Customer Reviews

Nazareth: From the Beginning

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was very excited about getting this CD, as there appears to be little documentation about the days when they were a four piece band. Like many bands, Nazareth waited until they'd watered down their sound to record their official live album, 'Snaz. This left the impression that they'd always been somewhat anemic onstage. This DVD sets the record straight and captures their early energy, warts and all. Sure, there are a few bum notes and some technical problems that will annoy the viewer, but the fact remains that this is the classic, original band, onstage. This may well be the only concert release we ever see with this line-up, so I'm very thankful for what is here. Yes, there are a couple of places where the master they copied is flawed. However, I have similar flaws on other vintage rock shows on DVD. The Old Grey Whistle Test clips have occasional flaws, as do Rockpalast and Don Kirshner. With tapes approaching 35+ years old, there's bound to be a bad spot here and there. The miracle is that this stuff is getting released at all! I would have given it a 5 star rating if the documentary had been more than a brief conversation with Manny Charlton and we'd heard more about the band and it's long career. It was nice to have (all?) their promo videos (1977 - 1980) gathered together, as I don't believe I'd ever seen any of them before. Too bad they couldn't have added Morning Dew from the Beat Club in 1971 as an extra bonus. Anyway, what you do get is 13 songs from their 1977 appearance on BBC's Sight & Sound show, all in glorious, living color, then 7 promo videos from 1977-1980, and a photo section, with separate gallerys for each of the four band members and then a gallery of group shots. Nice overall and the price can't be beat. If you EVER liked this band, then this is the one DVD you have to get. Hell, buy it anyway, because Nazareth rock like nobody's business......

It's nice to finally have a clean copy of the 1977 BBC concert and the extras. The videos are a nice treat, it's been a long time since I've seen them, especially the videos from the Expect No Mercy and No Mean City albums. The reason for only four stars is that the main portion of the DVD, the BBC concert from 1977 is not the full show. For some reason, Gone Dead Train was omitted. It was played after Love Hurts and before Kentucky Fried Blues. You can't tell a song was skipped as they did a nice editing job. I'm disappointed with that. I have a grainy copy of the full show burned on DVD and was excited to learn about this release. Being a die-hard Naz fan, I was disappointed with the omission of Gone Dead Train. Otherwise, it's a five star disc for the real Nazareth fan. I still recommend buying it.

RAW AND RIGHT LIVE GIG. THIS IS PERFECT ROCK and ROLL from one of the best bands on the planet.

I very much like many Nazareth albums; Loud And Proud, Close Enough For Rock and Roll, No Mean City, et....and always thought they were unfairly overlooked or misrepresented by their Hair Of The Dog and Love Hurts singles. They were a very cool yet simple and raw rock band in an era of bloated and overtly pompous fluff-rock. But this is simply a very very mediocre performance, particularly from guitarist Manny Charlton. In fact this is one of worst performances I have seen from a band of that stature from that era. Bunk notes like crazy, sustain that does not sustain, clumsy fumbly riffing..... I hope he was drunk cuz otherwise he just sucked on this one.

I still like Nazareth very much but this performance is lame.
I have seen much much better clips of them from the 70s.

The first track "Telegram" is pretty solid, but others like "Night Woman" are painful. Manny stumbling through some awful Hall of The Mountain King intro sounds like me playing guitar when I am drunk and I try not to inflict that on people.

-Jefferson

Yes indeed...this is a wonderful DVD capturing Nazareth's late 70s live sound. Dan McCafferty's voice was just starting to get a little rougher, but not as worn as the S'naz CD in 1981 (which I also HIGHLY recommend). The video quality is excellent as well, and the song selection is very satisfying.

It is a BBC recording in a small theater, and it is beautifully restored. The bonus promo videos are very entertaining too...especially the ones with 2nd guitarist Zal Cleminson. He certainly seemed to add a shot of energy to the lineup, and complements Manny Charleton's style very nicely. He also seems to be a bit of a character. And his playing is intense and full of emotion. But the live 1977 show is the real reason I purchased this...since I grew up in the 70s. HIGHLY recommended! Excellent price too. If you like Nazareth as much as I do, well, buy this today!

the product never I arrive, him requeri the information about the shipment but never me they provided it, so the salary bought in amazon was a bad experience, thus I recommend not to buy in this site.

Another reviewer said:

"They simply played an old tape copy of the show, captured it to a harddrive, encoded a low quality mpeg, and authored a DVD".

This looks to be true, but, the sound and picture are actually pretty good. I was very satisfied (I am playing this on very basic equipment). I would rate the sound and audio above average for shows recorded in the 70's. For a Nazareth fan, this is a "must-have". I have watched this over a 100 times already, I just love it. The BBC show is great, the added videos from later years don't add much.

juat want to add a slice of trivia to the mix...the dvd is from manny charlton himself..thats right the original guitarist for naz. one reviewer missed gone dead train in the setlist...manny said on his website that there wasnt enough money or time on the dvd to add it when he was putting it all together.

be sure to check out www.nazarethdirect.co.uk and ww.mannycharlton.com as well!

I saw this concert live on TV almost 30 years ago and never thought I would be lucky enough to see it again. It fully lives up to my memory of the gig. It is definitely the best Nazareth dvd available. Video clips were a real bonus, very interesting. Highlights for me include Kentucky Fried Blues, (so seldom played live by the band) and Hall of the Mountain King intro by Manny, brilliant guitar work. I also like the fact that the band were clearly enjoying being on stage.

Be warned! Whatever you think about Nazareth, this is a lousy DVD. It is not as described. It does not recount their history. There are no interviews, no detailed portrait. It does not look at their legacy. There are no unreleased tracks from Expect No Mercy. The 'memorabilia' section amounts to a bunch of crappy photos. Truth be told, this is just a low quality recording of an incomplete BBC 'Sight & Sound' concert broadcast from 1977. The extras merely comprise the aforementioned photos, plus a few (embarrassingly bad) videos tacked on. One thing the DVD does reveal is that Manny Charlton really wasn't a very good guitarist. At their best Nazareth were a great band, but this is not Nazareth at their best. It does them no justice. Avoid!