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Rating:
I knew nothing about Nazareth. Nothing.
I discovered their existence while searching for one of their songs online for my mother; it happened once before: on that occasion, I discovered Uriah Heep. My sensors got activated, “here comes another great band of mad… no, well, the joke is obvious…”
Debaser had no record of them, but at least it indicated their discography. I chose the title I liked the most; “Quick, quick,” I said to myself: said like this, it’s awful, but I boldly ventured into the mule and, while leaving with this “Hair Of The Dog,” labeled nineteen seventy-five, I took a leap onto Wikipedia. Well, the page was as complete as a Christmas lunch can be without tortellini in beef broth served in a white ceramic soup tureen. Word for word, I report all the text: “Nazareth is a hard rock band formed in 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland”. Wow, gosh... However, it provided, pay attention, the current line-up [current, you get it? N. d. A.]. That’s all, as Bugs Bunny would say while bidding farewell to the children watching him.
To cut it short, I discovered two things: firstly, I realized that I had probably picked their most famous album, I read a #17 US which looks more like a rank in a chart than a Twa flight to Minneapolis code. Secondly, the song I already knew was from this LP, and it was “Love Hurts”, an epic ballad. So what? No, come on, be serious… I realized I didn’t have the psycho-mental conditions to face a review. Convinced of this, I reached for the sponge to throw it, but it was wet and my hands are already too dry in winter. “Maybe next time, soft porous darling.”
Even more so because a nice English site (which I later decided to link you to) presented me with many nice things, and so I wrote: "At that time (I imagine not even a bitter smirk on your lips, amen…) they had the original line-up, namely Dan McCafferty (vocals), Manny Charlton (guitar), Pete Agnew (bass), and Darrell Sweet (drums), unfortunately passing away on April 30, 1999, at 52; a second guitarist, Zal Cleminson, would join only in 1978. Produced by a certain Roger Glover, straight from a viola deeper even than Dario Argento's red." But maybe I'm shooting too much nonsense…
The album opens with the “carefree” title track, hysterical voices supported by kazoo-like gadgets, granite riffs, and a nice job of ladles banging on Teflon pans; there remains a vague impression of “I’ve heard this before.” The pounding rhythmic fabric of “Miss Misery” is embroidered with six-string slashes and aggressive singing: truly not bad hard rock. It continues with the aforementioned “Love Hurts”, quite well-known: born from a delicate fade in all its classic beauty of a tender heart typical of rough musicians. Nice guitar work and enticing voice (as much as McCafferty’s voice can be enticing).
But it’s the moment (and I use this word with due respect) for “Changin’ Times”: the harder register reopens for six minutes of joyful guitar (nice long final solo by Charlton) and a microphone brushing the uvula, in front of an essential and precise drum set in its roughness. Nothing innovative, genius, or indispensable: simply good music. “Beggars Day” follows the pattern of previous pieces: excellent bass work, sharp guitar; yet another great track, moreover with a title holding a Jethro Tull flavor that never hurts. Even more beautiful is “Rose In The Heather”, a short instrumental where, while the rhythm demonstrates its worth, the six-string takes over the singing, and it is a piercing song.
Last two tracks: “Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman” is a more conventional track, leaning (in my personal and vaguely incompetent judgment – my knowledge in the field equals an album by Lynyrd Skynyrd) towards southern rock both in the title and in the vocal and instrumental approach. Drums disguised as metronome, wall of guitars, and decidedly calm singing. And finally, there came the nine minutes/nearly ten of “Please Don’t Judas Me”. A growing chord blends on the carpet of delicate percussion phrases (poetic license) in commanding vocal tones. The guitar is hard when the chilling chorus enters (it could go on forever, “Nooo, please, don’t judas meeee…”); first the snare and then the drums don’t want to be less. The piercing scream ends again with the electric guitar, increasingly distant and suffering. Wonderful track.
Well, the review, in some more or less unworthy way (enough to make the hair stand on end for purists of the original albums… myself included, for example) I did it. Nazareth - I find their name fantastic, by the way - are absolutely worth exploring; the LP is very good, with at least three songs as the outpost of the castle of masterpieces, and a cover perhaps more beautiful and refined than the standard hard rockers. Great discovery.
Moreover, tomorrow in Nazareth, the Magi will also arrive.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Hair of the Dog (04:11)
Heartbreaker...Soulshaker!!!
I've been told about you...
Steamroller, Midnight Shoulder...
What they've been sayin must be true...
Red Hot Mama,
Velvet Charmer,
'Times come to pay your dues...
CHORUS 2x
Now you're messin' with...
...a Son-Of-A-Bitch...
(Now You're messin' with a Son-Of-A-Bitch)
Talkin' jivy poison ivy...
You ain't gonna cling to me...
Mantaker...Born Faker...
I ain't so blind I can't see...
Red Hot Mama,
Velvet Charmer,
The time's come to pay your dues...
CHORUS 2x
Now you're messin' with...
...a Son-Of-A-Bitch...
