Nazareth “Telegram”

“Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll”

“Telegram”

We had a hell of a time deciding what Nazareth tune to do for a lost rock classic. They had so many great songs back in the 1970’s that never got any radio play in the states that it was a tough decision for us. For some reason the only song that radio hooked on to was their version of a song written by the Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Boudleaux Bryant and his wife Felice, called “Love Hurts”.

As the week progressed the song selection was narrowed down to “Expect No Mercy and Kentucky Fried Blues” from the record Expect No Mercy and from Hair of the Dog it was “Miss Misery, Please Don’t Judas Me and Whiskey Drinking Woman”. Oh yea and our choice after much deliberation “Telegram” from their seventh album Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll.

If the only song you have ever heard from Nazareth has been Love Hurts you owe it to yourself to listen to some of their other music. Nazareth is a hard rock band from Scotland that fits in the same category as say, Thin Lizzy where the only song you ever hear from either group on the radio is a rock ballet or a casual rock song like “Jailbreak or Cowboy Song”. Nazareth is hard rock just as Thin Lizzy is and Telegram like most of there songs shows that the band knows how to rock.

This four part song written by all four band members (Pete Agnew, the late Darrell Sweet, Dan McCafferty and Manny Charlton) with a little help from The Byrds song So You Want to be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star thrown in on part two, tells the story of life on the road for a rock and roll band. With the unmistakable voice of Dan McCafferty leading the way and a great guitar solo by Manny Charlton at the beginning of part three “Sound Check” this song proves that Nazareth was and still is to this day HARD ROCK to the bone. The fourth and final part called “Here We Are Again” might remind you of some band that was pretty famous back in the 60’s.

Video courtesy of Fred Rattlehead