Originally from Dumfermline, Scotland - the four blokes Dan McCafferty, Manny Charlton, Darrell Sweet and Pete Agnew have made a stir in rock history with their band
Nazareth.
Hot on the heels of some successful releases in the seventies
Nazareth toured the world several times. "The River Sessions" is a split between two recordings from 1981 - a live broadcast from Glasgow and a show in the states. John Locke (ex-Spirit) on keyboards and guitarist Billy Rankin has joined the touring line-up.
Of course
Nazareth play their classic songs
Hair of the Dog,
Expect No Mercy and their cover of
Love Hurts. Dan McCafferty sings
Love Hurts with passion and makes this performance chilling.
Nazareth has managed to keep the emotion of their studio recording. From the breathtaking ballad
Love Hurts Nazareth oddly kicks directly into ZZ Top's
Tush.
The first six tracks are definitely the highlights of this album. The other material is taken from another concert and unfortunately the sound quality doesn't match the previous concert.
Nazareth plays a rousing version of
Razamanaz but the sound quality makes it loose a bit of edge.
Other great songs are
Hearts Grown Cold and
Holiday. The bands play well, but the definitive trademark of
Nazareth is Dan McCafferty's raspy voice. His vocals are stunning and it is amazing how he controls his raw blowtorch vocals on
Holiday where McCafferty almost sounds polished.
Nazareth is a great live band but the sound quality makes this album loose a couple of grades. Also there are a few misses like the reggae beat on
Cocaine and
Let Me Be Your Leader. The cover version of CC Cale's
Cocaine is experimenting and
Nazareth forgets to rock out on this song.
Dressed To Kill is toothless, but in general
Nazareth lives up to their reputation of bone crushing Rock 'N' Roll with signer Dan McCafferty's voice sounding like a blowtorch. More material from the milestones "Razamanaz" and "Loud 'N' Proud" would have been preferred.
Written by
Michael Tuesday, November 22, 2005
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