![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/glover1.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey.jpg)
Cortland, Sioux City, and Fife
On this slow news weekend, we offer you a few documentaries that might be worth watching.
First, a couple of them generated by what is being called AI. One is on Tommy Bolin, and another one on Elf. They are not without inaccuracies, but for the most part manage to get the facts right.
Another docu, that looks and sounds like it was produced by actual human beings. It is on Nazareth, with Roger Glover as their producer prominently featured starting at around 4’45” mark.
Bonus: actual archival footage from the Rampant sessions in Montreux, being recorded on the Rolling Stone Mobile under Mr. Glover’s supervision.
Thanks to Golden Hour Grooves, Yesterday’s America, Studio Number Six, and Igor’s Rock Universe for the videos, and to Uwe for bringing them to your attention.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Hindsight is always 20/20, but Nazareth should have stuck with Roger as a producer, I think their trilogy of Razamanaz – Loud’N’Proud – Rampant is the crown jewel in their oeuvre – and all three albums were recorded under Roger’s auspices. It was when they perfected their idiosyncratic mix of gritty hard rock and catchy singles tunes. It’s not that Manny Charlton, their lead guitarist, couldn’t produce, but they lost a fifth set of ears with Roger, Roger had commercial nous.
Roger’s influence didn’t stop there, Nazareth bassist Pete Agnew even copied Roger’s Rickenbacker modification of two backwards slanted Fender Jazz Bass pick-ups behind the neck
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/185378424/de/foto/guitarist-pete-agnew-of-scottish-rock-group-nazareth-on-the-bbc-tv-music-show-top-of-the-pops.jpg?s=1024×1024&w=gi&k=20&c=ElYRzUgRRK3rrvyXTy7LNl1HnFtE-1fiZiYkfCJdUVM= ,
something Roger had come up with on the tours subsequent to the Machine Head release (and a modification he would later on regret, but you hear the modified Ric both on MiJ and WDWTWA, the unmodified one on MH)
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/graphics/mk2a/rglover.jpg
And lastly, Roger played bass on all tracks of Dan McCafferty’s 1975 solo album (but didn’t produce it, Manny Charlton did):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbPLZQ6sE6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB44Ct7RGQc&list=PLgiF6PIW3TGI3GB6GgW85lH5sx5FSpsa7&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtWFjSa7eG4&list=PLgiF6PIW3TGI3GB6GgW85lH5sx5FSpsa7&index=5
(Ok, ok, I know, Roger’s natural reggae bass skills would have likely NOT predestined him for a job with Bob Marley & the Wailers! Give him a break, Wales ain’t D’yer Mak’er! ☝️😎)
He also played on this track here (though he is not featured in the mimed vid):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vykAEcB2PMI
and learning the chord changes for that Rolling Stones chestnut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhFJScpP7z0
would prove durchaus segensreich for Roger (and Ritchie!) only four years later when he reapplied his gained knowledge to the verses of this little ditty here …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjTaJo2n6hY
But I never said that. It was strictly an original composition, I swear!
June 15th, 2026 at 03:47Rampant is the Nazareth album I owned way back in the dim and distant past. It had that ballad Sunshine on it if I recall correctly. I had better confirm that before Uwe calls me out for lack of research or even memory. Just having a listen to Rampant for the first time in many decades. Thanks for the reminder. Cheers.
June 15th, 2026 at 06:32Razamanaz was their Machine Head, but I prefer Rampant to Loud’N’Proud among the three. They were a good little band, Manny Charlton had a juicy way of playing and I really liked Pete Agnew’s well-written bass lines – Roger always mixed him plenty audible too. And of course McCafferty had a one-of-a-kind-voice, Axl Rose was a big fan and Big Ian appreciated Dan too.
In 1976, Nazareth opened for Mk IV in the US and in 1978 a newly founded Whitesnake for Nazareth in Germany. Tempus fugit.
June 15th, 2026 at 10:47Hello.
