Well I've just finished all my worky-work stuff for tonight and here I sit at 8:30. I'm tired, but thankfully the tonic of the music review awaits. Well - at least it's a tonic for me - you'll have to decide how you feel when you get to the end.
Disc 254 is...The Primo Collection
Artist: Nazareth
Year of Release: 2007, but with music from 1971-1981
What’s Up With The Cover?: Somebody over at Primo records was playing with the background maker on their graphics program, and discovered 'water'. Inoffensive, but uninspiring, particularly given how many awesome covers some of the original Nazareth records had.
How I Came To Know It: I have known Nazareth since I've been conscious of music. their 1975 Greatest Hits album was the second record I ever bought (after KISS' Destroyer). I have two records of theirs, but nothing on CD, so when I saw a 2 CD set I bought it, despite my misgivings with 'best ofs'.
How It Stacks Up: It may say "The Primo Collection" but we all know that actually is just another way to say 'best of', so of course, it doesn't stack up. I do have an actual Nazareth studio album, "Loud and Proud", but only on record, and this is a CD Odyssey.
Rating: 'best ofs' don't get a rating.
Nazareth is a seventies hard rock band from Scotland that was a big influence on me early on. I used to play their 1975 Greatest Hits record and "Loud and Proud" all the time when I was a kid.
"The Primo Collection" is two discs, and 24 songs. Listening to it over the past three days, I think it is safe to say that I am no longer enamoured with the band like I was when I was seven years old. I still had fun, mind you.
Being a Greatest Hits collection, the Primo Collection has a lot of good songs. Standouts include their famous remake of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight" which I maintain is better than the original. Incidentally, Nazareth also does a very good job of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown" although sadly that song didn't make it onto this compilation. What did make it on, was a version of Clapton's "Cocaine" which isn't the greatest.
Worse, "Cocaine" is a live track, and reminds me of the time in the early nineties I saw them play in a local club. That was a bad concert, but the crowd was worse. They booed Nazareth when they played songs off their new album, and just kept calling for "Hair of the Dog" (I think Nazareth did it twice). It was a painful moment for a band that once did a whole lot better for themselves. I'm told in recent years their live act has improved, which is good. I hope they've been rewarded with more respectful audiences as a result.
Back to the record, which has a few highlights that I remember from my old seventies greatest hits album. These include "Razamanaz" (off of the album of the same name) and "Shangai'd In Shanghai" (off of "Rampant").
There is also a lot of filler, like "Telegram" which is a song composed of very obvious heroic couplets, that would have Alexander Pope spinning in his grave and - even worse - songs that I absolutely loved as a kid, but which have not aged well. "Go Down Fighting" comes to mind here, which meant a lot to a skinny kid who dreamed of being tougher on the playground, but just doesn't resonate anymore.
Listening to this album made me want to own more than one of Nazareth's studio albums - maybe as many as three ("Razamanaz", "Loud and Proud" and "Rampant" come to mind), but ultimately, I think the songs I enjoyed most here, were the ones off of their 1975 Greatest Hits record, minus all the filler on the "Primo Collection."
Additionally, while all their classic albums have been re-released as remastered "30th Anniversary Editions", they cost around $24-$28, and all have additional 'bonus tracks' (which are rarely a bonus, in my experience).
So I'm going to resist drilling into the collection of this once proud seventies band (this may be a first) and actually downsize to a more manageable Greatest Hits package. A humble fate for a band that once filled my entire musical horizon. Thanks for the memories, Nazareth.
Best tracks: This Flight Tonight, Hair of the Dog, Razamanaz, Free Wheeler, Shanghai'd In Shanghai, Teenage Nervous Breakdown
Disc 254 is...The Primo Collection
Artist: NazarethYear of Release: 2007, but with music from 1971-1981
What’s Up With The Cover?: Somebody over at Primo records was playing with the background maker on their graphics program, and discovered 'water'. Inoffensive, but uninspiring, particularly given how many awesome covers some of the original Nazareth records had.
How I Came To Know It: I have known Nazareth since I've been conscious of music. their 1975 Greatest Hits album was the second record I ever bought (after KISS' Destroyer). I have two records of theirs, but nothing on CD, so when I saw a 2 CD set I bought it, despite my misgivings with 'best ofs'.
How It Stacks Up: It may say "The Primo Collection" but we all know that actually is just another way to say 'best of', so of course, it doesn't stack up. I do have an actual Nazareth studio album, "Loud and Proud", but only on record, and this is a CD Odyssey.
Rating: 'best ofs' don't get a rating.
Nazareth is a seventies hard rock band from Scotland that was a big influence on me early on. I used to play their 1975 Greatest Hits record and "Loud and Proud" all the time when I was a kid.
"The Primo Collection" is two discs, and 24 songs. Listening to it over the past three days, I think it is safe to say that I am no longer enamoured with the band like I was when I was seven years old. I still had fun, mind you.
Being a Greatest Hits collection, the Primo Collection has a lot of good songs. Standouts include their famous remake of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight" which I maintain is better than the original. Incidentally, Nazareth also does a very good job of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown" although sadly that song didn't make it onto this compilation. What did make it on, was a version of Clapton's "Cocaine" which isn't the greatest.
Worse, "Cocaine" is a live track, and reminds me of the time in the early nineties I saw them play in a local club. That was a bad concert, but the crowd was worse. They booed Nazareth when they played songs off their new album, and just kept calling for "Hair of the Dog" (I think Nazareth did it twice). It was a painful moment for a band that once did a whole lot better for themselves. I'm told in recent years their live act has improved, which is good. I hope they've been rewarded with more respectful audiences as a result.
Back to the record, which has a few highlights that I remember from my old seventies greatest hits album. These include "Razamanaz" (off of the album of the same name) and "Shangai'd In Shanghai" (off of "Rampant").
There is also a lot of filler, like "Telegram" which is a song composed of very obvious heroic couplets, that would have Alexander Pope spinning in his grave and - even worse - songs that I absolutely loved as a kid, but which have not aged well. "Go Down Fighting" comes to mind here, which meant a lot to a skinny kid who dreamed of being tougher on the playground, but just doesn't resonate anymore.
Listening to this album made me want to own more than one of Nazareth's studio albums - maybe as many as three ("Razamanaz", "Loud and Proud" and "Rampant" come to mind), but ultimately, I think the songs I enjoyed most here, were the ones off of their 1975 Greatest Hits record, minus all the filler on the "Primo Collection."
Additionally, while all their classic albums have been re-released as remastered "30th Anniversary Editions", they cost around $24-$28, and all have additional 'bonus tracks' (which are rarely a bonus, in my experience).
So I'm going to resist drilling into the collection of this once proud seventies band (this may be a first) and actually downsize to a more manageable Greatest Hits package. A humble fate for a band that once filled my entire musical horizon. Thanks for the memories, Nazareth.
Best tracks: This Flight Tonight, Hair of the Dog, Razamanaz, Free Wheeler, Shanghai'd In Shanghai, Teenage Nervous Breakdown
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