Nazareth
For those who don't know who Nazareth is, they are one of the pioneers of "hard rock." Almost 100% of what has turned into "metal" and "heavy metal" came out of a half-dozen or so bands from the tail-end of the 1960's and into the early 1970's. It wasn't called metal back then, because they hadn't invented it yet. Songs like Helter Skelter and some of the material from bands like Jimi Hendrix and John Kay & Steppenwolf (where they say the term "heavy metal" originated) turned into bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kiss, AC\DC, Blue Oyster Cult and Nazareth.
One of my favorite Nazareth songs is "Beggars' Day / Rose In Heather." I'll attach the lyrics below. They also have one of my favorite albums titles of all time, "Malice In Wonderland."
Heehe. This is fun. I just went back and dug up some handwritten notes and pictures. The photos and story are from the concert at the Brandywine Club in Chadds Ford, PA on November 4, 1983. After the show, I was invited on to their tour bus.
In addition to playing all their hits from the 1970's, they also played:
This is how the story goes...
On the album, "Play'n'The Game," after the last song, there is the sound of smashing glass. As a sound recording sort-a guy, I was intrigued and had to listen to it over and over. What was it? It is so clear and crisp. It must be a large light bulb?
Certainly, it must have been done with some high tech. recording equipment. Something way to expensive for me to replicate in my home studio. But, I just had to know.
So, we sought them out. They did not know us, nor that we were baring a gift. Thus, we were quite surprised when they welcomed us into their home and warmly accepted our offering. There was no security to be seen. How did they know what our intentions were? How did they know if they could ever get us to leave? These and other questions i still can not explain. Why were they so nice to us?
We hungout for quite a while. I asked Manny Charlton, Dan McCafferty, Darrell Sweet, and Pete Agnew about the smashing glass. Pete Agnew, the bassist, quickly replied by starting to laugh. I couldn't imagine why my question was so silly or funny. I asked again, "what the heck was that... how did you make that sound... and record it? I guessed it had to be a burnt out floodlight bulb?"
When he stopped laughing, he said:
"That was $%&*ed up. We threw a Heineken bottle against a brick wall. But, we couldn't get it to break.The first four times it just hit the wall, went *plink* and rolled away.
It wasn't until the fifth attempt that it smashed."
Now, I couldn't stop laughing either. (Heehe... even I could try that in my home studio.)
If this is heaven, then I'm in hell If trust is misfortune, then wish me well While I think of sadness baby, Your light shines through, Your light shines through, Your light shines through Because it's beggars' day, Because it's beggars' day, Because it's beggars' day I've lost control of my darker side, A world all for free, on a nastier ride And I have crossed myself in anger, All your mercy can't save me, All your mercy can't save me, All your mercy can't save me Because it's beggars' day, Because it's beggars' day, Because it's beggars' day It's beggars' day, You know it's beggars' day, Because it's beggars' day, See this love, I've stored for you, Wheel it and deal it, but our feelin's are true ROSE IN THE HEATHER (Instrumental)