Published on Jan 12, 1999
In the eyes of many classic rock fans, the Scottish band
Nazareth will always be locked in the year 1976. That was the year
their album
Hair Of The Dog came out, bringing them their only top ten
hit with “Love Hurts” – a song that I’m absolutely sick of
hearing.
What many people don’t realize is that Nazareth has been
slugging it out since then, even if the fickle finger of fame
hasn’t always been pointing in their direction. Their latest
effort,
Boogaloo, is their attempt to recapture the spotlight – and
they make some good attempts, but they eventually fall a little
flat.
The core of the band is still the same as it was 23 years ago –
vocalist Dan McAfferty, bassist Pete Agnew, and drummer Darrell
Sweet all look like they should be members of The Chieftains. But
musically, they still have their chops, even if McAfferty can’t hit
those high notes as well as he did two decades ago. The trouble is
that it takes some time to get used to McAfferty’s vocals, which
can be grating at times.
What takes even longer is the listener’s ability to get into
Boogaloo. I listened to the first half of this disc at least
a dozen times, and each time I found myself drifting away for some
reason. While there are some strong songwriting efforts on this
disc, there just isn’t anything to hook the listener in for the
long haul. “LoverMan” and “Talk Talk” come the closest, but others
like “Light Comes Down” and “Cheerleader” seem like weak attempts
to recapture the glory of days past.
Other times, it seems like Nazareth isn’t trying hard enough.
“Party In The Kremlin” is possibly the weakest link in this album’s
chain, while “God Save The South” would have been believable had it
come from a Southern band like Lynyrd Skynyrd, not from a Scottish
band. But Nazareth does save some of their strongest efforts for
the end, such as “Waiting” and “May Heaven Keep You”.
I’m sure there are some who think that Nazareth should have
packed it in years ago, but the stronger moments of
Boogaloo make it hard for me to echo that sentiment. There
still is some life in this band, as well as reason enough for
people to check them out. But there’s not enough excitement that
this disc creates to suggest that the band will be experiencing a
resurgence in popularity. Still, it’s enough to win some new fans,
especially some who may be hearing the band for the first time.
What Nazareth needs to do differently is to try and not replow
old ground – although I’ll give them credit for trying to update
their sound into modern times. They need to just go at it full
force for the sheer love of it – and that might just be the key to
unlock the door to the charts again.
Until then,
Boogaloo is a satisfactory effort, but one that suggests
this band is still capable of better work.