Here’s the second effort from North Carolina’s best melodic rock export of the 70’s and 80’s Nantucket, this is a damned fine album.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Nantucket
ALBUM: Your Face Or Mine
LABEL: Epic
SERIAL: JE 36023
YEAR: 1979
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Larry Uzzell – vocals, bass * Tommy Redd – guitars, vocals * Mark Downing – guitars, vocals * Mike Uzzell – keyboards, vocals * Eddie Blair – saxes, keyboards, vocals * Kenny Soule – drums, vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Gimme Your Love * 02 I Live For Your Love * 03 Hey Hey Blondie * 04 California * 05 Wide Awake * 06 Don’t Hang Up * 07 Your Place Or Mine * 08 Just The Devils Way * 09 Is It Wrong To Rock And Roll
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Here’s the second effort from North Carolina’s best melodic rock export of the 70’s and 80’s Nantucket. This is a damned fine album, considering I’ve recently scored a handful of old vinyl, including a few Nantucket albums. It’s far better in my opinion than 1980’s ‘Long Way To The Top’.
The songs here are out and out rockers, reminding me of other rabble rousing outfits like The Rockets, or Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band on overdrive.
The Songs
‘Gimme Your Love’ is the opening track, and sets the tone well. Great punchy mid-tempo rock with a chant-a-long chorus. Excellent start! ‘I Live For Your Love’ measures up admirably to a band like MPG for instance, especially those jangly pianos, though the sax through the middle quickly dispels that comparison.
There’s quite a bit of pent-up energy on these songs. Listening to efforts like ‘Hey Hey Blondie’ and the aptly named ‘Wide Awake’ makes you want to get up and jig all round the house! They don’t give up there either. The track ‘Your Place Or Mine’ is an example of their good-time boogie, infectious as hell, and great live too no doubt.
By comparison ‘Just The Devils Way’ would seem to be an adventurous workout: slightly drawn out, with some keyboard/synth dabbles through the middle. ‘Is It Wrong To Rock n Roll’ after a weak start, finishes off with a hiss and a flurry.
The only disappointment for me is the totally uninteresting ‘Don’t Hang Up’. Not a touch on the other great tunes onboard here. Sorry chaps, I did hang up!
In Summary
One gets the impression that the Nantucket boys had fun putting this album together, judging by the sound and the goofy covershots. A surprisingly good effort as far as I’m concerned. Fans of the band will be pleased to know that three of these songs ended up on the 1991 live effort ‘Still Live After All These Years’.
Nantucket on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
