Although they took their band name from a song by The Band, Nazareth never aspired to be anything more than dumb escapist hard rock fun. And Hair Of The Dog <\/i>sums up the band\u2019s approach perfectly. It also is their most fully realized album statement and the one that broke them through to the big time for a few minutes.<\/p>\n
This is where the awful cover of \u201cLove Hurts\u201d shows up, a ballad ruined by Dan McCafferty\u2019s screeching, the funereal pace, and the monotony of the tune. You either love it or you hate it.<\/p>\n
This also is where the title track shows up, a stomping kiss-off driven by a truly classic riff, a cowbell, and the line \u201cNow you\u2019re messing with a son of a bitch.\u201d A true pinnacle of \u201870s hard rock, the swagger and attitude of the lyrics and the music is not to be missed, even if you\u2019ve heard it a hundred times on the radio.<\/p>\n
In between these extremes are some of Nazareth\u2019s lesser-known but just as good songs. \u201cMiss Misery\u201d and \u201cBeggar\u2019s Day\u201d mine a hard strain of Sabbath-inflected rock; the latter gives way to a short, keyboard-driven instrumental called \u201cRose In The Heather.\u201d It\u2019s no \u201cLayla\u201d or \u201cOh Well,\u201d of course, but it\u2019s not too bad.<\/p>\n
However, \u201cChangin\u2019 Times\u201d is the best song on here and flat-out the best Nazareth song on record, anywhere, anytime. The song itself feels like a cousin to the title track, with another memorable riff and lyrics questioning a relationship, but then things kick into gear with a fast band jam that goes on for a wonderful three minutes. Manny Charlton lays down epic solos as the rhythm section gets worked into a frenzy. It gives the listener a shot of adrenaline, and you hope it never ends.<\/p>\n
That said, feel free to stop listening before the final two tracks come on. \u201cWhiskey Drinkin\u2019 Woman\u201d is a terrible bluesy number that has been done much better by Aerosmith and AC\/DC, while \u201cPlease Don\u2019t Judas Me\u201d is an overlong, synth-heavy yawner, a tuneless mess with only some occasional slide guitar work to redeem it.<\/p>\n
Hair Of The Dog <\/i>has a lot going for it to recommend, especially for classic and hard rock fans, and it features some of the best music Nazareth ever put to vinyl, even if the three duff tracks keep it from being a true classic of the genre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6068],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-42764","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nazareth","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42764"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}