It seems we old crows gather here again : )
I haven´t checked this out yet, but I will. Nazareth! Well, when I was a child, “Bad Bad Boy” was a huge hit. They covered it and did it with Finnish lyrics by our female artist Muska, too. She was something else back then, also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bDc6YqoQIA&list=RD3bDc6YqoQIA&start_radio=1
Later on, many years later, I purchased both Razamanaz and Loud ´n´ Proud on vinyl. Roger Glover had the time to produce them. It´s been a while since I last gave those a spin. Maybe I will now.
And if we fastforward to the year….2008, Nazareth (with Dan McCafferty – what a voice) was supporting Purple – and once again, in the Helsinki Icehall. Nice package, I must say! I might have pictures from the occasion, too.
And when speaking of covers! One of the very best ones ever is Nazareth´s version of Joni Mitchell piece “This Flight Tonight”. It just never gets old.
Kippis.
June 15th, 2026 at 15:02That “Rampant” documentary clip shows Naz playing “Student Demonstration Time”. Which has never been released – another track that was missed on 2018’s gigantic “Loud And Proud” box set.
Perhaps for the band’s 60th anniversary some enterprising label will compile the songs such as this, which somehow fell through the cracks.
June 15th, 2026 at 15:36The ballad of Hollis Brown is my favorite nazareth track…. A great cover from Bob Dylan…. Strange bass and exploding vocals….
June 15th, 2026 at 15:40Roger Glover on production + Rolling Stone Mobile = a pleasure for my eyes.
If I had been born in that era and had been the head of RS Mobile at the time, I would probably have been the happiest man on earth!
June 15th, 2026 at 20:32Nazareth were very good at not so obvious covers – and of course their arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s This Flight Tonight was a blueprint for what the – also Roger Glover-produced – Judas Priest did with Joan Baez’ similarly unlikely Diamonds & Rrrrrust:
https://youtu.be/XvaTBcQPTVQ
Once again, little Robert had plundered his dear mother’s wardrobe until she finally gave in and said: “Look, l’ll raise your monthly allowance to buy some proper clothes if you give me my favorite pieces back!”
June 15th, 2026 at 20:49Hair of the Dog was the big Nazareth album in the United States – by far and away.
June 15th, 2026 at 22:30I don’t think Nazareth were anything exceptional as a band, compositionally speaking. They did ok, mind you I am not a fan of that raspy vocal style at all. Their medium to softer songs were better than their attempt at raucous heavy rock’n roll to my ears. I much preferred Budgie and for a few albums also Bad Company, if we are talking about those bands that sprung up a little later than the earlier British bands that had already made it. A good band Nazareth, but not a great one, if that is a fair way to put it. I have also heard better covers of Shapes of Things by other acts. I still enjoyed a few other songs of Nazareth yesterday listening online. We could make up a good ‘best of’ from their earlier to mid 70’s albums. Cheers.
June 15th, 2026 at 23:13@ 6 – agree with that Dylan song The Ballad of Hollis Brown version by Nazareth. Very hypnotic and it has that classic early 70’s vibe to it. That bass reminds me of Lemmy’s on the early Hawkwind. It is that Roger Glover influence no doubt with that bass sound etc. @8 – the Joni Mitchell cover is a good one and different indeed. Is that where Heart stole the riff and feel for the Barracuda song from? The Loud ‘N’ Proud album in parts does sound more to my liking, just like Rampant does. Cheers. From the dreaded Wikipedia.
In a March 2019 interview with Gear Factor, Nancy Wilson said:
“We’d been opening for a band called Nazareth in Europe and also for Queen. And Nazareth had a hit with a Joni Mitchell song that they covered [in 1973] called “This Flight Tonight” that had kind of that riff. So we kind of borrowed that. And we made it into ‘Barracuda’. And we saw the guys from Nazareth later and they were pissed. ‘You took our riff!’ But that’s kind of what everybody—you borrow from what you love and then you make it your own. It’s one of those sounds too, it’s one of those guitar tones that I’m still trying to figure out what we did. [Laughs] It’s hard to re-create.”[8]
June 16th, 2026 at 00:23Hey Hiza, Muska had some pipes!
