VIDEO'S OF THE WEEK - NAZARETH-special

[Niels (Mod)]

VOTW - NAZARETH Special

Nazareth will always for me be the second band, that I became a (minor) fan of, and the first non-KISS album I bought was the "new" No Mean City", as far as I remember, released in Denmark in late 1978, or perhaps January 1979. For the next half year or so, I bought 5-6 albums, but when "Malice In Wonderland" was released early 1980, it was a dissapointment to me, and another reason to start buying NWOBHM-albums.

Nazareth formed in December 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland, from the remaining members of semi-professional local group The Shadettes (formed in 1961) by vocalist Dan McCafferty,guitarist Manny Charlton (ex Mark V and The Red Hawks), bassist Pete Agnew, anddrummer Darrell Sweet. They were inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Nazareth took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, which is cited in the first line of The Band's classic song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth / Was feelin' about half past dead...").

NAZARETH - MORNING DEW

"Morning Dew", also known as "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew", is a post-apocalyptic folk rock song written by Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson and made famous by the Grateful Dead. But it also appears on the very first Nazareth-album, released in November 1971.

NAZARETH - BAD BAD BOY

Razamanaz is the third studio album by Nazareth, released in 1973. It was the band's first LP record to break the charts. Woke Up This Morning was re-recorded for this album. This one was also among the albums, I bought in the first few months of 1979. At the time, I though it was weird, buying SUCH an old album!!

NAZARETH - MISS MISERY

Hair of the Dog is the sixth studio album by Nazareth, released in 1975. The album was recorded at Escape Studios, Kent, with additional recording and mixing at AIR Studios, London, and is the band's biggest selling album, having sold two million copies worldwide. It is my absolute favorite Nazareth-album, as it is many others favorite .After three albums with Deep Purple's Roger Glover producing, Manny Charlton stepped into that position, one he filled for several subsequent albums.It was Nazareth's first big hit album (aside from the minor success of Razamanaz), including classics such as the title track, "Love Hurts" (on the US version, but not the Canadian/European, it replaced the original "Guilty"), "Beggars Day" and "Please Don't Judas Me". Still, Love Hurts was the very first Nazareth-song I noticed, probably back in 1975.

NAZARETH - EXPECT NO MERCY

Still one of my favorite Nazareth-tunes. I have never own the album, but a friend introduced me to Nazareth, by playing this album in 1978. The title-track was way cool, and so was the album-cover. Looked like something from a Conan-comic, and I loved comics.

NAZARETH - STAR

And so it ends, with what I began with: The "No Mean City"-album. There's only two Nazareth-albums, that I've bough on vinyl AND CD, this one and HOTD. Still my two favorite albums by the band, and the only ones, I listen to now and then. "Star" was probably one of the very first "Power-balads". It felt like then, back in '78-'79.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Cool choice.  I am a fan of Nazareth, but the only album that I really know is Hair of the Dog.  The album cover for that one is one that mesmerized me as a kid.  I have picked up some of their back catalog in the last couple of years, thanks to somebody dumping a good bit of the Two for One albums at the local used CD store.  But I've still not really dipped into the catalog on a listening basis as of yet.  

Morning Dew - Terrific song.  Never heard it.  Pete Agnew and Manuel Charlton (I guess he changed it to Manny some time after this) are on fire.  Really so is Sweet.  It's quite psychedelic too.  Nice pick to kick things off.

Bad Bad Boy - The classic live video is cool.  I can't say it's the most brilliant lyrical song I've ever heard, but it is still entertaining.  Especially the slide guitar Charlton is playing.  I bought Razamanaz on vinyl a couple of years ago, but it's not in particularly good shape so I haven't transferred it to mp3 for listening purposes.  I'd like to pick it up on CD one of these days.

Miss Misery - Yes, also my absolute favorite Nazareth album.  And this song is killer.  McCafferty's vocal on this song is amazing if you ask me.  The whole album just flows so well.  By the way, what the hell was that dude saying at the beginning?  Doesn't he know I'm American and I don't understand that language?   Seriously though, nice lip syncing.

Expect No Mercy - This is one of the CD's I picked up recently.  I really haven't listened to it yet.  But this is a cool song and a pretty good live version.  I'm not sure I ever realized how much I like the guitar playing of Manny Charlton.  It's a bit sloppy, and I like it.  I have a deep respect for single guitar bands that still manage to make their sound so full.  I'm also surprised at how good a bassist Agnew is/was.  

Star - Wow, that really is a good power ballad.  Another song I've never heard, but one that makes me wanna dig out this cd and listen to it.  And I really like how this video was done.  This is my favorite song here (out of the ones I had never heard).

Good job this week Niels.  These band specials have a tendency to make me want to dig deeper in back catalogs, which is a good thing.

Song ranking for me:

1. Miss Misery

2. Star

3. Morning Dew

4. Expect No Mercy

5. Bad Bad Boy

[Niels (Mod)]

He says "Welcome in the studio and welcome at home. Nazareth is in the studio -blah blah blah, Narzeret or as you really say it NAZARETH" 

[Scott]

My brother played the snot out of Razamanaz, so I got a heavy dose of this band early on.  He also played the snot out of Loud N Proud, which has subsequently become my favorite Nazareth album and still is to this day.  For me, I followed them all the way to Malice In Wonderland (which I will respectfully disagree with you on) and then they lost me the follow up - The Fool Circle (which turns out to be better than first thought given decades of time).

Love it.  The video on the other hand.  Well, did you consider RJ when you picked this one out?  He probably totally missed out on the band and the tune in favor of focusing on the naked girl in the background.  Just a guess but ....

Bad. Bad Boy is one that's made an appearance on SHT, but the more plays the merrier I say!  Like I said Razamanaz is a classic top to bottom.  Its a must have IMO!  You skipped over Loud N Proud...  just sayin'!

I recall when Hair of the Dog was huge, we so young that we thought we had to sneak and listen to the titled track because of the words used in it.  But we thought we were cool when we'd sing it.  Great performance videos here ,love seeing this era of the band, especially considering McAffreys health now.

Expect No Mercy is a really great album, I think most of the tracks on it are better than the title track (my opinion only maybe) but I still love watching these guys play

Star is a classy finisher.  Another fine post!!!

[Niels (Mod)]

Loud'N'Proud was among the "second wave" of Nazareth-albums, I bought (the other one in "the second wave" was "Close Enough For Rock'N'Roll), which I didn't like as much as "the first wave" (Raz, Hair, Play'n The Game and off course No Mean City), so I never gave it that much time, since by that time, the new VH II album was out (VH I, I got just around the same time, I got No Mean City, but there weren't many VH-albums to get other than the debut at that time, and since Nazareth had a lot to pick from, so from that point of view, they seemed more interesting), and I had also bought my alltime favorite live-album "Bursting Out" by Jethro Tull, so I was moving on (a couple of months later in 1979, I "discovered" Cheap Trick). At the top of my head, I seem to remember, there was only 1 or 2 really good tracks on Loud'N'Proud for me at that time. (I DO say "At that time" a lot).