The successful
Nazareth reissue campaign continues. Salvo Records kicks off 2011 with "Snaz" -
Nazareth's first official live album recorded in Vancouver 1981.
The recording captures
Nazareth in support of "The Fool Circle". This tour also premiered the
Nazareth line-up, which included guitarist Billy Rankin and keyboard/piano player John Locke. Especially the addition of John Lock broadened the sound of
Nazareth. This is already clear on album opener
Telegram. The band sounds really great on the symphonic anthem. Billy Rankin and John Locke make their presence known and it suits
Nazareth with a fuller sound on this Queen-like epic rock song.
In 1981
Nazareth was a seasoned live band spending 10 months a year on the road. The band must have been very confident in themselves because the live album is one complete concert and not fragments of several concerts put together in the studio.
Nazareth changed their setlist each night and the biggest complain about this album is the absence of songs from "Malice in Wonderland" even though they played songs off the album during the Tour. As Dan McCafferty explains in the extensive booklet "
We just didn't play any that night".
This expanded version of "Snaz" has bonus tracks recorded in Seattle on the same tour plus two further studio cuts by this new incarnation of the group.
Nazareth plays a great show in front of the sold out crowd at the 15.000 capacity Coliseum. The album is great it is not about a big stage production, dancers etc this show is just the music. It shows that
Nazareth is a live band since the band sound consistent and thereby great on both the Seattle and Vancouver show. The mix of Hard Rocking tunes like
Hair of the Dog and
Razamanaz with
Nazareth's recent and commercial tunes like
Big Boy and
Holiday works great. Throw in a bunch of covers like ZZ Tops
Tush (an odd choice for
Nazareth) and then you have the Snaz album
Salvo's reissue comes in a great digipack - 29 tracks total and a playing time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Value for money!
Written by
Michael Friday, March 4, 2011
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