09. Nazareth No Mean City 1978 (A&M)
Hard Rock
Jack boots, hi-jacks and a spraying of hard rock.
Overview
After the superb
Hair of the Dog back in 1975, Scottish hard rockers Nazareth had certainly lost their way somewhat. The two albums that they had released in 1976
Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll and
Play ‘n’ the Game had seen the band trade in much of their hard rocking grit for a more commercial sounding softer rock approach, surely in an attempt to breach the burgeoning AOR market in the US at the time. Indeed these albums produced some radio hits and the band demonstrated some interesting diversity on these albums, from their usual flirtation with southern rock right up to their experimentation with psychedelia and pop amongst other styles. The great problem though, was that Nazareth were and out an out hard drinking and hard living rock band and getting them to try and do AOR, was akin to getting say Elton John doing a metal album! By and large though, these two albums were far from terrible and indeed the song “Telelgram” on the former album is an interesting concept, but the albums were never going to really cut it where it mattered. 1977’s
Expect No Mercy was a pure return to what the band knew best and the first side of that album is one of the best that the band ever put out, sadly though the album would lose all its spark and beans on its far weaker second side (see albums that missed the cut for 1977) By the release though of 1978’s
No Mean City, its title taken from the 1935 novel of the same name, one of the staunchest line-ups around had added a fifth member and second guitarist in the ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band guitarist Zal Cleminson, in order to give greater depth to their sound. The move on deeper analysis though, might not have been that overly surprising, as Nazareth were surely aware of the benefits that fellow hard rockers Thin Lizzy had achieved with their own dual-guitar team. The group had also realised that pop-sensibilities were never going to be their forte, but I’m guessing the hugely successful “Love Hurts” single a few years earlier had blinded them in that respect, as the whiskey-soaked vocals of Dan McCafferty were only really good for one style of music. Most interestingly and starting with
Expect No Mercy and then on
No Mean City, the band were putting out some of the most metal album covers ever seen for a 1970s band in an interesting footnote.
Dan McCafferty- Vocals
Manny Charlton- Guitar
Zal Cleminson- Guitar
Pete Agnew- Bass
Darrell Sweet- Drums
Production- Manny Charlton
Album
Just to Get into It- A faster than average Nazareth track and it displays plenty of the band’s newly acquired firepower with the hiring of Zal Cleminson.
May the Sunshine- With its Celtic acoustic guitar intro that accompanies much of the song, the whole thing is beefed up with electric guitars and is a rambling track in the acoustic style of Led Zeppelin. The song also has a great bassline from Pete Agnew as well and the song is accomplished in every aspect.
Simple Solution, Part 1 & 2- Gritty and addictive and with a great overall feel, this is without doubt one of the real highlights of the album and a really great song, it’s also one of Dan McCafferty’s best vocal performances on the album.
Star- A power ballad that has some nice harmony work on offer, but from a vocal perspective and overall feel, the song ultimately fails where it matters and that is in how it resonates with the listener.
Claim to Fame- A heavy plodder that is too repetitive for its own good, but it does have some powerful vocal surges from Dan McCafferty.
Whatever You Want Babe- A galloping upbeat track that unfortunately sounds like something that Rod Stewart could’ve done and the singing here is disjointed to say the least, but the song is saved by the musical ability of the band.
What’s In It For Me- A good album track that despite a certain amount of repetitiveness just seems to hold it altogether where it matters.
No Mean City, Part 1 & 2- The album closer is a strong 6 plus minutes track overall and on some versions of the album, there is an instrumental version of
“Whatever You Want Babe” which is far superior to the earlier version with vocals.
Verdict
No Mean City was certainly a return to form by Nazareth, not so much in the quality of the overall material on offer here, but more so in its consistency in general and the added benefits of guitarist Zal Cleminson which are evident on much of the album. His added depth is noticeable from the word go on the rocking “Just to Get Into It” and with existing guitarist Manny Charlton the two of them add some great depth on tracks like “May the Sunshine”. The strongest tracks on the album are probably the aforementioned “May the Sunshine” the addictive and fairly hypnotic “Simple Solution, Part 1 & 2” which at times has a guitar riff that would even do Thin Lizzy proud and the album closer the title track "No Mean City, Part 1 & 2". Despite the consistency on offer here, the album does have a few duffers that throw a spanner in the works and they surely come in the form of the power ballad “Star” the repetitive plodder “Claim to Fame” and the vocally woeful “Whatever You Want Babe” which also comes with a far superior instrumental version of the song on some versions of the album. Now none of these are terrible songs per se and they don’t overly detract from the consistent feel of the album, but the problem is that all three of these songs come straight after one another and leave something of a quality hole in the middle of the album, luckily though the back end of
No Mean City is not afflicted with the lack of quality that ruined
Expect No Mercy.
No Mean City is probably the better of all the late 1970s Nazareth releases and shows that the band towards the end of the decade still had something to offer, but in a better year the album would have never ever have been considered for a top ten placing on this year’s list.