Customer Reviews

Nazz

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a 9th grader in '68, I literally could not wait to run home from school everyday to crank up this album. With the heavy energy of Cream, the gorgeous harmonies of the Beach Boys, topped off with the emerging songwriting talents of another youngster - Todd Rundgren - Nazz sonically journeyed where few other rock bands dared to go back then. Searing rockers (Open My Eyes, The Lemming Song, Wildwood Blues, She's Going Down) perfectly coexisted with beautiful, harmony-drenched ballads (Hello It's Me, If That's The Way You Feel, Crowded) making Nazz quite an enigma among all the political, drugged-out, blues-based rock music of that year. This remastered CD sounds better than the vinyl ever did. And you gotta love the new spoken-word intro to Open My Eyes. Nazz still sparkles - more than 30 years later - much as it did during my after-school listening sessions. Highly recommended.

Formed in 1966 from former members of jazz and folk bands, the Nazz combine beautiful songwriting with an insight for future music. Their first album, simply titled, Nazz, is a wonderfully adept collage, featuring the beginnings of the Todd Rundgren "wall of sound" effect. The sound evident on this 1967 album is strangly similar to that of 1970's pop and hard rock bands. This comes as no surprise, because it was from this band that pop superstar Todd Rundgren emerged. If you don't know what to expect from a band named for the B-Side of a Yardbirds single, "The Nazz are Blue", just listen and find out what makes the Nazz one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Singles from this album include "Open Your Eyes/Hello It's Me".

Back in the days of vinyl, I could buy LP's at a local discount appliance store for three dollars. The selection was slim, but the price was right. My purchasing criteria (besides price) was simple: cool album covers. Since Meet the Beatles (1963) featured the band member's faces floating on a black background, I bought Nazz. The album was a stunning surprise, and has remained so for over three decades. Nazz is a crafty and infectious combination of high energy rockers, and ballads with beautifully blended vocal harmonies. The influence of British mod bands (see the Who-sounding `When I Get My Plane' ), the Beach Boys (Back Of Your Mind, Hello It's Me) and Jimi Hendrix (She's Goin' Down) are clearly evident.

Despite its superb pop sensibility, Nazz (competing with acid rock from the West Coast) didn't sell. Too bad: Nazz was like a "How To" instruction manual for power pop later followed by groups such as the Raspberries. The audio quality of the Rhino release is exemplary. Remastered by Bill Inglot and Ken Perry, it is difficult to believe that this recording is over thirty-years old. Rhino does a remarkable job of combing recording libraries for first-rate master tapes, then engineering these recordings to CD. The sonics are immaculate. Unlike the vinyl release, the CD enhances the thundering bass guitar work of Carson Van Osten: his technique is inventive and complex (Open My Eyes, See What You Can See, When I Get My Plane). Nazz is neither "classic" nor "revolutionary," but it is a captivating venture from an Anglo mod band who faded into the rock ocean with hardly a splash.

It's 1968, and a very young Todd Rundgren (about 20 years old to be exact) is the guitar player of a psychedelic/blues band from Philidelphia called The Nazz (named after a Yardbirds song).

Though he's not the singer or frontman, The Nazz *was* Todd Rundgren. He wrote all the songs, and usually came up with all the arrangements. This, of course, led to much friction in the band, since Todd was obviously the musical brains behind the whole band, and exercised that in the studio.

Still, it's not like the other members barely knew how to play. Robert 'Stewkey' Antoni is a formidable lead singer (and also handles piano and organ), Carson Van Osten is a fluid bass player, and Thom Mooney is a much more than capable drummer. And Todd of course, already by a young age, is a terrific lead guitar player. Listen to his solos and riffs, and tell me he's not every bit as good as Eric Clapton or any other 'guitar god' from that era.

On their debut album, they're primary brand of music is riff-driven blues/rock, heavily inspired by Cream and the Yardbirds. However, there's also a good dose of pop (Beatles, Beach Boys) that comes across at times.

The opening number sums it all up perfectly, driven by a flange-soaked and deliciously catchy guitar riff that would make both Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck smile. And then, out of nowhere, the song enters Brian Wilson territory on the harmony loaded bridge, before returning back to it's heavier core (featuring a short but sweet guitar solo from Todd).