No doubt from calling all the porot together to gather for the night. 😎
https://www.travelistas.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/rentier-rovaniemi-tradition-finnland.jpg
June 16th, 2026 at 02:08Haven’t heard the trilogy, so can’t comment on those, but No Mean City is brilliant. A total masterpiece. That’s when they added a second guitarist.
June 16th, 2026 at 03:44Oh God Nazareth !, like a bolt from the blue. It reminds me only of the good things from the old (young) days. An underrated classic rock band. Dan McCafferty never got the recognition he deserved.
June 16th, 2026 at 08:27The guy who spawned a thousands of rock singers. The most famous from his singing school … Steven Tyler, Axl Rose, Brian Johnson . They are famous and famous for all generations .. mostly those older rockers know about Dan
This Flight Tonight – when Joni Mitchel performed this number on her concerts she was asked why she had covered Nazareth song…
June 16th, 2026 at 08:55This says everything on Nazareth take…
And Joan Baez had Rob Halford ordered to her trailer at Live Aid USA to tell him that her son thought that Priest had done the best cover of any of her songs and that she really liked it too. Halford writes in his bio that he went to her trailer fearing an admonishment. 🤣
Joni Mitchell actually met with Nazareth too at one point in some backstage area, but she reportedly had issues understanding them due to their severe Scottish accents 😂, Dan McCafferty remarked about the chance meeting: “She thought we spoke Klingon!
I thought Nazareth were catchy in almost a sense like Slade were catchy. They had rugged teen appeal (Slade weren’t handsome either!), pop sentiment and Dan’s voice made them highly recognizable – they also knew (unlike Purple!) the relevance of a hooky chorus. In Germany they safely populated the B league of hard rock bands – a status similar to UFO or Thin Lizzy, but not like DP or the in Germany very popular Uriah Heep. A band like Budgie would have been more C or even D league in Germany – just based on popularity, not quality of music, I think Budgie were more cerebral than the crowd-pleasing and commercially inclined Nazareth.
They still tour Germany regularly and fill small halls and larger clubs. Pete Agnew is the sole surviving original member and his son now drums. Carl Sentance, who we all know from Don’s band, no longer sings for them though, they have a new guy suitably more in the McCafferty mold.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JT-1jEE9doM
McCafferty had to give up touring with Naz a few years before his untimely death, because his live singing began to cause neurological issues for him, he would begin to faint after a series of songs.
I actually own that mammoth Loud & Proud! Box Set with all their albums + bells & whistles. I wish something as painstakingly and lovingly compiled existed for Purple, but maybe we have to wait a few more years for that.
June 16th, 2026 at 12:23,
@16 Uwe – poor old Dan kept collapsing on tour because he was already suffering from the emphysema that would later kill him. And once from a burst ulcer. He was in rough shape.
A fact which Naz didn’t share with promoters – likely since they would not have been able to obtain tour insurance had his condition been known. Instead their tour rider specified that Dan required oxygen tanks and a paramedic to administer their contents, due to the “intensity” of his performances. While ascribing his difficulties to, among other things, colds and high altitude.
It was sad to see him sitting wheezing on the drum riser, trying to catch his breath during guitar solos. Hopefully he actually wanted to be on those final tours, and didn’t merely endure them to help his buddies make a living.
June 16th, 2026 at 14:45I listened some of the band but never got into them, was never a big fan not to mention that sappy covers! i am not sure what was the big deal with this band
June 16th, 2026 at 15:46Razamanaz was the first Nazareth album I ever heard (unaware of the Roger Glover connection) – a Swedish friend taped me the album sometime in 1975. The way the title track blared out of the speakers, the music was similarly immediately infectuous to me as my first Status Quo experience was. Songs like Vigilante Man, Alcatraz, Night Woman … I really liked what I heard.
For some reason, I never saw the classic line-up. I’ve seen them with Carl Sentance (they played well even though Carl sounds nothing like Dan) in recent years and I’ve seen Dan McCafferty in that slightly cheesy “Rock Meets Classic” revue which Big Ian also liked to frequent. While he could no longer carry a full set with Nazareth at this point, the four or five songs he did that night were ok for him. His pipes were still fine. You can hear (and see) him sing SOTW here (with Lou Gramm and Big Ian):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhoG2RYgrZg
June 16th, 2026 at 16:48I agree Uwe. Those first 3 Nazareth Albums are excellent. Roger did a great job!! Not a bad track on any of those albums!!! Great cover of Shapes of Things on Rampant!!!
June 16th, 2026 at 18:17AI is crap.
June 16th, 2026 at 18:58Skippy, I knew Dan’s condition was very serious, but not to that extent! Tragic. Oxygen tanks for singers/performers are nothing new, Kiss used them, so did Meatloaf and Halford sometines takes a gulp backstage too, but with Dan we’re talking about something else. I agree, hopefully he wanted to be on stage as long as he was as opposed to having to do it. Apparently, his net worth upon his passing was more than decent so he did leave his wife and daughters something.
June 16th, 2026 at 21:29But also a fact of life by now, Donatien, and we are likely not too far away from a point in time where it will be no longer as easy to detect as it currently still is. It definitely ain’t going away.
June 16th, 2026 at 21:34All that ‘dry ice’ stage affects many, especially singers. Plus it could be other things too. I was watching some act not long ago online, forget who but what I was shocked at was the dry ice effect was still being used. In this day and age, bizarre indeed. Maybe it was all those pesky pot smokers at the front of the stage. Cheers.
June 16th, 2026 at 22:04Actually, Leslie those three albums weren’t their first, but nos 3, 4 & 5. When Roger took them under his wing, they had already recorded two musically ambling albums that had gone nowhere – he reinvented their sound.
June 17th, 2026 at 00:53I saw Nazareth once in Copenhagen, Falconer Salen 1975-4-23. I remember it as a good concert.
Here is a glimse (not mine though).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpGv2lPNqI8
Janbl
June 17th, 2026 at 09:23I could be wrong, but I think that real dry ice is not so much the issue/culprit as the stuff that replaced it because it is cheaper and easier/less dangerous (in its ultra-cold frozen state) to handle: artificial or theatrical fog/mist made from some oily substance, not from frozen carbon dioxide. That stuff is thoroughly unpleasant to inhale I know from experience, really dries you out and must be horrible for a singer.
And it can’t really compete with dry ice visually either. Dry ice gives you that billowing thickness almost like a waterfall of mist. I remember seeing Status Quo in 1977 and as the dry ice flooded the stage to their first song (Junior’s Wailing) it was like they were playing from within a cloud. It was a great effect as they towered up on stage in those fog cascades and filed up for their trademark “Quo Row”.
June 17th, 2026 at 14:23Janbl, Dan had the greatest hair! 🤩
June 17th, 2026 at 14:26Thanks Uwe. I thought I, at one time, had all their albums but I guess not. Unfortunately, to make room, I gave most of them away.
June 17th, 2026 at 20:45I don’t even know whether their first two albums ever saw a US release – nobody knows these two records. I listened to them a long time ago and was thoroughly underwhelmed.
June 17th, 2026 at 21:30First two Naz albums were indeed released in the US. Don’t believe they ever played there prior to “Razamanaz” though, so those records received little if any airplay. Otherwise “Dear John” might have been a hit.
Debut LP and early singles like “Hard Living” sounded not unlike their later records. Notably, on “Morning Dew” they tried out the template of the arrangement they would later use for “This Flight Tonight”.
Second LP “Exercises” was an anomaly, mostly acoustic. Maybe they had been listening to Led Zeppelin III at the time?
The band really did enjoy playing live. Saw them a few times in the second half of the 1970s, always opening with “Telegram”; once with Be Bop Deluxe opening.
