Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Nazereth- Hair of the Dog

Some may be asking themselves what some of the albums I have written about here have to do with 80s metal and my answer is that each one I have written about so far have shaped me into the metal I became in the 80s and I still am today. However, with this post, I am going back to my true metal roots with Nazereth's sixth album "Hair of the Dog." It's true that Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, KISS and all of the bands I have listed, along with their albums, laid the foundations of what we know and love as heavy metal, but if there is any one album I can point to and say, "This is how it was meant to be done," it is this one.
Although, I didn't own a copy until 1981 and that was because an old service buddy left the tape in my car and was transferred out of the unit a few days later and never reclaimed it, I remember everyone talking about this album and even wearing "Hair of the Dog" t-shirts. This was before rock t-shirts became a thing of mass production. When I did hear the album, I immediately found myself headbanging away to the first track and carrying on through the rest of the album. If it wasn't for the ballad "Love Hurts," my head might have come off from all of the great hard rocking tracks that comprise this album.

Track Listing:

1. Hair of the Dog

2. Miss Misery

3. Guilty

4. Changin' Times

5. a) Beggar's Day b) The Rose and the Heather

6. Whisky Drinking Woman

7. Love Hurts

8. Please Don't Judas Me

Nazereth:

Dan MacCafferty- vocals, talk box on "Hair of the Dog

Manny Charlton- guitars, synthesiser

Peter Agnew- bass

Darrell Sweet- drums

I am willing to bet that if I were to play this album to any metal head from the 1980s to the present, not one of them would call it "dated." This album set the standard for what heavy metal should sound like.

Next post: Bue Oyster Cult, Agents of Fortune

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle

Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Fleetwood Mac- Rumours

Considered by many to be the best rock album of the 1970s, if not all time, Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album has all the things needed that make an album great. Good musicianship, good vocals and a wide range of songs that appeal to everyone. For the top 40 oriented, there are the tracks, "Dreams" and "Don't Stop" and for rockers like me, we went crazy upon hearing "Go Your Own Way." There are ballads like "Songbird" and "Oh Daddy" and there is a song with risque lyrics in "Second Hand News." Most teenage boys (and a few girls) had many a good smile when they heard the lyrics, "Won't you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff." That is why practically every one I knew had a copy of this great, classic album.
Apart from the individual tracks, there are many great highlights, which make this such a great album. My personal favourite bass line of all time is present in the song, "The Chain." I feel that John McVie's talent on the bass has not been recognised enough. Furthermore, guitarist Lindsay Buckingham produces some great licks, especially on the track, "You Make Lovin Fun" as well as on some of the other songs. He is another underrated guitarist and I still get totally blown away by Stevie Nicks' vocal efforts on "Gold Dust Woman." Who care is she sounds like a sheep, the woman is a great vocalist.

Track Listing:

1. Second Hand News

2. Dreams

3. Never Going Back Again

4. Don't Stop

5. Go Your Own Way

6. Songbird

7. The Chain

8. You Make Lovin Fun

9. I Don't Want To Know

10. Oh Daddy

11. Gold Dust Woman

Fleetwood Mac

Lindsey Buckingham- vocals, guitars

John McVie- bass, vocals

Christine McVie- vocals, keyboards

Stevie Nicks- vocals

Mick Fleetwood- drums

Drummer Mick Fleetwood once said that "Rumours" was the most important album of all time. I don't know about that, but I do know that it is a great album.

Next post: Nazareth- Hair of the Dog

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle

Rock And Roll Children- The CD

Book sales of Rock And Roll Children are a bit slow at the moment, so in order to jump start things, I will be now giving away a free CD with any books bought directly from me. All you have to do is email me at tobychainsaw@hotmail.com for more information. However, those lucky few who already have a copy can still get a CD by writing a review on Amazon, The Rock And Roll Children Page on Facebook or on any blog. Just alert me to it's presence.
The CD obviously features songs mentioned in the book. When compiling the list, I originally chose 61 songs to use on the CD and I could have used a few more. Some of my British friends may wonder why "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" by Night Ranger is not on it as the club we all used to go to back then played it every week. After much consideration, I eventually had to cut it down to 17.

Song List:

1. Judas Priest- You Got Another Thing Coming
2. Twisted Sister- We’re Not Gonna Take It
3. Ratt- Round and Round
4. Dio- The Last in Line
5. Krokus- Screaming in the Night
6. Iron Maiden- Two Minutes to Midnight
7. Deep Purple- Perfect Strangers
8. AC/DC- For Those About to Rock, We Salute You
9. Dio Rock And Roll Children
10. Stormtroopers of Death- Pussywhipped
11. Aerosmith- Dream On
12. Ozzy Osbourne- Shot in the Dark
13. Anthrax- Madhouse
14. Iron Maiden- Wasted Years
15. Megadeth- Peace Sells
16.  WASP- Fuck Like a Beast
17.  Kiss- Crazy Crazy Nights

 

So, if you fancy a good read and you want some kick ass jams to accompany it, then buy the book and get this great CD.

Next Post: An alternative compilation album

To buy Rock and Roll Children: go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle

Great Rock Albums of the 70s: Lynyrd Skynyrd- One More From the Road

Throughout the years, there have been many great, good and not so good live albums. I've already mentioned one on here, Bob Dylan, "Hard Rain" and you can be sure that I will post many more in the future. However, one live album that really does it for me is this one, Lynyrd Skynyrd's "One More From the Road." This is probably my favourite live album of all time, although it gets pretty stiff competition fom Black Sabbath's "Live Evil" album, which I will be featuring further on in the future.
Lynyrd Skynyrd were the second (the Allman Brothers were the first) of a string of great bands which came out of the Jacksonville Florida area in the 1970s and early 80s. In their heyday between 1973 and 1977, the year of their tragic plane crash, they defined the genre that we now know today as Southern Rock. During this time, Skynyrd put out a string of classic studio albums which brought Southern rock to appreciative Northern ears like mine and established them as one of the great bands of the time. In fact, as I write this, I am asking myself why they weren't included as one of the great metal influences, because some Southern metal bands can site Skynyrd as a big influence.
It's not just because "One More From the Road" is live being the reason I am posting it. The fact that on the album, they take many of the great songs they had put out and improve them to an even higher plane. A classic example is the legendary song "Freebird." The studio version from the first album was good, but on the live album there is great additions such as the piano intro by Billy Powell and the three guitars coming together for the grand finale at the very end. This is why the live version of "Freebird" is more loved than the original.

Track listing:

1. Working for the MCA

2. I Ain't the One

3. Searching

4. Tuesday's Gone

5. Saturday Night Special

6. Travelling Man

7. Whiskey Rock And Roller

8. Sweet Home Alabama

9. Give Me Three Steps

10. Call Me the Breeze

11. T for Texas

12. The Needle and the Spoon

13. Crossroads

14. Freebird

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ronnie Van Zant- vocals

Gary Rossington- guitar

Allen Collins- guitar

Steve Gaines- guitar

Leon Wilkeson- bass

Billy Powell- piano, keyboards

Artimus Pyle- drums

For me, this is a great, classic live album and it was what put me on the road to the music I would later come to know and love as heavy metal. This album alone helped put the music scene of Jacksonville Florida on the map.

Next Post: Fleetwood Mac- Rumours

To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to: www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html

Also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Froogle