Zeitgeist - Reflections Of The Underground - New reviews - JOE LYNN TURNER, NAZARETH, DEEP PURPLE, URIAH HEEP

CLASSIC ROCK SPECIAL
JOE LYNN TURNER, NAZARETH, DEEP PURPLE, URIAH HEEP

Classic Rock Catchup

One new release plus a few reissues / compilations that have been laying around and were in danger of vanishing

NAZARETH - Nazology (Snapper 2CD)

How many Nazareth compilations have been released? This must be about number 200, and if you were to glance at it inthe racks, you'd go 'bleurgh, cheapo, nasty, service station' and walk away. Replete in quite possibly the worst Brian Burrows sleeve in a long, long history of dreadful sleeves, it looks and feels like tat.

But lurking in side is actually a very good compilation, 30 tracks long, with decent sleeve notes, courtesy of Joe Geesin. Naturally, it's single oriented, but at least goes back to the very beginning ("Dear John", their first crack at "Morning Dew" and "If You See My Baby"), something most comps don't bother with, and comes as far forward as 92s "No Jive". Which means nowt from the good "Move Me" and the fabulous "Boogaloo", although the live version of "My White Bicycle" is in fact the unplugged bonus track recorded for "Move Me", which was also on the 30th Anniversary Edition of said CD. Odd.. Too expensive to licence, one presumes. There are a few live tracks on CD 1 which haven't been marked up to any live release, and without digging out my vinyl copy of "Snaz", I don't know whether they're rare or from one of the many official boots you can get from the band these days ("Live In Texas" rocks!.

All told, it's probably the best of the many compilations out there, especially when you hit their golden (and unacknowledged) early 80's period when they could chuck out classic melodic rock singles of the calibre of "Love Leads To Madness", "Dream On", and especially "Games", a single I tormented people with for months. However, there are a lot of gaps in the text which completists would yearn for. For example, the new version of "Morning Dew" on CD 2 bears no resemblance to my NEMS single version, so which is which and where do they come from.

Although I retain a soft spot for "The Singles Collection" (self explanatory 20 tracker) and "Love Hurts: The Rock Ballads" which rounds up some fabulous album tracks alongside the usual suspects, if you're looking for one Nazareth CD to place in the N rack, this is the one.

URIAH HEEP - Between Two Worlds (Snapper 2CD)

A strange and bizarre release which combines "Sea Of Light" and Sonic Origami" from 1995 and 1998 respectively, but which misses off "Words In The Distance" from "Sea..." and "In The Moment" and "Feels Like" from "Sonic..." Just for good measure the tracks are randomly compiled, the sleeve notes are pointless (and only go as far as 1982, which means they don't even mention the albums concerned), and yay! A dreadful cover from Brian Burrows. Would I have bought a copy of "Talkin' 'Bout Rock'n'Roll" by Spider on the day of release if I'd known this was how things were going to end up? Actually, probably yes. And I was one of five people who paid to see them at the Hard Rock Cafe before there was such a thing as the Hard Rock Cafe. And I've still got my personal message from the Gypsy Fanwagon, courtesy of Maggi Farran.

Anyway, I digress. The original 2 albums were actually excellent releases which rejuvenated the Heep during the nineties, combining a melodic sensibility with their pomptastic prime, to remind people what a truly remarkable band they were and, indeed, are. You could do far worse than buy either "Sea Of Light" or "Sonic Origami", and that would much more sense than buying this compilation, musically excellent though it is.

Add pointless to the epithets, strange and bizarre.

DEEP PURPLE - The Essential Deep Purple (EMI 2003)

The album formerly known as "24 Carat Purple", according to the small print on the cover, which was reissued in 1997 in a shoddy cover, and is now reissued again in a different cover, billing itself "The Essential". Except, of course it isn't. As this was originally released in 1975 as a Mk II Purple only compilation, omitting anything before "In Rock" and nothing after "Who Do We Think We Are". And now you can buy it all over again in Copy Controlled (cos we're going to bootleg this!), you're stuffed if you're a Mac owner format.

Which makes the choice of 'selected discography' graphics across from the postcard sized biography all the more interesting. "Book Of Taliesyn", "Come Taste The Band", "Burn", "Stormbringer". That'll confuse the service station purchaser who is the target marget for these things. At least if they buy "Fireball" (also pictured) they might recognise the band!

Granted, with a tracklisting of Woman From Tokyo, Fireball, Strange Kind of Woman, Never Before, Black Night, Speed King, Smoke on the Water and Child in Time you can't go far wrong, but really, what's the point. Ah, band on tour, new album not ready yet, shameless back catalogue plundering. It all makes sense now. And why, you ask, did I buy it. I didn't. I had just enough points on my service station loyalty card to warrant one mid-price CD. It was either this or "The Best Of The Lighthouse Family". Altogether now, "Lifted......"

JOE LYNN TURNER - JLT (MTM 2003)

Joe has been hitting a rich vein of form over the last few years with the dark "Slam" and the HTP records highly recommended. Now it's time for another solo effort, and he's roped in some quality musicians to help out including Al Pitrelli (ex- Megadeth / Savatage), former Rainbow man Paul Morris (although naturally they weren't actually in the band together) and another ex Savatage man, Chris Caffery amongst others. However, it is often the case that excess special guests can lead to a disjointed and fractured release.

But from the off, you can put your fears aside, Opener ‘In Cold Blood’, comes on in "Straight Between The Eyes" power mode, rocking like a beast. "Jump Start" is fine and funky (some Glenn Hughes influence perchance?) and "Dirty Deal" is an absolute classic, all parptastic Hammond organ. Then it's time for a power ballad. Well, we have had 3 rockers in a row. If this was 1981, "Love Don’t Live Here" would be a top tenner Stateside. It's an absolute gem.

For some reason JLT goes all southern rock on "Let's Go", which is fine by me, and if HTP decide to emulate Deep Purple and tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd, then this is one tune that will get the good old boys rocking. There are a couple of by the numbers numbers during a small sag mid set, but when we reach the classic "Blood Fire" and JLTs Paul Rodgers impersonation, it's quality all the way to the finish line. There's even some old school heavy metal on "Hit The Switch", one of the heaviest numbers JLT has committed to disc.