Search - NAZARETH / FROM THE BEGINNING on DVD

Classic line-up caught onstage, so Expect No Mercy!

Metaljim | Kansas USA | 09/07/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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......"

Almost the full 1977 BBC Concert

J. L. Jagoe | 08/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

The way the songs were meant to sound

David Tomasello | Buffalo N.Y. | 08/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

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

Nazz-ty performance

Jeff Downing | Dallas, TX USA | 06/13/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"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




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