We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…….
For every folk-rock band from Great Britain there was also a four man rock band dealing in heavy riffs, thundering bass and thumping drums. Today we focus on the debut self-titled LP from the Scottish outfit known as Nazareth (named after the town in Pennsylvania mentioned in “The Weight” and not the hometown of Jesus.
Like many rock debuts this is a band searching for their niche. So they throw a lot of different styles on the record to see what sticks. Led by the raspy vocals of Dan McCafferty (not nearly as raspy as he would become later in the decade) the band also featured Manny Charlton on guitar, Pete Agnew on bass and Darrell Sweet on drums.
From the straight ahead blues-rock of Witchdoctor Woman and “Empty Arms. Empty Heart” to an almost pop song called Dear John(helped by some rollicking piano from Pete Wingfield)…to the ballads “I Had A Dream” and “Country Girl… to the anthemic like Red Light Lady with it’s Sabbath like overtones and some organ laid on by Dave Stewart who would eventually form the Eurythmics….to the comic relief of “Fat Man”….to the string filled fantasy of “King is Dead”…this is an album that veers all over the place.
The centerpiece is a cover of a folk song called Morning Dew. It was written and recorded by Bonnie Dobson in 1962 and was based on the film ‘On The Beach”. it’s a supposed conversation between the last man & woman on earth after a global annnihilation.
Here is Dobson’s original…
The Jeff Beck Group did it in 1968 with Rod Stewart on vocals.
Here is how Nazareth does it…driven by the throbbing bass of Agnew and the tasty drum fills from Sweet.
You can tell that this band had listened well to the hard rock of the day and was learning it’s lessons. They would release albums that would be better and worse…they would, of course, have hits in 1975 with ‘Hair Of The Dog” and their cover of “Love Hurts”…but here is where it all started…a mixed bag for sure, but not without its pleasures
Comments