer guitar riff and plenty of cowbell) and following that with the crunchy, bluesy “Miss Misery”.
Mine is the US version with “Love Hurts” rather than “Guilty” (a Randy Newman cover) and I couldn’t imagine this LP without that power ballad - the track has so much heart and soul, I love how Dan’s voice strains and tears through it… which adds such an emotional punch. The A side closes with “Changing Times”, which reviewer Donald A. Guarisco calls “a throbbing hard rock tune driven by a hypnotic, circular-sounding guitar riff.”
Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, the flip side opens with the rocking/spacy twin offering Beggars Day (a cover of the Crazy Horse song) and Rose in the Heather.
For me, it loses a tiny bit of steam with “Whiskey Drinking Woman”, but it rebounds with the synth laced closer, a 9-minute opus titled “Please Don’t Judas Me”, which is a mournful funereal march that sees the band indulging their experimental side.
Guitarist Manny Charlton took on the role of producer from Roger Glover and he starts with a bang. You can’t ask for a better production debut than “Hair of the Dog” - it’s simply one of the greats, Nazareth or otherwise.
Tracks: Telegram / Vicki / Homesick Again / Vancouver Shakedown / Born Under the Wrong Sign / Loretta / Carry Out Feelings / Lift the Lid / You’re the Violin
It opens decently, with the ambitious Telegram and the poppy blues ballad, Homesick Again, but after that…
There's some good play here from the band, and Dan's in fine voice, but it's missing a certain spark - songs that are almost there... but not quite. It has its fans, but I can't number myself among them. It’s simply not as focused and memorable as the previous masterpiece or those that will come after.
Tracks: Somebody to Roll / Down Home Girl / Flying / Waiting for the Man / Born to Love / I Want to Do Everything for You / I Don’t Want to Go on Without You / Wild Honey / L.A. Girls
Instrumental hooks a plenty - from Manny's repeated riff on the first track to Agnew's steady strutting bass line in Waiting for the Man (which is accompanied by a slide guitar that adds a creepy, cool vibe). The chugging, constant rhythms and ear catching musicianship are the albums strength; it's weakness? Frankly, it sinks at the end with lumbering covers of the Drifters and Beach Boys. While L.A. Girl injects a little adrenaline into the LP, it's a minor effort. In total, Play 'n' the Game's a decent offering that fades at the point when it desperately needed a singular knockout track (like Hair of the Dog), or a breathtaking epic (on par with Hollis Brown), the type that would have rocketed it towards the stratosphere. That said, "Somebody to Roll" and "Waiting for the Man" are -al bacio-
So, while 1976 proved to be hit 'n' miss for me, the guys will find the heat the following year.
Expect No Mercy (November 1977)
Tracks: Expect No Mercy / Gone Dead Train / Shot Me Down / Revenge Is Sweet / Gimme What’s Mine / Kentucky Fried Blues / New York Broken Toy / Busted / Place in Your Heart / All the King’s Horses
Expect No Mercy cooks, and it’s the shot in arm I needed from these guys - Charlton’s killer licks, accompanied by frantic rhythms, bass and drums, and Dan using all his snarling vocal powers to great effect gets the album off to a thunderous start. There are catchy rock ballads too, like “Shot Me Down”, which appeals to the hook loving Beatles fan in me. And they haven’t abandoned their love of country, as heard in their bluesy cover of Harlan Howard’s “Busted”. And you get a taste of both in the poppy, western flavored “Place in Your Heart”. (Really, it sounds like the kind of song John and Paul would have written for Ringo, if Ringo had Dan’s range).
At 36 minutes total, with only 1 track exceeding the 4-minute mark, the album is lean and to the point, in gets in, kicks your butt and leaves you wanting more. Listening to this brought back a lot of happy memories.
