Reply To: SAHB vs Nazareth

[billyboy1]

Tricky, this. What you have to do is consider both bands shared history. Signed to Mountain Records they had an unmentioned rivalry. By the time I came on the scene in 1978, one band were financially successful, the other owed Mountain 60k each. SAHB were undoubtedly the most challenging band I’ve ever played with. The Zappa influences within the Zal Band had me watching Chris, Zal or Ted for some clue as to which beat in the bar we were playing. When I joined Naz in 1981, I had a much less stressful time as no one in the band liked Zappa, but I still did so learning and playing the live set was more straightforward. What I took from this initially was that Naz were inferior musicians to SAHB but then discovered both bands had a mutual respect for Lowell George’s Little Feat amongst others.
This changed everything for me.
Both bands wanted to be as good as Little Feat.
Are SAHB better musicians than Naz?
Technically perhaps, but “actually” better?
Define “better”.
Go on, I dare you.
I can’t.