At the dawn of the 1980s they were playing hockey arenas, with an expanded lineup, and still having hits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1mJRmM7Ql4&list=RDC1mJRmM7Ql4&start_radio=1
By the middle of the decade they were back to little bars with a smaller capacity than the venues they had once played pre-“Hair of the Dog”. But still seemed just as enthusiastic about what they were doing.
June 17th, 2026 at 22:37https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHCeIkTDrPM&list=RDuHCeIkTDrPM&start_radio=1
The chemicals used in various formulations of “dry ice” and theatrical “fog” were definitely toxic and damaging to respiration. This article summarises some of the studies including the one done in the frozen North by SHAPE: https://www.nats.org/_Library/JOS_On_Point/JOS_077_5_2021_645.pdf
Seem to recall some celebrity musician or other ascribing his cancer to frequent dry ice exposure. It was quite some time ago, can’t recall who – maybe Wilko Johnson?
June 17th, 2026 at 22:39Ian Anderson talked a few years ago about his issue with past exposure to dry ice from the stage. A diagnosis of an obstructive airway type of disease that he went on about. Mind you he smoked cigarettes and a pipe in his younger days, he never mentioned that in the interview I read. Many of us were exposed as children to passive cigarette, pipe or cigar smoke. A polluted upbringing in an industrial environment would not help the lungs etc, especially later in life. Moya Brennan from Clannad passed away recently from that very disease, pulmonary fibrosis that I think Anderson thought he may have had at that time. Anderson later said a second or third consultation and subsequent tests revealed it wasn’t as serious as they initially said it could be. Roger Daltrey also banned dry ice effects from The Who concerts years ago because of difficulties with his voice, throat etc. He also delayed performing at a few concerts because of pot smokers near the stage. In more recent years that occurred of course, we could never imagine that happening back in the glory days, could we? Cheers.
June 18th, 2026 at 08:51@ 32- thanks Skippy for that article, as full on as it was. I sent my previous comments before I read that. Worth it though in some aspects and especially for the “Nocturne,” Alfred Lord Tennyson treat at the end. Cheers.
June 18th, 2026 at 09:07Wilko would be unlikely because at least Dr Feelgood with their gritty pub rock image eschewed anything that was generally associated with grand “rock show” visuals. They might have poured beer over their suits for an authentic look before going on stage, but dry ice/theatrical fog?
https://youtu.be/GzF0AETdRF8
I really liked them. There was something pleasantly unsavory and disconcerting about them. No Babylonian lyrics either.
So you were a Naz fan of sorts, Skippy? I really liked the English pop component in their music – Holiday for instance is a great number, thanks for reminding! -, but could it be that the US isn’t really receptive for that, possibly because you have such good AOR bands (in essence always a mix of hard rock and pop melodies) yourself? Nazareth’s failure to crack the States reminds me a bit of Slade’s fate there. Or Sweet’s and Status Quo’s for that matter. I guess you didn’t need imports for that type of music.
June 18th, 2026 at 13:22Ah….Dr. Feelgood! Those were the days. Great band, good fun. I was lucky enough to end up in their dressing foom after a show… didn’t understand a single word they spoke ….they were real heavy drinkers and shared beer and catering with us.
June 18th, 2026 at 19:27Now that IS a rock star memory, Max! Were you male groupies? Tell us more!
June 18th, 2026 at 22:52“Dry ice” in the traditional sense is simply solid carbon dioxide (CO₂), it does NOT contain the toxins or particulates required to damage lung tissue permanently and cause, say, COPD. The visible fog is just condensed water vapor, but it is accompanied by invisible, odorless carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas. You guys – and the article too – however talk about “theaticial smoke/fog/mist” which is created in a completely different way (you notice the different quality immediately when you inhale it). Real dry ice is used with drinks and food – you could never do that with theatrical fog which I find smells unpleasantly chemical and dries out your mouth.
That doesn’t mean that dry ice cannot be hazardous to your health, it can burn you in its solid state and it can displace oxygen in a confined or not well-ventilated space leading to asphyxiation once it has turned into gas.