The song is "Open My Eyes", and it's the quintessential Nazz song. A classic power pop nugget that got lost in all the other psychedelic shuffle. Thus, unless you own this album, you probably haven't heard it before.

"Open My Eyes" is reason enough to buy the album, but there's some other great stuff on here too. "Back Of Your Mind" is wholly Cream inspired, from the Clapton inspired guitar riff that drives the song to the lengthy, Clapton inspired guitar solo in the middle.

There's plenty of other guitar driven numbers, though most are little more left of center. "Lemming Song" features a searing guitar intro from Todd; the songs gets progressively more psychedelic throughout, with a middle section in which Todd overdubs about 3 guitars going off on various tangents at the same time.

Todd knew enough to turn his guitar down at times, though, and it gives the album some variety. For example, on "Crowded", you would think the band is covering a Laura Nyro tune, but it's just another facet of The Nazz's sound (they'd really delve into this sound on their next album). There's also "If That's the Way You Feel", a lengthy ballad with a complex arrangement and heavy orchestration. Stewkey's vocals are great, though the song bites off a bit more than it can chew at times.

The other gem is the original version of "Hello It's Me", a tune that Todd jazzed up a bit for his solo album "Something/Anything", and it became his biggest hit. The version on here is druggy and dreary sounding, with Carson's bass up in the forefront to round out all the rich vocal harmonies. It's just as good, if not better, than the version we all know and love.

Other highlights include the playful, Who-like "When I Get My Plane", and the raucous closer "She's Goin' Down", in which each band member takes a turn solo'ing.

Though it doesn't have as much overall variety as their next two albums (the cleverly titled "Nazz Nazz" and "Nazz III", the latter of which probably had a working title of "Nazz Nazz Nazz"), their debut album is still great.

Soon after this, Todd expressed his Laura Nyro infatuation by tossing his guitar aside and writing most of the songs on the piano, which would ultimately cause a lot of dissatisfaction with the other group members, which leads me to believe that "Nazz" sums up what the Nazz was really about.

Gee, some people seem to have a lot to say about an album that came out 37 years ago. I just bought it because somebody ripped off my album which was pretty well worn out anyway. I missed hearing the classic Hello It's Me. It is a pretty good album, but then I have always liked Todd's music. His "Todd" album is what drew me into space music. But this certainly sounds like it was recorded 37 years ago. It's nostalgia. Nothing wrong with that. If you like Todd then you will probably like this one,it is his first attempt. But if you don't like him already this probably won't win you over.

Here is a response to some of the other reviews: In a recent interview with Michael Tearson, Stewkey refers to the opening riff of "Open My Eyes" as "one of the sounds that was part of, and could be heard in the air, at that time", or something like that. Was this the first sample of the Who? This band is fully representative of the "Philly Sound". All the white bands of the mid-late 60's (English, and American) influenced each other, as well. "Wildwood Blues" is about a popular New Jersey shore spot, frequented by people from the Philadelphia area- "Look Harvey...a crab!" This album is a quality album. Nary a weak spot can be found...from an era where pop/rock/blues based bands threw out songs to complete albums in efforts to quell pressures from record company executives.

I discovered the band on the Nuggets box, and I was keen to listen to more of their musics. And I loved what I listened to in this first album.
It's simply perfect, even the mellow songs.
I f you know what is good for you, buy it now. Don't think twice!

Living in Philadelphia, I first heard the Nazz as a senior in highschool in 1969. I love their music as much now as I did then. I can remember recording their albums onto 8 track tapes and playing them in the car. Their limited live appearances and short life span(less than two years) made the group hard to see. And because they were not commercially sucessful, they were ended before they could really take off.Much has been said about Todd's imitation of Cream, Hendrix, The Who,etc. but listening to Todd Rundgren's guiter virtuosity, backed up by Thom on drums, Carson on bass, and Stewkey's vocals , there can be little doubt about the effect of their punchy psych-pop on the listener. Todd went on to bigger and better things, but their can only be one first album.

In 1968 heavy metal was born. There was Jimi Hendrix Iron Butterfly and The Nazz.The album cover actually copies the first album by the Beatles "Meet the Beatles" This band out of Philadelphia had a hit with Open my eyes/Hello it's me and album long before Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.If you are into Metallica,Pearl Jam,AC/DC etc. Checkout Todd Rundgren's masterpiece band!