Not a whole lot of surprises to be found on Nutz’s debut, but it’s a good effort very much influenced by bands like Free and The Faces with slight progressive rock touches ala Yes.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Nutz
ALBUM: Nutz
LABEL: A&M
SERIAL: AMLS-68256
YEAR: 1974
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Dave Lloyd – lead vocal, guitar * Mick Devonport – lead guitar, vocals * Keith Mulholland – bass, vocals * John Mylett – drums, percussion
Additional Musicians: John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick – keyboards * Chris Hughes – brass
TRACK LISTING: 01 Poor Man * 02 Ain’t No Thanks To You * 03 Spoke In A Wheel * 04 I Can’t Unwind * 05 Can’t Tell Her Why * 06 As Far As The Eye Can See * 07 Love Will Last Forever * 08 Light Of Day * 09 Round And Round * 10 Joke
WEBLINKS: FB Page
Background
Seminal 70’s Liverpool pub rockers that somehow latched on to the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ movement appearing on the first legendary ‘Metal For Muthas’ compilation alongside Iron Maiden and Angelwitch which were indeed strange bedfellows, but then again maybe not?
Nutz as if searching for a second lease on life would change their name to the less comical sounding Rage in the 1980’s releasing three albums worthy of note. That’s not to say the group in their early days didn’t have a fair amount of success although their record label might disagree.
Tours with UFO, Black Sabbath, Budgie and most notably Queen gave the band decent exposure but the group’s label was never quite happy with record sales and as usual expected more, even sending the band across the pond to America where the band’s records could not be found outside the import bins. Smart move eh? Sometimes I just shake my head in wonder..
The Songs
Not a whole lot of surprises to be found on the group’s debut, but it’s a good effort very much influenced by bands like Free and The Faces with slight progressive rock touches ala Yes.
The latter comparison is more due to the guitar playing on tracks like the folkie ‘Love Will Last Forever’. Keyboardist John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick (Free, Crawler) guests on a few songs here as the group for the most part flip flops between blues and heavy rock. The best of which is ‘Can’t Tell Her Why’ a song that remarkably sounds like the Black Crowes at their sleazy best.
In Summary
Nutz were definitely an interesting band, but the problem was there were so many hopefuls playing this style of music during mid-70’s, I can see why they struggled to break out on their native turf.
After Nutz and Rage, vocalist Dave Lloyd formed 2 AM, bassist Keith Mulholland would eventually join up with Demon while drummer John Mylett spent some time with Nightwing, although I haven’t a clue where any of these guys are now?
Video
Spoke In A Wheel
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
