Aye, that's a five stars out of five all right. For some reason, nearly every heavy metal band that ever pioneered the movement back on the Sixties/Seventies border, used to have its first album as its finest hour (stupid critics don't seem to realise that, of course, but hey, it's their personal problem). Think Led Zep I (glorious!), Deep Purple In Rock (not that band's first record, but the first serious Mark II studio effort), Paranoid (well, it was Sabbath's second effort, but it came out the same year as the first), and yes, Nazareth's self-titled album.
You know my scepticism towards heavy metal as a genre, but even I have to admit that this is one helluva record; easily the second best "heavy" release of 1971, barely nudged out by Zoso and only because that one had a mightier share of instant classics. On the other hand, Nazareth is more consistent; you'll find nothing like the stupid self-indulgence of 'Four Sticks' or the lame ear-shredding harmonies of 'Misty Mountain Hop' on here. So, assuming that very few souls in this world still remember the Scottish lads' innocent debut, I might just as well give you a short run-down.
Freshly descended from the snowy mountains of Scotland, Nazareth seem to have absorbed the heavy sound quite seriously; there's no reason to doubt their having worn out their copies of Led Zep's, Black Sabbath's and even Uriah Heep's records from the previous year. But Nazareth adds an important series of elements that are enough to completely distinguish their effort from that of their predecessors. First, there is a very strong folk influence throughout; and unlike Led Zep, these guys actually understand what folk is all about. Maybe Edinburgh was a good place to soak in these influences; in any case, a song like 'I Had A Dream', even if it might seem 'mushy' on first listen, is actually an excellent and moving acoustic gem, graced by tasty harmonium and very Winwood-like vocals from Mr McCafferty (in fact, you could easily mistake this song for a Traffic number! A good Traffic number at that!) Likewise, 'Country Girl' is adorable - it has nothing to do with Neil Young's song of the same name, but it is somewhat similar to Neil's balladeering style, and dang catchy and pleasant at that.
More important is that Nazareth introduce the pop hook into their fat grumbly metal machine. All of these songs are only indirectly related to the blues; the main melodic structures are actually pop, cleverly and brilliantly disguised as heavy, gritty rockers (a trick that Uriah Heep never really managed to pull off. And why? Because their melodies sucked, that's why!). Actually, the album opener 'Witchdoctor Woman' (should be separated with a comma - no androgynous stuff on here) is currently in my Top Five, maybe even Top Three, heavy metal songs ever written. What a magnificent riff. What brilliant singing - listen to how Dan marvellously fits in with every guitar tone. The awesome Sabbathey 'cluck-cluck-cluck' guitar "echo". The terrific prolongation of the outro chord on every second line. The simple, yet oh so effective solo. Why the song never actually sent them over the top into the league of "metal greatest" back in 1971 is one of those unfair mysteries of life I just can never get used to.
Nothing else really scales the same epic heights, but many of the other tracks come close. Particularly impressive, for instance, is their seven-minute rendition of Tim Rose's 'Morning Dew' (which can also be heard in a very good version as impersonated by Rod Stewart on Jeff Beck's Truth): the atmospheric intro, with the pumping bass line and all those echoey guitars slowly and menacingly weaving around it, is sheer brilliancy again. And even if the tune is essentially generic, it's still performed with such an outstanding audacity that you can't help but get involved - as regards, for instance, the bold piano rocker 'Dear John'. Meanwhile, the guys have a good sense of humour too: 'Fat Man' is simply hilarious, with amusing electronically encoded vocals and a groovy song structure. To top it all, the band also shows a passion for bombastic, but clever orchestrated passages - as can be evidenced by the huge operatic finale of 'Red Light Lady' (another excellent rocker in its own rights), and the slightly less memorable, but interesting 'The King Is Dead'. And the new CD release adds a bunch of bonus tracks, among which you'll find the funny pop ballad 'Friends' (pure music-hall!) and an alternate edit of 'Spinning Top' which would, of course, be featured later on Razamanaz.
In other words, as far as consistent albums go, they hardly get any better than this. It's an awful shame the album isn't in print in the US (just as it's an awful shame that Nazareth as a band are virtually unknown there); it's definitely a must for any hard rock collection.
(starlingdb.org/music/nazareth.htm)
White vinyl. Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered.