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  • Full Frame
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  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
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  • Animated menus
Nazareth - Razamanaz
Warner Vision/Warner Vision . R4 . COLOR . 55 mins . E . NTSC

  Feature
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Nazareth are a Scottish four piece band that formed in Glasgow in 1968, going professional in 1971. With the distinct lead vocals of gravel voiced singer Dan McCafferty, they achieved a modicum of success in Europe and the UK with their first albums Nazareth and Exercises. It was their third album Razamanaz in 1973 that escalated their popularity, spawning the hit singles Broken Down Angels and Bad Bad Boy. Although never achieving massive success, their following albums did sell well and it was the Hair of the Dog album that featured their biggest hit Love Hurts, establishing them on the international hard rock stage.

Recorded in 1985 at the Camden Palace in London, this concert features the original line up of Dan McCafferty, Pete Agnew, Manny Charlton and Darrell Sweet. The only visible audience are about ten people at the front of the stage so I cannot attest as to whether there is actually an audience there, or whether the audience applause has been added on later. Either way, the band perform well, with lead singer McCafferty looking and sounding very much like Jimmy Barnes or Brian Johnson from AC/DC.

Track listing:

Telegram
Razamanaz
I Want To (Do Everything For You)
Boys in the Band
Beggars Day
Dream On
Cocaine
This Month’s Messiah
This Flight Tonight
Love Hurts
Hair of the Dog
Teenage Nervous Breakdown
Ain’t Got You

Some key songs to watch out for are obviously the Everly Brothers classic Love Hurts and also the Joni Mitchell track This Flight Tonight. They also perform a nice, but different, version of Cocaine that should amuse viewers.

Overall, Nazareth and the lead vocals of Dan McCafferty are an acquired taste. They won’t appeal to everyone, but hard rockers should get some enjoyment from this performance. After a break of several years, Nazareth is back recording today with a new line up. McCafferty and Agnew are still there, but have now been joined by Agnew’s son Lee on drums(replacing Darrell Sweet who died in 1999), guitarist Jimmy Muirrison and keyboardist Ronnie Leahy.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

Presented in full frame and therefore not 16x9 enhanced, this transfer is surprisingly good for its age. The biggest problem encountered is with grain, but considering it was filmed in 1985, this is only a minor problem. Picture is generally sharp throughout with good use of colours. Detail is better than expected and aliasing, film artefacts and over saturation are only minor. There are no subtitles supplied, but this is not really an issue apart from the broad Scottish dialogue.

Please note that this is another dreaded NTSC release, so you will need that capability.

Audio supplied is a choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1, but I must admit I was unable to get the 2.0 to work. The menu is in DD 5.1 and although the DD 2.0 was selected from both the set-up menu and during play, the DD 5.1 continued. Overall the sound is more than adequate for this performance. The dialogue is a little hard to follow, but that is because of the Scottish accents and not any audio inadequacies. Musically, the sound is very well balanced throughout with a nice bassy feel. The rear speakers are used subtly to enhance the concert feel, but are not called into action too much. The subwoofer gets a little action but again not too much.

There are no extras whatsoever supplied with this release.

Overall, this is a performance that fans should enjoy. The audio and video transfers are surprisingly good for footage of this age. For those wishing to discover Nazareth for the first time, I would recommend their other DVD release Nazareth: Homecoming - The Greatest Hits Live in Glasgow , as personally I feel this is a much better performance from the band with better quality audio and video. No doubt true Nazareth fans will want to own both regardless and with this earlier show, they shouldn’t be too disappointed.


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  •   And I quote...
    "A decent transfer and a good performance from the Scottish hard rockers make this a worthy release for fans."
    - Adrian Turvey
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-NS305
    • TV:
          AKAI CT-29S55AT 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Sony STR-DE685
    • Speakers:
          Sony SAVE815ED
    • Centre Speaker:
          Sony SAVE815ED
    • Surrounds:
          Sony SAVE815ED
    • Subwoofer:
          Sony SAVE815ED
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