Nazz
Nazz III

In 1971, the third and final album by the Nazz was released, which was supposed to be the second disc of the double LP "Fungo Bat," which never happened... But, in reality, all three of their records could be a triple LP, because upon listening, there are no novelties; the compositional formula and structure are more or less the same. In fact, Anglo-Saxon guitar blues, English beat, and psychedelia mix together in their third LP, and they do so for the third time in three years.

Compared to previous works, rock is somewhat set aside: only three samples, including the semi-acoustic and initial "Some People" - owing to the Who in the chorus and with a dizzyingly fast ending -, "How Can You Call That Beautiful", catchy and slightly progressive, and the penultimate "Christopher Columbus", epic and well-executed. The blues of that time can be found in "Kicks", more melodic compared to its older English sisters (but we know Rundgren is a great melody writer, and Clapton the exact opposite), in Hendrix's "Magic Me" and in the ballad "Plenty Of Lovin'". With rock exhausted, blues exhausted, melodies remain, as expected, for what nevertheless and beyond everything was a pop (boy?) band of the times. But these episodes were not the only ones, as in the previous works they mixed linear melodies with psychedelia: we also find some significant 'oblique' ballads, as well as pieces that would fit well in a Burt Bacharach hits collection.

While "Only One Winner" sounds more classic, with remarkable vocal harmonies (there was nothing English that good at the time, and this must be said) and "Take The Hand", a track like "Old Time Lovemaking" will foreshadow Rundgren's taste for incorporating a nice hopping electric piano in the style of Chicago's "Saturday In The Park" and trumpets borrowed from a Burt Bacharach orchestra into his catchiest episodes. Once more the great Burt for the final (and simpler) "You Are My Window". Remaining and standing out "Resolution", among strings and horns, xylophones, and psychedelia, for an almost lounge specimen, and "It's Not That Easy", whose introduction features a slightly jazzy guitar; the track then transforms-deforms into a little campfire song with psychedelic strumming on a yellow-reflective vest sand. 'Unexplained', but excellent.

Despite being another excellent work - slightly inferior to the previous "Nazz Nazz" in terms of number and quality of ideas -, and despite knowing there are thousands of bands out there that can only dream of such qualitative continuity, the album was not successful: it is the third flop in three attempts. But it wasn't just for this reason that the band disbanded, one can bet. The excellent results of a band that nonetheless knows it is too derivative, and too indebted to other sounds, led its leader and driving force to aspire for greater creative spaces, to search for his stylistic signature, to take solitary paths, and to want to create another, new band... Todd would do both things together, and simultaneously.

Thus will be the career of Todd Rundgren, both a soloist and a band leader, to experiment in both directions. The "Nazz III" chapter is the final one of a brief but intense history of a great writer with his first novel, of a painting genius in his blue period. For his fans, unmissable, as well as for genre and musical period enthusiasts, undoubtedly the most prolific ever.