But darn, does it look so much cooler than the theatrical stuff made from glycol/water mixtures aka “fog fluid”.
https://media.wired.com/photos/5926a6aacfe0d93c47430f24/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/dryicefog.gif
June 19th, 2026 at 00:45@35 Uwe – your Dr. Feelgood / dry ice reasoning makes sense. Probably wasn’t Wilko then.
Didn’t spend much time in the US as a youth, but North of the border Naz were big. Somewhat bigger than contemporaries Uriah Heep, whose North American career fizzled out with “High and Mighty” not too long after Naz’s went into overdrive with “Hair of the Dog”. By comparison, prior to that, Heep could headline 3,000 seaters; after Naz caught on, they could play 10,000-seat hockey arenas.
Every canuck rock fan knew their repertoire, and as late as 1987 Helix thought to remake “Dream On” for a hair-metal power ballad hit.*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtsAZfniPUY
Was too young to see Heep in their heyday, but often heard songs like “The Wizard”, “Easy Living”, “Look at Yourself”, “Sweet Lorraine” and “Stealing” on the radio.
Sweet received even more airplay, AM as well as FM, with their string of hits (“Little Willy”, “Ballroom Blitz”, “Fox on the Run”, “Action”, “Love is Like Oxygen”). Saw their records in many friends’ houses, but don’t recall them ever making a local concert appearance. Maybe a tour would have taken them to the next level.
Slade and Quo weren’t as well known as those other groups, and the word was spread mainly by cognoscenti who had encountered their music during trips abroad. Their LPs were released on both sides of the ocean; Slade singles often had to be obtained from the UK via mail order.
The Feelgoods did quite well considering they never came to town nor had any local hits. One station played “BBC in concert” shows every week, which was all that was needed for them and other acts such as Sailor and Camel to establish a moderate fanbase. Every punk rocker liked Brilleaux & co. and many of us had at least the early records featuring Wilko.
*One of the keyboard players credited on the Helix LP is Don Airey… Might that be him playing on that track?
June 19th, 2026 at 03:51Dry ice in the traditional sense was used in the winery industry out here, back in the early 80’s when I was working at a winery. We would fill a stainless steel bucket with it by holding the ‘gun’ and blasting away into the bucket. It was setup outdoors of course and we wore a face shield mask, hence I am still here today to give Uwe a hard time. Eventually the bucket would fill up and then we would drop the dry ice into an empty tank or vat. Apparently to remove the oxygen as it was deemed an enemy to grape juice etc. I don’t know if they kept using that method or not in wineries in general. I did work in another winery, Cinzano, later on in the 80’s during the vintage at harvest time only and I don’t recall seeing that canister and contraption at all being used then for deoxygenation purposes. It may not have been effective at all. Come to think of it, I missed a golden opportunity to supply the local pubs with dry ice when they had a band performing. I could have supplied buckets full of it and helped throw it around on the stage while the band was playing. That could have been my big ‘break’ into the entertainment industry. Although I may have only ended up annoying the bass guitarist in each band. Cheers.
June 19th, 2026 at 10:16Thanks, I now remember a 1976/77 feature in the English New Musical Express about Nazareth on a Canadian tour promoting their Close Enough For Rock’n’Roll album and the author was sort of incongruous about how popular they were in Canada. Not that it was a nasty article, he really liked them as people.
I think Uriah Heep’s popularity in Germany had a lot to do with Purple paving the way for them – they appeared slightly later on the scene when Purple were already established. What set them apart was that they combined an organ-heavy sound with a real focus on the singles market – you heard Uriah Heep much more often on German radio than DP though the latter outsold them both in albums and tickets. You know how writing a real chorus once in a while helps with singles sales! 😂 That presence in the singles charts was a trait they shared with Nazareth and Status Quo, both bands that rose at the same time, i.e. slightly later than Purple.
June 19th, 2026 at 12:38Herr MacGregor, you never mentioned your winery past before!!! Once again I admire you. I love Australian wine, Moculta was my favorite. Heavily sedative as good red wine should be. Stops coughs immediately.