No Mean City (January 1979)
Tracks: Just to Get into It / May the Sunshine / Simple Solution (Parts 1 & 2) / Star / Claim to Fame / Whatever You Want Babe / What’s in It for Me / No Mean City (Parts 1 & 2)
Nazareth closes the 70s with a bang. And a new member is added to the core lineup, guitarist Zal Cleminson. So yeah, this is guitar heavy rock that continues what the previous one started, you even get another metal -see what I had painted on the side of my van- style cover.
Along with the dirty, driving blues (Claim to Fame and What's in It for Me - are two that find a groove and repeat it like a mantra), they also serve up a plate of snappy pop (Whatever You Want Babe) and include a mid-tempo power ballad that shines brightest of all (“Star” - a personal favorite).
City's popular among critics and fans -one of the perennial Top Fivers- and though I don't rank it as high as Mercy, I agree that it was another jewel in the band's crown.
Tracks: Holiday / Showdown at the Border / Talkin’ to One of the Boys / Heart’s Grown Cold / Fast Cars / Big Boy / Talkin’ About Love / Fallen Angel / Ship of Dreams / Turning a New Leaf
Malice is pure AOR, not since Exercises have they strayed this far from their grinding, crunchier sound.
I loved this album when it was released, I listened to it a lot, and the video for Holiday was a welcome mainstay on MTV - Of the music that defined 1980 for me, Nazareth was joined by Queen (The Game), Pat Benatar (Crime of Passion), Devo (Freedom of Choice) and bittersweetly, John Lennon’s LP return after a 5-year break (tragically marked by his murder 3 weeks later).
But how does it hold up? Pretty well, though admittedly after listening to Expect No Mercy and No Mean City it’s jarring to jump from those into this. It can sound overproduced, and plastic in spots (Talkin About Love), but it’s grand ear candy, with nice harmonies, and at least one classic power ballad (Hearts Grown Cold… though Fallen Angel is pretty darned good too). It might not be traditional Nazareth, but in terms of craft, of songwriting, arrangement and instrumentation it’s one of their finest.
It also boasts my favorite Nazareth cover - designed by Amy Nagasawa, the mannequins lend it a strange, otherworldly quality, and it captures a story we’re not privy too, where a blazing fire interrupts an outdoor party… the who, what, and whys swim in my head when I stare at that beaut?
Tracks: Dressed to Kill / Another Year / Moonlight Eyes / Pop the Silo / Let Me Be Your Leader / We Are the People / Every Young Man’s Dream / Little Part of You / Cocaine (Live) / Victoria
The Fool Circle was the last Nazareth album I ever bought, and I don’t have any strong memories of it, other than that weird cover. Critic Dave Marsh hated it, and it doesn’t seem to rank high among fans. Revisiting it, there are some good tracks, I like the poppy “Little Part of You”, by Manny Charlton, and some of the reggae sounds thrown in there are cool (it was recorded in George Martin’s studio on the island of Montserrat and bassist Pete Agnew feels that setting might have contributed to that). It’s a political album, and a rather minor effort from the band… but not a train wreck. It wouldn’t make my top 10,
But for those that do...
#1. Hair of the Dog
#2. Loud ‘n’ Proud
#3. Expect No Mercy
#4. Razamanaz
#5. Malice in Wonderland
#6. No Mean City
#7. Rampant
#8. Exercises
#9. Nazareth
#10. Play 'n' the Game
Here’s another man’s opinion.
I love how it’s vinyl he’s displaying - not that I have anything against CDs, I have a lot of CDs, but with Nazareth I still only have my original records. I love the packaging of these things, the large size looks so nice what with the art, and with Naz vinyl just feels right, they should be on vinyl (though again, not a hater of other formats, in fact there’s probably some remasters that make them sound all the better).
And that’s the end of my journey - lets close with a last look at the founding four.
Darrell Sweet (May 16, 1947 - April 30, 1999) * Manny Charlton (July 25, 1941 - July 5, 1922)
Dan McCafferty (Oct 14, 1946 - Nov 8, 1922) * Pete Agnew (Sept 14, 1946 - Present)
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