Expect no mercy
| Expect no mercy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nazareth studio album | ||||
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Publication |
1977 |
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| Label (s) | Mountain Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
10 (plus 2 bonus songs on CD) |
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running time |
35 min 57 s (LP) |
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| occupation | ||||
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Studio (s) |
Le Studio, Morin Heights, Canada |
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Expect No Mercy is the ninth studio album by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth , released in 1977 .
album
Recorded at Le Studio near Morin Heights , Canada and produced by Manny Charlton , the band's guitarist. This is the same studio in which the two 1976 albums Close Enough for Rock'n'Roll and Play'n 'the Game were recorded. However, Nazareth were dissatisfied with the first mix of the album, so they re-recorded it shortly afterwards. The tapes from the first mix were later lost.
In November 1977, Expect No Mercy was released by Mountain Records and contains 10 songs. The artwork is titled The Brain and was designed by the artist Frank Frazetta . Frazetta had not given any band permission to use one of his motifs until the album.
The band photos in the first press of the LP were shot by Bill Sosin and Ed Rottinger . These photographs were reused for many CD editions.
Music genre
After the album Hair of the Dog , Nazareth had moved into softer, more commercial realms. Expect No Mercy shows a much more aggressive, heavier band again. In addition to hard songs, the album also includes excursions into country rock and honky tonk . The boundaries of mere hard rock are easily torn down and make Expect No Mercy a prototype LP of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal .
"" It was more metal. Not intentional, we didn't go into the studio planning a change in direction. We were under a lot of pressure, and doing a lot of touring at that point. We'd be on tour in Canada and the record company wanted to know where the next album was coming from. We had to get our heads down, eventually we'd get into the studio and… What're we going to do? Some albums were written and recorded very quickly, and when you consider that, it's great. Razamanaz was the start of three albums in 15 months, plus tours. It's a lot of work. ""
Lyric content
Songs like the title track, Revenge Is Sweet , Kentucky Fried Blues and New York Broken Toy are about how somebody is chased through the streets by sinister characters, about feelings of revenge, about life during a tour and about prostitution . Busted is a cover version by Ray Charles, Gone Dead Train is originally by Randy Newman .
The final ballad All the Kings Horses addresses the subject of betting addiction .
Singles
The more radio-friendly pieces such as Place in Your Heart and Gone Dead Train were released as singles, but did not reach particularly high positions in the charts. 70th place for Place in Your Heart and 49th place for Gone Dead Train in UK. On the B-side of the Gone Dead Train single, two songs that were not released on the LP, Greens and Desolation Road, found their way to the public, which now appear as bonus songs on many CD versions of the album.
Track list
- Expect No Mercy (McCafferty / Charlton / Agnew / Sweet) - 3:27
- Gone Dead Train (Nitzsche / Titelman) - 3:44
- Shot Me Down (Charlton /) - 3:33
- Revenge Is Sweet (Charlton) - 3:06
- Gimme What's Mine (McCafferty / Charlton / Agnew / Sweet) - 3:44
- Kentucky Fried Blues (McCafferty / Charlton / Agnew / Sweet) - 3:14
- New York Broken Toy (McCafferty / Charlton / Agnew / Sweet) - 3:42
- Busted (Howard) - 3:46
- Place in Your Heart (Charlton) - 3:02
- All the King's Horses (McCafferty / Charlton) - 4:27
Individual evidence
- ↑ Expect No Mercy at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ quoted from http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/
- ^ British Hit Singles & Albums, Edition 18, Guinness World Records Limited, 2005