Nazareth

Loud & Proud! The Box Set

Evergreen Scots rockers’ complete works.

While the clean-cut Bay City Rollers flew the Scottish pop flag across the globe in the early 1970s, a harder rocking, more roughhewn flipside of the nation’s musical output was represented by the likes of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Frankie Miller and, most lucratively, Dunfermline’s bluesy bad (bad) boys Nazareth. Even at the height of their success, with their 1976 album Hair Of The Dog storming the US

Top 20, the group maintained strong links to their small home town (population 50,000), unshakable roots that have arguably contributed to their longevity.

This lavish, limited-edition collection marks the band’s half century, although bassist Pete Agnew is now the sole original member. Comprising 32 CDs (including remastered versions of all 23 original studio releases), four vinyl albums, bespoke seven-inch singles, a hardback book and a glut of memorabilia, it’s the last word in the life of an enduring Caledonian rock institution.

From mainstays of the basement club scenes in neighbouring Glasgow and Edinburgh, it took a few years for Nazareth to make their mark, as they expanded their repertoire from standard R&B fare to a tougher proposition. A high-profile support tour with Deep Purple led to that band’s bassist Roger Glover producing their breakthrough albums Razamanaz and Loud ‘N’ Proud, both issued in 1973.

Straight-ahead, uncomplicated rock may have been their bread-and-butter, but it was audacious covers for singles that helped set Nazareth apart from their tartan contemporaries. A fiery reworking of Joni Mitchell’s This Flight Tonight took many listeners by surprise, and its sizeable UK success was subsequently dwarfed by a belting version of the Everly Brothers ballad Love Hurts which sold more than a million copies in the US.

Further departures from a rock template may have confused fans, although the more mainstream hues of 1980’s Malice In Wonderland (with SAHB guitarist Zal Cleminson joining the lineup) hold up well. The same can’t be said for the reggae elements of the following year’s The Fool Circle. A revival of sorts was triggered by Guns ‘N Roses covering Hair Of The Dog in 1993, since when Nazareth have, by and large, stayed true to their rock roots, most pleasingly on Boogaloo (1998) and Big Dogz (2011).

There have been missteps along the way, but this warts-’n’-all compendium is an impressive testament to Nazareth’s staying power.