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Nazareth: Close Enough For Rock & Roll

Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, March 1976

Close Enough For Rock & Roll, due for release in the near future, is more of the same for Nazareth. That is to say, out of nine tracks four fall into the familiar pounding three-chord blues-based tuneless monotony bag we know and love as Boogie. But monotonously-constructed rock and roll can be transformed by exceptionally passionate or skilled performances (that's the appeal of early rock, than which nothing was more simplistically constructed). And even the most ponderous Nazareth tunes here are sparked by something special — fiery guitar breaks on 'Born Under the Wrong Sign' and 'Loretta', an astonishingly gritty vocal on 'Vancouver Shakedown' which sounds like Family at triple the volume and intensity.

Total word count of piece: 337

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