1975: Nazareth - Hair of the Dog

 



Hair of the Dog is the 6th album from the Scottish band Nazareth.  It's a good listen.  Stylistically, they fit in with bands like Aerosmith, Bad Company and AC/DC.  Vocalist Dan McCafferty has a gritty, high pitched approach reminiscent of AC/DC's Brian Johnson.  Let's go through the tracks:

Hair of the Dog: So iconic, non-stop cowbell, talkbox solo, "Now you're messin' with a son of a bitch!"  My band The Night Howls covered it our very first show as a 2-piece.  See link:
https://youtu.be/CMHZYL_vk8g
Miss Missery: A nice mid-tempo rocker, tempo speeds up at the end
Love Hurts: An Everly Brothers cover, a ballad with some tude, love it!
Changin' Times: Influenced by Black Dog by Led Zeppelin, a head-bobber, nice mood change for solo section during last part of song.
Beggars Day: Good rock, some synth at the end.
Whiskey Drinkin' Woman: Lamenting about being in a relationship with a hard drinkin' lady, nice lead guitar
Please Don't Judas Me: Mysterious and proggy, acoustic guitars, tabla, synth, an interesting lead guitar tone with an eastern feel, song continues to build continually until the end, added big vocals and intensity! 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1977: Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Image
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols , it's just a kick-ass rock 'n roll album!  It's got lots of attitude, big power chords and Chuck Berry inspired riffing.  The songs are catchy and John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) has a snarly vocal that has influenced many a punk and non-punk since.  Many of the songs on Bollocks have been covered by other bands over and over, songs like Holidays in the Sun, God Save the Queen, and especially Anarchy in the U.K. The Sex Pistols only toured the US once on a short 2 week tour of the deep south in 1978.  It was a crazy tour that Noel E. Monk managed.  Noel went on to manage Van Halen from 1978 to 1985.  This a spoiler alert for a future blog... Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was important in shaking up the mid-seventies music scene.  I think it was a similar shake up to the "grunge movement" of the early 90's, more on that later.  Some of my favorite music ever came out of the...
Read more

1976: Aerosmith - Rocks

Image
  If you read my list of my 30 most influential albums and my blogs so far on loved albums from each year of my life, it should be apparent, more than anything, I like ROCK!  I listen to blues, jazz, bluegrass, ect...sometimes but the ROCK is what moves and inspires me and elicits catharsis.  Rocks is my favorite Aerosmith album and as the name implies, it just rocks! Rocks starts out with Back in the Saddle which is very cool, Steven Tyler's high vocals at the end, insane!  Last Child is very groovy.  Rats in the Cellar, a good, fast rocker.  I always loved the heaviness of Nobody's Fault, big drums!  Get a Lead Out, a cool melody.  Lick and a Promise, another rocker! I haven't listened to Aerosmith in years but they are one solid-ass rock n' roll band!  They have a great attention for detail which pushes songs over the top.  I forget sometimes how great a vocalist Steven Tyler is.  People think about Robert Plant for those high 70...
Read more

1983: Dio - Holy Diver

Image
  I love this album.  This little muthafucka Dio had the perfect mix of unbelievable vocal chops and grit and a flare for being dramatic.  Holy Diver was my first real introduction to Ronnie James Dio.  I went on to check out his Sabbath and Rainbow stuff and it was good. The songs are thumpin'.  The rhythm section of Vinnie Appice and Jimmy Bain is tight and slammin'.  I love Vivian Campbell's guitar playing.  He is one of my favorite shredders from the 80's based on this album alone! Some song highlights: Stand Up and Shout - A great rocker out of the gate, yeah, let's go! Holy Diver - You may have heard it, a great slow chugging riff, great for slaying dragons! Don't talk to Strangers - Neato, dynamic song, shredalicious lead guitar! Straight Through the Heart - One of the best head bobbing songs ever, try not to move some part of your body to this one, I am so glad I listened to this again after many years! Invisible - Ballsy and these guys ju...
Read more