Nazareth have finally sent up an album that sneers through its hard decibel changes with all the abandon of a runaway tank; after two fair-to-middling efforts, Razamanaz are a middling-to-good heap of slag. Cast in the mold of Deep Purple (whose Roger Glover produced), Nazareth uses a standard instrumental trio format (guitar-bass-drums), vocalist Dan McCafferty contributing obligatory snorts and screams. Thankfully, within this tried, trued and bored formula, Nazareth and Glover manage to squeeze enough venom to sustain several worthy tracks.

Original album advertising art. Click image for larger view.

Displaying some small flair for contemplating disaster, "Woke Up This Morning" cheerfully recites a litany of murdered dog, dead cat and crispy burnt homestead. The title tune, nonsense vocables and all, gets the pagan raucous fuzz-zap treatment. "Sold My Soul," on the other hand, toys with statnic capitulation, a muddy guitar line accenting McCafferty's earnest confession of sin. And finally "Broken Down Angel" widens the stylistic spectrum to include Rod Stewart overtones, Purpled C&W passages and a song of lost virtue.

Which brings us to the sheer junk, from debilitated Bo Diddley Beat ("Night Woman" -- "she's the night woman of my dreams") to Hamms beer reruns (although the teepeed tom-tom guitar line punctuating Leon Russell's "Alcatraz" does quaintly demean its presumed object of noble sympathy).

As for the band's performances, McCafferty croak-talks rather than sings, and Manuel Charlton's guitar playing proves something less than innovative. But the four Scottish lads rarely avoid an opportunity to turn a stale cliche to their slender advantage. When Nazareth hit snide stride, they churn out enough pop staples to match any modest band: a subdued cheer for Scotch rock.

- Jim Miller, Rolling Stone, 10/25/73.

Bonus Review!

Good, unpretentious rock set. Best cuts: "Razamanaz," "Woke Up This Morning."

- Billboard, 1973.

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