Label: Salvo Records (Europe), SALVO387LP
Style: Hard Rock
Country: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Time: 39:47
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 and 24/96 kHz
Size: 277, 867 Mb
Aye,
that's a five stars out of five all right. For some reason, nearly
every heavy metal band that ever pioneered the movement back on the
Sixties/Seventies border, used to have its first album as its finest
hour (stupid critics don't seem to realise that, of course, but hey,
it's their personal problem). Think Led Zep I (glorious!), Deep Purple
In Rock (not that band's first record, but the first serious Mark II
studio effort), Paranoid (well, it was Sabbath's second effort, but it
came out the same year as the first), and yes, Nazareth's self-titled
album.
You know my scepticism towards heavy metal as a genre, but
even I have to admit that this is one helluva record; easily the second
best "heavy" release of 1971, barely nudged out by Zoso and only because
that one had a mightier share of instant classics. On the other hand,
Nazareth is more consistent; you'll find nothing like the stupid
self-indulgence of 'Four Sticks' or the lame ear-shredding harmonies of
'Misty Mountain Hop' on here. So, assuming that very few souls in this
world still remember the Scottish lads' innocent debut, I might just as
well give you a short run-down.
Freshly descended from the snowy
mountains of Scotland, Nazareth seem to have absorbed the heavy sound
quite seriously; there's no reason to doubt their having worn out their
copies of Led Zep's, Black Sabbath's and even Uriah Heep's records from
the previous year. But Nazareth adds an important series of elements
that are enough to completely distinguish their effort from that of
their predecessors. First, there is a very strong folk influence
throughout; and unlike Led Zep, these guys actually understand what folk
is all about. Maybe Edinburgh was a good place to soak in these
influences; in any case, a song like 'I Had A Dream', even if it might
seem 'mushy' on first listen, is actually an excellent and moving
acoustic gem, graced by tasty harmonium and very Winwood-like vocals
from Mr McCafferty (in fact, you could easily mistake this song for a
Traffic number! A good Traffic number at that!) Likewise, 'Country Girl'
is adorable - it has nothing to do with Neil Young's song of the same
name, but it is somewhat similar to Neil's balladeering style, and dang
catchy and pleasant at that.
More important is that Nazareth
introduce the pop hook into their fat grumbly metal machine. All of
these songs are only indirectly related to the blues; the main melodic
structures are actually pop, cleverly and brilliantly disguised as
heavy, gritty rockers (a trick that Uriah Heep never really managed to
pull off. And why? Because their melodies sucked, that's why!).
Actually, the album opener 'Witchdoctor Woman' (should be separated with
a comma - no androgynous stuff on here) is currently in my Top Five,
maybe even Top Three, heavy metal songs ever written. What a magnificent
riff. What brilliant singing - listen to how Dan marvellously fits in
with every guitar tone. The awesome Sabbathey 'cluck-cluck-cluck' guitar
"echo". The terrific prolongation of the outro chord on every second
line. The simple, yet oh so effective solo. Why the song never actually
sent them over the top into the league of "metal greatest" back in 1971
is one of those unfair mysteries of life I just can never get used to.
Nothing
else really scales the same epic heights, but many of the other tracks
come close. Particularly impressive, for instance, is their seven-minute
rendition of Tim Rose's 'Morning Dew' (which can also be heard in a
very good version as impersonated by Rod Stewart on Jeff Beck's Truth):
the atmospheric intro, with the pumping bass line and all those echoey
guitars slowly and menacingly weaving around it, is sheer brilliancy
again. And even if the tune is essentially generic, it's still performed
with such an outstanding audacity that you can't help but get involved -
as regards, for instance, the bold piano rocker 'Dear John'. Meanwhile,
the guys have a good sense of humour too: 'Fat Man' is simply
hilarious, with amusing electronically encoded vocals and a groovy song
structure. To top it all, the band also shows a passion for bombastic,
but clever orchestrated passages - as can be evidenced by the huge
operatic finale of 'Red Light Lady' (another excellent rocker in its own
rights), and the slightly less memorable, but interesting 'The King Is
Dead'. And the new CD release adds a bunch of bonus tracks, among which
you'll find the funny pop ballad 'Friends' (pure music-hall!) and an
alternate edit of 'Spinning Top' which would, of course, be featured
later on Razamanaz.
In other words, as far as consistent albums go,
they hardly get any better than this. It's an awful shame the album
isn't in print in the US (just as it's an awful shame that Nazareth as a
band are virtually unknown there); it's definitely a must for any hard
rock collection.
(starlingdb.org/music/nazareth.htm)
White vinyl. Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered.
01. A1 Witchdoctor Woman (04:07)
02. A2 Dear John (03:46)
03. A3 Empty Arms, Empty Heart (03:13)
04. A4 I Had A Dream (03:22)
05. A5 Red Light Lady (Part 1 and 2) (05:58)
06. B1 Fat Man (03:25)
07. B2 Country Girl (04:04)
08. B3 Morning Dew (07:05)
09. B4 King Is Dead (04:43)
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