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Nazareth - Razamanaz by Mott the Dog ***** 5 Rockin Stars The title of this album says it all really, just say the word “Razamanaz” and you know it’s time to party. With the release of this album, Nazareth had one of the most unusual albums to roar up the charts in 1973. Not unusual in musical content, as it is a straight ahead, smack between the eyes Rock ‘n’ Roll album, but in the company it kept at the upper reaches of the charts, considering this was the time of either Glam-rock (Sweet, Slade, T-rex, etc.,) or highly avant-garde progressive rock (Yes, E.L.P., Jethro Tull), so to see a bunch of geezers from the heart of Glasgow, Scotland up against them caused many a backward glance. But shoot up the charts it did, attaining a high of No. 11 in the British charts. No mean feat for a band that had previously only released 2 albums, both recorded and promoted on small budgets. Being honest, neither of them were truly representative of their wild stage act, and were mostly filled with ballads, where as this little baby is choc-a-block full of rockers. The Razamanaz album was a turning point in changing the fortunes of these Scottish rascals for the better. The basis of any good rock band is a solid rhythm section, and these positions were filled by one of the nicest guys in Rock ‘n’ Roll, the aptly named Darrel Sweet on drums, with the flamboyant and must have in your stage line up, Pete Agnew on bass. If that was the engine room, then the decorations were laid on thick by Manny Charlton, lead guitar. (Who’s catch phrase must have been, “If you’ve got it flaunt it”, as sprayed all over the songs is wah-wah, fuzz box, feed back, and loads of slide guitar.) Out front was gravel voiced vocalist Dan McCafferty, who must of gargled with broken bottles every day to keep the chords in such roughshod order. The production work of Roger Glover, the bassist from Deep Purple, should not be overlooked as he encouraged the band to go for the throat & enjoy themselves, which they certainly did, having not only a hit album, but 2 top ten singles in “Broken Down Angel” and the wonderfully politically incorrect “Bad, Bad Boy” with it’s boisterous lyrics of “She was the apple of her daddies eye, but when that woman looked up at me, and I said honey we’ll be together till the day I die… Well I Lied!” Mind you, on the following song “Sold My Soul” Dan McCafferty sounds as if he’s singing from the bowels of Hades itself, so perhaps what goes around comes around. Nazareth built their reputation as an all action party band, and this studio album was a great representation of the live animal. Over the next 3 decades the influence of Nazareth can often be heard especially in bands like “AC/DC” & “Guns & Roses”. So if you want to hear the original, get out & get yourself Razamanazed. Dan McCafferty – Lead Growls Track Listing 1. Razamanaz
Movie Review: The Mummy Returns By Poppy It’s been nine years since the first film and he’s back, adventurer Rick O’Connell (Fraser) is now happily married to his librarian love Evy (Weisz) and they have a precocious 8 year-old son named Alex.
The thieves are in the employ of the alluring Meela and the wicked Lock-Nah who are excavating Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead seen in the original film. Meela and Lock-Nah find the remains of Imhotep (the Mummy) and, using the Book of the Dead, resurrect him. Their scheme also includes the return of Imhotep’s long dead lover Anck-sunamun (who killed herself in the first film’s prologue) so that these two may finally rule the world. Easier if you saw the original film! The special effects are even better this time, an action packed, fast paced fantasy. I can’t help it; I love these dopey movies. Directed by Stephen Sommers Cast: Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn ‘Evie’ Carnahan O’Connell/Nefertiri, John Hannah as Jonathan Carnahan, Arnold Vosloo as Im-Ho-Tep, Freddie Boath as Alex O’Connell, and Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay
Updated every Friday Updated by
Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk. |
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It is a book written from a male point of view, with attitudes that many women will
find repugnant. But these are attitudes which prevail beneath the surface of the so-called civilised society, within which we pretend we live. Welsh’s “hero”, Edinburgh
Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, is certainly one who lives beneath the surface and appears to have come to accept corrupt attitudes and convoluted thinking as the
“norm”. As such, he is more ‘anti-hero’ than otherwise. DS Robertson describes his day’s start thus, “I go to the newsagent and buy a Sun. I also look at the
pornographic magazines on the top shelf. I make no apologies for this; the job is one in which it’s dangerous to think too much, so the best thing is to channel you energy
into something that’s the easiest to think about but which does you no harm. For most of us sex fits the bill nicely.” DS Robertson has now said it all in a mindless
masculine way - with no regrets.
Mott’s CD review:
In Egypt on vacation, I mean where else after they’re past experiences? The
O’Connells discover an ancient gold bracelet within a temple. The ‘badies’, two Englishmen and two Arabs want this relic but the O’Connells escape home to London, where
dear little Alex, without his parents knowledge, puts the bracelet on his wrist and he can’t take it off.