(Now You're messin' with a Son-Of-A-Bitch)
Now you're messin' with... a Son-Of-A-Bitch,
Now you're messin with a Son-Of-A-Bitch
02 Miss Misery (04:42)
Since you came into my life
Its the same old situation
Empty days and lonely nights
Filled with bitterness and frustration
Walking lonely in the cold
Trying to find the answer
Spend my money on a crystal ball
And the charms of a gypsy dancer
Trying to break the spell you hold on me
chorus:
Your miss misery
That song you lay on me
Set me free, Set me free
Please, please, please
Every day is filled with shame
My nights are filled with anger
Hollow lies, Forced denial
If you told the truth I can't remember
You know I've got to find my way
Got to find a reason
Got to find your weakness
So I can end your witchin season
Got to break this spell you hold on me
Chorus:
Lead:
Can't think how I got myself
Caught up in this nightmare
Evil Schemes, Midnight screams
Come on somebody listen to my prayer
I'd give all I've got to give
Just to find my way out
Got it goin but I can't let go
I'm trapped on this crazy 'round about
Tryin to break this spell you hold on me
Chorus:
03 Guilty (03:39)
Yes baby, I've been drinkin'
Shouldn't come by anymore
But I found myself in trouble darlin'
And I have no place else to go.
I got some whiskey, from a bottle
Got some cocaine, from a friend
And I had to keep on movin' darlin'
Till I was back in your arms again.
And I'm guilty, I am guilty
And I'll be guilty for the rest of my life
How come I'm never gonna do
What I'm supposed to do
Seems like everything I do
Never turns out right
That's how it is with me darlin'
You know I just can't stand myself
But it takes a whole lot of medicine darlin'
For me to pretend that I'm somebody else.
04 Changin' Times (06:01)
When I was younger I used to understand
That when you're with a girl, you gotta act like a man
Mama told me that's the way it should be
And I know my mama never lied to me.
What do you think about you're changin' times
'cause when I'm with you I just can't make up my mind
Since I met you don't know right from wrong
Somebody tell me just what's goin' on
Just can't get myself thinkin' straight
I'm all shook up and in a terrible state
Sometimes I think I got it all figured out
Then you do something new and it just knocks me right out
Someday baby I'm going to have to make a stand
The way that you treat me baby
Don't make me feel too much like a man
And baby, baby, the changes you're goin' through
You're drivin' me half crazy
Can't make up my mind what to do about you.
Tellin' myself that time is on my side
You're gettin' this feelin' that my mind's on the slide
Dumped on the floor, I feel I'm trapped in a spin
Don't know how to end, can't think of where to begin
She don't care I know she don't even try
But when she turns it on
You know she gets me so high.
She's a lady that's making my life a sin
You know that I'm runnin' in a losin' race
There ain't no way I can win
Baby, baby, the changes you're goin' through
They're drivin' me half crazy
Can't make up my mind what to do about you.
05 Beggar's Day (03:52)
If this is heaven, then I'm in hell
If trust is misfortune, then wish me well
While I think of sadness baby
Your light shines through, your light shines through
Your light shines through
chorus:
Because it's beggar's day
Because it's beggar's day
Because it's beggar's day
I've lost control of my darker side
A world all for free, on a nastier ride
*And I have crossed myself in anger
All your mercy can't save me, all your mercy can't save me
All your mercy can't save me
Because it's beggar's day
Because it's beggar's day
Because it's beggar's day
lead:
It's beggar's day
You know it's beggar's day
Because it's beggar's day
See this love, I've stored for you
Wheel it and deal it, but our feelin's are true
repeat *
chorus (2x)
(written by Nils Lofgren)
(published by almo music corp./hilmer publishing co. ascap)
07 Whiskey Drinkin' Woman (05:29)
Close up the bar you know the gates of the brewery
She's out there every night
And she sure ain't drinkin' tea
I love that woman, she's the best one that I had
But she's got this habit now and it sure is gettin' bad
chorus:
That whiskey drinkin' woman
Is makin' a poor man out of me
She's got bottles in the kitchen
Even got them in my bed
Most times I see her now
She's three parts out of her head
Don't know where I went wrong
I sure try to treat her right
But it sure upsets me
Seein' her juiced up every night.
chorus:
lead:
Got to solve this problem
Won't you help me find the key
The way that things are going
I'll have to buy the distillery
She just stands there smilin'
With a whiskey in each hand
Got to think of something
Don't know how much I can stand
chorus:
Got to get myself together, start workin' something out
Maybe if I tried some booze, I'd know what it's about
I love that woman, she's the best one that I had
But she's got this problem now
And it sure is gettin' bad.
chorus:
lead:
08 Please Don't Judas Me (09:49)
Please don't Judas me
Treat me as you'd like to be treated
Please don't blacklist me
Leave me as you'd wish to find me
Don't analyze me
Sacrifice me
Please don't Judas me
Please don't chastise me
Show me just one shred of kindness
Try to help me see
Guide me in my eyes of blindness
Don't despise me
Categorize me
Please don't Judas me
No, no, don't Judas me
No, please don't Judas me
Please don't headshrink me
Don't disguise your innuendos
Give no lies to me
I can see the way the wind blows
Don't debase me
Annihilate me
Please don't Judas me
Please don't number me
Don't betray my trust and promise
Please don't anger me
I find it hard to bear no malice
Don't frustrate me
Manipulate me
Please don't Judas me
No, no, don't Judas me
No, please don't Judas me
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