In a post-John Wesley Harding/post-Music from Big Pink environment, most rock bands were leaving behind the potent influence of the British Invasion to embrace a more staunchly American, borderline rural sound. Even British bands were following Dylan and The Band's leads, as The Beatles made the New Orleans-influenced "Lady Madonna" and the Stones channelled Delta country and blues into Beggars Banquet.
The Nazz from Philadelphia (home of the tunafish hoagie) were having none of that. This quartet of Yanks were drawing all their influence from circa-'66 Yardbirds, Cream, and The Who, in all their Union Jack glory. While other bands were scratching on acoustic guitars-- or jamming as aimlessly as The Grateful Dead-- Stewkey, Carson Van Osten, Thom Mooney, and Todd Rundgren were discharging slashing guitar licks and rumbling bass/drum bombs and dreamy harmonies and power pop stilettos like "Open My Eyes", "Back of Your Mind", and "When I Get My Plane" and ethereal, Zombies-esque ballads like "If That's the Way You Feel", "Crowded", and "Hello, It's Me", which, of course, would launch Rundgren into solo stardom in a few years.
All these tracks can be found on Nazz's 1968 eponymous LP, quite possibly the finest debut album (one can also make a very strong case for the debuts of P.P. Arnold, The Move, and Tomorrow) of what is quite possibly rock's finest year for the long player (one can also make a very strong case for '67). For this killer record's 55th anniversary, Cleopatra Records is discharging a suitably psychedelic purple and black vinyl reissue of Nazz.
The disc looks groovy, but what really matters is the sound. Compared to my original copy on SGC, which is pretty beat up, Cleopatra's reissue sounds a touch compressed and less dynamic, with less definition between the instruments and between the highs and lows, but it's clean and clear without any distortions that weren't present on the original. The vinyl is fairly flat with a very well-centered spindle hole. The cover is a standard gatefold rather than the original's fold-out style, which has a pocket at the inner crease and is a less convenient way to store a record. All in all, I'm not hesitating to replace my crackly, poppy SGC edition with Cleopatra's new one.