June 19th, 2026 at 15:25Might have helped most german people wouldn’t understand Heep’s lyrics, Uwe. I still get annoyed when someone thinks I’d have to like them big time cos I love DP.
As for Dr. Feelgood… no bullshit band, count to 4 and go for it. Exactly the opposite to UH I’d say…. I saw them here around 81… what a party. After the show my buddy and me found our way backstage – mind you, this wasn’t Shaun Cassidy, so not too many screamin girls tried to bring the door down – and while some official wanted to guide us out the band insisted we stay and handed us the first of many a beer can to come. Plates of food were at hand too. They even tried to talk to us but they did not really speak Oxford English. Didn’t help they were drinkin, smokin and eatin at the same time. Lee had down two bottles of white wine during the gig already. How I got home I do not remember.
June 19th, 2026 at 16:25Lieber Max, you were still beating the drum circling the Christmas tree and/or listening to Smokie when I first saw Dr Feelgood in 1978! On the Private Practice tour to be exact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvRNRiA_h34&list=RDuvRNRiA_h34&start_radio=1
What makes you think that I dislike “no bullshit band(s), count to 4 and go for it“? As a Status Quo fan? As someone who loved the Ramones and thinks a performance by the J. Geils Band was among the best ten gigs I ever saw, everything DP Family included?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4y1mKxYD6Q
Dr Feelgood, Status Quo, Ramones and J. Geils Band had one infinite advantage: 100% Babylonian mythology-free lyrics! (Ok, ok, so Peter Wolf rapped/sang about “what’s that chick with the long hair … Rapunzel“, I guess that is mythology too. 😂)
PS: Oops, I just realized you meant Uriah Heep and not me with “UH”! 🤣
I duuno, but something in Uriah Heep’s music appealed to our national psyche (bit like with Barclay James Harvest a few years later) …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgkF3Z1V1Yo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5Xf5T38Gs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUwjE5zU35E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dghh46xc1Qc
They realized early on that as a heavy rock band performing ballads is your best chance for radio airplay. And admittedly, they did those ballads well.
Easy Livin’ was of course a rock disco stomper in the first half of the 70s, very popular and always a dance floor filler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOfUPDQFvr4
June 19th, 2026 at 18:02@ Dr. Feelgood
Plus, Wilko literally killed it as Ser Ilyn Payne on Game of Thrones!!
June 19th, 2026 at 19:54Just to give non-Teutonic readers an idea, Heep in the 70s outsold performers like Led Zep, Black Sabbath and Bad Co in Germany.
June 19th, 2026 at 20:33Oho…it was Peter Wolf that dived deep into mythology by stating that
Ali Baba I believe
Had to deal with 40 thieves
When he thought his work was done…
Here come number 41
His solo albums – especially the later ones – are to.be recommended.
June 19th, 2026 at 21:03#41 Uwe:
not to mention that Purple, in addition to paving the way for Heep, during the genesis of InRock they shared the rehearsal room in London with Spice, who would soon become UH.
June 19th, 2026 at 21:48I have all of Peter Wolf’s solo albums, Max, they’re great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrV80UzFcXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aXuQuDYm4g
Fla76, Heep can wriggle all they want, but sure they took the DP blueprint and ran with it! The organ dominance, the way the rhythm section worked, and David Byron was a lot more closer to Big Ian than to Robert Plant or Ozzy Osbourne in singing style. That said, there is one – not widely known – DP number where I thought they took a sip from the Uriah Heep bottle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuMHFlls6lE
If that song had been on Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble or Salisbury, no one would have bat an eyelid.
So there was some cross-fertilisation I guess and why not.
Six Maximus Mouse off Roger’s Butterfly Ball owes more than a nod to Uriah Heep too. The chords are very standard Uriah Heep/Ken Hensley recipe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-yMK1Vg8Rk
I can just imagine that track with Dave Byron putting his operatic voice over it. He wouldn’t have had to change much.
June 20th, 2026 at 02:37