Nazareth
Hair of the Dog

THE REVIEW

"AC-DC really didn't invent anything" one might say when listening to this album by Nazareth. And considering that "Hair of the Dog" was released in 1975 (the year the Young brothers' band was finally formed), the Scottish band Nazareth emerges with heads held high from an oblivion that lasted too long.

The Nazareth of Dan McCafferty have churned out an enormous amount of albums over time, some truly irrelevant; but it was especially in the first half of the Seventies that they produced their best works, defining a hard-rock standard that was later more imitated than what evolved with more famous contemporary bands (Deep Purple above all). The piercing stray cat voice, the distorted guitar with malice - at least for the time - and the revised riffs of the rock'n'roll and blues tradition, seasoned with lyrics certainly not suitable for schoolboys: a recipe to which AC-DC and many others have been indebted.

Surely Nazareth did not display astounding technique and did not focus on breathtaking solos; rather, it was the cultural blend and the modest image that gave depth to their style. They didn't have much that was Scottish, rather they adopted a type of street character that mingled with fantasies and adventurous suggestions. Just recall the pirate-themed cover of the "Rampant" album or that of the masterpiece in question "Hair of the Dog" which features bat-like monsters that seem a comic version of certain creatures from Max Ernst's paintings. A significant calling card for this LP, which undoubtedly represents their creative peak.

Not at all aged in its sound and vocal structure, the opening track of the title says it all about the content of the work. The original title was supposed to be the repeated line in the chorus... a son of a bitch... but Hair of the Dog was preferred, in a time when certain epithets still caused headaches.

Following is "Miss Misery", an aggressive and rough rock worthy of the best American rock'n'roll, and then the languid ballad "Guilty", which on one hand shows the less intense side of Nazareth (and less fortunate), but on the other hand follows a formula that has remained unchanged over the decades: even metalheads sometimes want a slow song.

Traversing the album with other tracks that seem really taken from an AC-DC record, it triumphantly arrives at what I consider the band's masterstroke: "Please don't Judas me". An exceedingly long ballad that floats between western sensations and esoteric mysteries, with a sinister incipit contaminated by synthetic sounds and a martial development filled with highly enjoyable details, on which McCafferty's voice passionately screams his best. A blessed track, which induces repeated listening, dense with atmospheres and stylistic elements that have set a precedent. Covered and remade by renowned groups (Metallica above all), this closing piece is a worthy culmination of the promises made right from the cover. A pearl of hard-rock history, worth the album purchase by itself.

Well done Nazareth, in those years. Less ennobled than other scene representatives, they keep their banner flying high thanks to this "Hair of the Dog"... a record that I endorse without hesitation.