Disco de Nazareth: “No Mean City [German Bonus Tracks]”

I've been listening to this since it came out in 1978. "Just to Get into it", "May the Sun Shine" and "Whatever You Want Babe" are classic Nazareth. The 8 original tracks are all solid, not a bad one in the bunch. "Claim To Fame" "Whatever You Want Babe" and "What's In It For Me" appear sequentially on the album and seem to all be about the same relationship, viewed from 3 different times, or perspectives. The 5 bonus track edits don't really add anything. A must have for Nazareth fans. If your looking to buy a Nazareth CD, I'd reccommend this as the one.

"Just to Get Into It" is worth the price. If you play this opening cut on "11", just hang on. Best cut to never make any of their compilations.

Not really treading water but not exactly setting the world on fire, Nazareth trudged along through the end of the `70's with another workmanlike effort, `No Mean City' release at the very beginning of 1979. The record was in many ways a typical Naz album, hard rockers standing alongside slower numbers with the later slated for single release. However there were a couple of noteworthy aspects to the new LP. First and foremost was the first new addition to the classic Nazareth lineup in a decade as fellow Scotsman Zal Cleminson joined as co-lead guitarist. Also `No Mean City' had no covers; another first for a band that often had the knack of rerecording the material of others to give it the Nazareth stomp. Hard rockers such as lead track "Just to Get Into It", "Simple Solution (written by Cleminson)" and the title track were adequate slabs of late seventies pseudo-metal while "May the Sunshine", "Star" and "Whatever You Want Babe" were for the hit radio crowd. `No Mean City', even with its band chemistry experimentation and all originals track lineup didn't seem to make any more of a dent into the general hard rock consciousness than any of the records post 1975. The liner notes are funny though...since when did Nazareth make noted contributions to the NWOBHM?????

The guitar work on this album will grow on you! Who else at this time in the 70s had heavier guitars WITH the loudest and raspiest singer around? Brian Johnson overtook the crown a year later, but up to 1980 Nazareth reigned supreme. Originally I thought this one was SO much more mainstream rock than Hair of The Dog, but upon repeated listens, this one is just as heavy. It's played a bit tighter and the songs are crafted a bit better--- OO ya and if you like this, get Rampant too--- you won't be sorry.