Hopefully, our servers are up and working and are in the mood for some 70's Headbanging in the form of Scottish rockers Nazareth.

This is from a series of sessions the band did at The BBC in 1973 and comes around the time their first A&M (U.S.) album, Razamanaz came out. Nazareth had been together since 1968 and really didn't get to the top of their game (audience-wise) until Hair Of The Dog was released in 1975. With Hard Rock gaining a huge popularity in the States, Nazareth were in a perpetual state of criss-crossing the U.S. - and the hard work paid off. At last report they're still together (with several personnel changes over the years, naturally) and still touring.

But for tonight it's the band during their upward climb phase. Here's what they play:

1. Broken Down Angel
2. Vigilante Man
3. Shapes Of Things

Shapes of Things is their take on the Yardbirds classic. They would go on to score huge interpreting other bands song, most notably Love Hurts, which was their breakthrough International hit.

As a precursor to Heavy Metal, Nazareth typified the 70's evolution of Hard Rock and more than justified the inducement to "play loud".

And of course, that wouldn't hurt with tonight's tracks.

Funny you should ask. Back in the early 70's, before Heavy Metal was actually an officially acknowledged genre, it was Hard Rock as put on by a bunch of Head Bangers", or "Sweat Bands" as they used to be known. Lots of hair, lots of riffs, heavy on guitars and wretched excess. Most of these Head Bangers or Sweat Bands came from England and some of them crossed over into Glam (i.e. The Sweet, Slade, Mott The Hoople), but some stayed true to their roots and won loyal fans (Nazareth, UFO, Hustler). Geordie were one of those true-to-their-roots bands and had a run of good popularity in the UK and throughout Europe. Sadly, they didn't do much here, probably because their first album was released on MGM and that was a label on its way out.

The historic importance of Geordie, aside from the fact they pretty much epitomized 70's Hard Rock, was their lead singer. If tonight's song doesn't sound familiar, but the vocalist does, that's because the lead singer for Geordie was Brian Johnson. Johnson, whose high-pitched wail bore a strong resemblance to AC/DC's Bon Scott, he was recruited into AC/DC upon the death of Scott in 1980.

Tonight's track is off their debut album We Hope You Like It. All Because Of You became a top-10 hit for Geordie in 1973 and laid the groundwork for a long and productive career, which has seen various incarnations of the band materialize since 1973.

Yes, Heavy Metal was getting it's act together. And Geordie was one of those bands who helped it along.

Headbangers this weekend. Nazareth were one of the "sweat bands" of the early 1970's. Hard Rock in the Led Zeppelin vein. Nazareth actually got started in the late 60's, the outgrowth from one of the many Beat Groups around at the time. But like their brethren Status Quo, switched from Beat/Psych/Pop to Hard Rock and paved the way for an eventual wave of Heavy Metal. But that's another era and another story.

Here is Nazareth just around the time they released Hair Of The Dog (an apt title for the amount of drinking going on). It was during this period of time they gained their biggest popularity in the U.S. and scored with several singles (most notably Love Hurts), but mostly their audience was FM Hard Rock and high voltage. This concert was recorded by the BBC in 1975 at the Paris Theater in London.

You can turn this up - but you probably don't need to be asked.