Children of the Night [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

 

 

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'Children of the Night' is not my favourite Nash album, but it is one
that I do love and one for which I have a lot of sentimental
attachment. It reminds me of good times in my life when the whole
world was still before me and I had no responsibilities or worries.
This is one of those albums that defined my youth and became part of
the soundtrack of my life.

The album opens with "Wolf", a terrific instrumental piece that plays
at variations of themes from Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf". The
piece combines classical music with then cutting edge synthesizers and
Prog rock virtuoso playing. This is a showpiece for what can be done
with electric violin in a rock context.

The hit single "Dead Man's Curve" follows, showing a completely
different side of Nash. This song is pure 60's Jan & Dean pop, redone
in late seventies dance club music. The darker tone that Nash uses
helps this piece fit into a basically dark album. Nash pulls out the
stops on sound effects with crashing cars, screaming engines, and
squealing brakes. The attraction for me is the dark humour that Nash
injects into this song. The original lyrics, penned by the Beach Boys,
go like this:

Well - the last thing I remember, Doc, I started to swerve
And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve
I know I'll never forget that horrible sight
I guess I found out for myself that everyone was right

Nash changes this to:

Well - the next thing I remember, Doc, I started to swerve
And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve
I know I'll never forget that horrible sight
But if I hadn't CUT HIM OFF! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ME OVER THE EDGE
AND HE'D BE SINGING THIS SONG
I mean it was his idea to have a race in the first place
Hey, Doc, how's my 'Vette!?

Hilarious stuff. This tricky reworking of lyrics came to a head later
in Nash's career with the 'American Band-ages' album.

Now the album gets down to business with the first dark Nash original:
the title track. The song has a wonderfully dark tone. The lyrics are
full of hammer horror film imagery of zombies, werewolves, and
vampires roaming the streets terrorizing the city. The song is
cinematic in scope, conjuring up images of old black and white horror
movies.

"Deep Forest" is a sound effects extravaganza. Nash uses his synths
and other electronics to create a spooky intro to "Glass Eye". For me,
"Glass Eye" needs this creepy intro to be most effective.

"Glass Eye" is the centerpiece of the album for me. If you need a
reason to buy this album, this is it. The lyrics are cryptic and
haunting--perfectly complimented by the gorgeous arrangement that
moves from light and airy to dark and driving. This is what Nash is
all about for me. This has the first extended mandolin solo on the
album, and it is mind blowing the way that Nash plays against himself
as the effects echo and repeat his notes back to him creating and
intense rhythm.

Following such a great piece with a fairly light cover of the Stones'
"19th Nervous Breakdown" is a bit jarring. The cover itself is a great
piece of 80's pop, but its juxtaposition with "Glass Eye" is a bit
disconcerting. This is perhaps my only criticism of an otherwise
flawless album.

I absolutely adore "Swing-Shift" with its ambiguous and suggestive
lyrics that seem to poke fun at everyone who tries to hide their
sexual deviations behind a veneer of piety. The music is fairly
straight(pardon the pun)forward, serving to showcase the irreverent
lyrics. Using a wah-wah pedal on his electric violin solo is totally
inspired!

I always wondered what a swing shift was, so I looked it up:

1 : the work shift between the day and night shifts (as from 4 p.m.
to midnight) 2 : a group of workers in a factory operating seven
days a week that work as needed to permit the regular shift workers to
have one or more free days per week

For those who do not speak French, soixante neuf is French for 69,
which is, of course, the name of an oral sex position where both
participants get a little loving.

"Metropolis" is another sound effects interlude that serves as a
transition to the last, and probably best known Nash cover tune on the
album, Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"--retitled and rewritten as
"Dopes on the Water", a searing expose on the excesses and stupidity
of 70's hard rock. The song features the holy trinity of guitar chord
progressions: EABEABA (parodied in The Kids in the Hall by Bruce
McCulloch). For me, there is an overabundance of cover tunes on this
album, but I guess it got Nash noticed in ways that he would not have
if he had produced an album of strict originals.

The final track, "Danger Zone" is a sentimental favourite for me
because it was like an aphrodisiac for this girl I was dating in high
school. Whenever she heard this song she got all hot and bothered in
that good way! Thanks Nash!!

"Danger Zone" features a very quick pulsing beat with some really
intense violin soloing! Awesome finish to a terrific album!

It's a shame that Amazon Canada is about the only place that seems to have Nash's stuff. Why? Because Children Of The Night is one of the best albums EVER. The album starts classically with "Wolf", which is a cover of Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev and then moves on through various fantastic tracks, Glass Eye being one of the best, past the Rolling Stones' 19th Nervous Breakdown and onto Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water, amusingly renamed "Dopes On The Water". All tracks are embellished with the style and panache that only synthed-up strings and a maniac at the helm can bring. Put this album on, have a beer (or several), sit back and wait for the hairs on the back of your neck to tingle.

This is a re-release of Nash's 1980 vinyl LP with bonus tracks.
If you've never heard Nash before then your in for a treat.
Searing elecvtric violin passages, power chord mandolins,an arsenal of effects and devices and a great vocal. Nash plays
everything himself, and he is a 'jack of all trades'.
Favourite track is 'Wolf' which is an instrumental - it beggars belief. Open up your ears and give this a spin it is one of the
great albums IMHO.

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