Nazareth - Loud 'n' Proud
1973 - A&M(Canada) LP
- Dan McCafferty / vocals
- Manny Charlton / guitars
- Pete Agnew / bass
- Darrel Sweet / drums
1. Go Down Fighting
2. No Faking It
3. Turn On Your Receiver
4. Teenage Nervous Breakdown
5. Free Wheeler
6. This Flight Tonight
7. Child In The Sun
8. The Ballad Of Hollis Brown
As of late I've been pulling out some LPs I haven't heard for years, if not decades for various reasons. One reason would be for curiosity to hear if they were as bad or good now as they were way back then. Second, for nostalgia to reflect on the good ole days and thirdly, to jar my memory as some albums I've completely forgot what they sounded like...gettin' older. If I remember correctly, which is doubtful, some, if not most of the Nazareth's albums I have('Razmanaz' through to 'No Mean City') I acquired through the Columbia Record Club back in my mid-teens. My girlfriend at that time commanded me to use one of my 16 choices, or was it 17, maybe it was 15 to order Nazareth's 'Loud 'n' Proud'. So I agreed...no, that's not true as I caved in knowing damn well if I didn't I would end up in the doghouse...again. Besides, I think the order was 1 cent plus S&H for the order so I could live with it.
As I was flippin' through my LPs out in the garage I pulled out Nazareth's 'Hair Of The Dog'. "Nay", I said to myself as I can't stomach that gawd awful repetitive title track and then slid out 'Loud 'n' Proud'. The great cover caught my eye so I decided to take in the house with an armful of others and give'r a whirl.
After the first two tracks my ********* started to pucker, followed by, "Turn On Your Receiver" and I was thinkin' it was time to shut down my receiver. Then they pulverize Little Feat's, "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" from their classic album, 'Sailin' Shoes'. Lowell George must of been aghast if he heard this. I hope he didn't. Now I'm really starting to get aggravated and then the needle(both noun and verb) slides...I can't use slide when reffering to this album, so I'll use bumps into the next track, "This Flight Tonight" (man oh man oh man...my girlfried would play this song repeatedly...jeezus!) and is another desecration of a classic track, this time from the beautiful Joni Mitchell and her album, 'Blue'. "Go Down Fighting" is Dan McCafferty trying to be a tough guy. What a joke. "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown" is yet again another cover, this time coming from Bob Dylan's, 'The Times Are A-Changin'' and is nine minutes of electrocution of horrific distortion and feedback and left me wincing and wretched.
This was one hell of a shellacking and I was vibing after this terrible listening experience and I popped a valium and washed it down a scotch and a soda to kill the pain. 'Loud 'n' Proud' I think is the most monochromatic albums I've ever heard along with the simplistic music style and structure and the friggin' lyrical redundancy and platitude makes this album insufferable. The screeching of Dan McCafferty's vocals is as vexing as nails running down a chalkboard with the combo of the sound properties from the instruments is a brutal pitch of a jackhammer and an air raid siren(I know, cliches but not nearly as much in this review as there is on this album). What's so ironic is that these "rough and tough" Scots would latter surrender to AORism in the '80's and I just can't...no wait.. I don't want to imagine what it would sound like. Could it be as crappy as other AORists from the '80's? No doubt.
A 1/2 star for the cover and a 1/2 star for the content.
Rating: 2/10 Just Awful
Sorry no vids as I didn't want to waste my time and yours.
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....that review is going to ruffle a few peacock feathers here on the forum, lots of NAZARETH fans. I remember on earlier threads you said that you never took to the band.
