Wednesday, October 25, 2023

The Nazz Are Blue

From 1969, and their quite astounding sophomore album Nazz Nazz (originally titled Fungo Bat, which would have been much funnier), please enjoy the aforementioned Nazz (with some guy named Todd Rundgren on guitars) and their sublimely Who-ish "Under the Ice."

That song, and the album it's from, were pretty much game changers for me back in the day, and it/they remain favorites of mine after all these years. I should add and for the record that Thom Mooney -- the cute one with the classic rock star look bottom center in the album cover photo -- is one hell of a great drummer.

Reason I bring all this up is because friend of PowerPop Sal Nunziato, over at his invaluable Burning Wood blog, shared the bad news that Nazz lead singer/keyboardist Robert "Stewkey" Antoni had passed away earlier this month at the age of 75.

That being the case, and by way of tribute, I figured this was a good excuse to re-post a cover of "Ice" by another friend of PowerPop, the incomparable Tommy Stewart.

That's from 2013, but the music link that originally accompanied the post has long since disappeared into the ether. Hence, the above, which I was delighted to find still kicks major ass.

Have I mentioned that this death shit is really starting to piss me off?

5 comments:

ChrisE said...

Steve - I agree about this Nazz track - very powerful performance, I love it. And Mr. Mooney IS great on the drums on it. I believe "Under The Ice" was one of the songs you named in your legendary "THINGS I LIKE" column in STEREO REVIEW back in August 1975 - I think that mention first led me to investigate it. R.I.P. Mr. Antoni - I agree about the death shit, too.

steve simels said...

ChrisE—I’d forgotten the Nazz were referenced in that column. And thanks — you just gave me a work-saving idea for the weekend.😎

ChrisE said...

Yes, I think the reference in the column was specifically to "Todd Rundgren's (lead) guitar work on 'Under The Ice'.

cthulhu said...

Agree that album is great, and Under the Ice is very Who-ish indeed. But somehow, my favorite song on the record is Rain Rider, which is just a little funkier. Still great drumming.

billy b said...

RIP Stewkey.