06. Nazareth Razamanaz 1973 (Mooncrest)
Hard Rock
Just what the witch doctor ordered!
Overview
Nazareth were essentially one of the backbones of 1970s hard rock, with their honest sound and Dan McCafferty’s raspy sounding whisky soaked vocals (a future Axl Rose was a big fan, but of course he never had the vocal chops of Dan) and the other three members of this Dunfermline band featured Pete Agnew and Darrell Sweet on bass and drums, but it was guitarist Manny Charlton that really stood out with his ability on the guitar. The first couple of Nazareth albums were decent efforts and the second
Exercises was actually produced by Roy Thomas Baker. These albums had some sound rockers on them, but they would heavily lose out as they were lacking in cohesion and were just too laid back in their final execution. The band had basically seemed too involved in trying out too many diverse styles, without really hitting the nail on the head! Anybody listening first to Nazareth’s heyday material of the mid 1970s and then listening to these first two couple of efforts, might think they were listening to another band, but of course they would still notice the great guitar work of Manny Charlton on these albums. So by their third album, it took Roger Glover of Deep Purple bassist come producer, to grab these Scottish warriors by the scruff of the neck and get them to produce an album (or three in this case) that was worthy of their hard rock talents. In fact the albums that Roger Glover did with Nazareth, were the albums that gave him his reputation as a great producer for this kind of music, as just prior to working with Nazareth he had worked with the bluesy ELF (a band Dio did some tenure with) but it was on
Razamanaz that he forged his reputation as a producer. Just by listening to the opening and the title track on
Razamanaz, the listener knows that here is a band that were born to churn out heavy music and for anybody looking to get into the Nazareth discography, this album is surely the place to start.
Razamanaz would launch the band into the big time, with the album cracking the "Top 20" of the UK album chart along witn two hit singles.
Razamanaz announced the arrival of another highly influential act on the 1970s heavy scene.
Dan McCafferty- Vocals
Manny Charlton- Guitar
Pete Agnew- Bass
Darrell Sweet- Drums
Production- Roger Glover
Album
Razamanaz- With its heavy pounding intro and crunchy vocals, this is a classic hard rock intro of its day, before the song then moves into a more glam chorus sounding section, the song then revolves around these two styles.
Alcatraz- Starts off with a red indian style type of drumming intro and then moves into some real rocky territory, we are then constantly treated to these tribal beats throughout the rest of the song. This is a cover version of the Leon Russell song but just played much louder!
Vigilante Man- A traditional sounding blues tune that gets more emotional and heavier as the track goes by, it’s a cover of a Woody Guthrie song.
Woke Up This Morning- Following on from the blues of the previous track, this song moves into more traditional and melodic territory, the song has a touch of humour as well.
Night Man- More glam style drumming and this song is effectively your average album track in terms of quality.
Bad Bad Boy- Basically sounds like a rockabilly track, and of course it’s played really loud.
Sold My Soul- A crunchy slow burning rocker and executed with real thought and musical prowess by the band. Without doubt it’s one of the best tracks on the album.
Too Bad Too Sad- One of the more energetic rockers on the album and a decent track.
Broken Down Angel- The album closer sounds like something that the Rolling Stones could’ve recorded around this period and it's one of two singles from the album along with "Bad Bad Boy"
Verdict
Just listening to the opening barrage of both “Razamanaz” and “Alcatraz” shows that this band had been honed to perfection by Roger Glover and were simply going for broke on this album. But that’s not to say that the band weren’t up for the odd bit of diversity, as long as that diversity was heavy of course. This attitude can be seen on the re-worked covers of the Leon Russell song “Alcatraz” and the traditional bluesy sounding “Vigilante Man” then there is the bluesy humour of “Woke Up This Morning” a track actually lifted from their previous album
Exercises! I don’t think this track was included because the band were short on songs here, but more to the fact that they thought it would work well on this album with its lighter vibes, to add some contrast. Throughout the album Manny Charlton’s blistering guitar can be noted, especially on songs like the heavy and humorous “Razamanaz” and every now and again you’ll hear Manny Charlton put down a Led Zeppelin style riff that even Jimmy Page would’ve been proud of! Just check out the scorching guitar section in the later part of “Razamanaz” to find out. Also Nazareth were not simply just about hard rocking with a bit of diversity now and again, because at times they could put out material that really resonated haunting emotions against a hard rock backdrop and one of the album’s best tracks “Sold My Soul” is a great example of this. In fact at times it reminds me of a Trapeze track, with Dan McCafferty’s whiskey soaked wail, replacing the more abstract melodic approach of Glenn Hughes, but in essence both bands could’ve played this song equally well in their own styles. Nazareth were also a band that really focused on their influences and at times they married the Led Zeppelin and glam rock styles so well, along with a strong infusion of both blues and country tinges.
Razamanaz demonstrates that Nazareth were looking to put out an album that was both hard hitting and contemporary for its time.
Razamanaz was the band’s breakthrough album, but it should be said that Nazareth got away with some rather average songs on this album, but when Dan McCafferty and Manny Charlton along with the rhythm section do their stuff, the whole album comes alive and gives us a potent long lasting hard rocker from the vault.