Nazz
Open Our Eyes - The Anthology

The Nazz are one of those high-level bands that never got the recognition they deserved. A launching pad for the genius of Todd Rundgren, the band also included Caeson G. Van Osten on bass, Thom Mooney on drums, and Stewkey as the singer-keyboardist. The Nazz were one of the many emerging bands of 1967, hard in electric sounds but simultaneously very melodic thanks to the young insight of Todd Rundgren. Even exceptional tracks like "Open my Eyes", "Not Wrong Long", "Some People", and especially "Forget All About It", are unknown, not to mention the beautiful "Hello It's Me".

I decided to review this album and not 'Nazz Nazz' which is the group's masterpiece because it's already been reviewed and is rare to find on vinyl. 'Open our Eyes' is printed by the Italian label Earnmark and thus is easy to find, although at a fairly high price. The anthology is nothing more than a collection of most of the pieces from the three records, but I don't like how they're arranged as the tracks are in random order and do not respect the original albums.

Nonetheless, it's a great album for those interested in getting to know them or for someone like apparently PsychRockBlues, who reviewed 'Nazz Nazz', a great fan. Without a doubt, the album contains all the most beautiful pieces and may even be more than a three-star affair for those unfamiliar with the originally released albums. It's not a bootleg with poor reproductions but a true collection excellently recorded by the Florentine record company. It's a masterpiece in terms of packaging; the record is indeed a beautiful triple. The cover opens and contains a lot of beautiful color photos and the official history of the group, well-curated and fairly complete. It also contains a card with their four photos and comics representing them, and on this last one, each group member's favorite foods are written! From a packaging point of view, it has only one flaw in that the spine easily gets damaged from repeatedly opening and putting it back into the tight plastic sleeve that holds it.

I highly recommend it to those who want to hear something from the group! The record is available by order in any record store at the cost of around thirty euros.

Greetings from Psychobonco!