Nuggets: Open My Eyes by Nazz

20 Comments

1. I agree with your 10/10 rating. The song is a standout on this collection. Todd Rundgren is pretty talented and has written some great songs including this one. It’s true the very beginning of “Open My Eyes” is reminiscent of The Who’s “Can’t Explain”, another song I happen to love, but it’s only a brief reference that doesn’t derail “Open My Eyes”.

   • Yup, starts like I Can’t Explain, but it goes a lot of different directions in a short space of time.

2. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one before but…it’s one of the best songs on Nuggets to me. This is fantastic…I did think Can’t Explain when I heard the opening riff but that quickly changes. It’s more fully realized than some of the other songs. He doesn’t leave much room in the song…which in this case is a good thing. Excellent

   • It’s pretty packed with ideas, right. Soon afterwards, Rundgren got obsessed with Laura Nyro and went singer songwriter, but wish he’d rocked a bit more in his early prime too.

     • Most of the time I like people letting songs breathe…but in this case no…he did all the right things.

       • He’s a bit of an over-stuffer a lot of the time. But in a good way.

3. Great choice. An early Todd classic. I’m seeing him on Thursday

   • Awesome – enjoy!

4. Wait a minute. Where are Roky Erickson and Glen Campbell on the album?? I’m surprised I don’t know this. I listened to Roky Erickson Night of the Vampire the other day, and I Walked with a Zombie except the different version by a Mexican band Los Esquizitos. They’re both awesome though. A lot of people love this Nazz song and I probably give it like only a 9 out of 10 cuz it’s not quite super-top tier Nuggets but just below. And I didn’t know Hello it’s Me is on the flip side. That is so weird.

   • There’s a 13th Floor Elevators track on disc one. And there’s a track by Sagittarius, which is basically Campbell and Gary Usher.

     • Oh. I thought it was some hippie band that Roky Erickson was in. I didn’t know it was 13th floor elevators, or else I just forgot. Idk.

       • I’ve always sped-read his name as Rory, so I had to go back and fix that…

5. A great tune that could still be played by any band today and not sound dated. (Maybe lose the psychedelic stuff). I grew up in Philly and my sister clued me in to the Nazz.

   • It’s pretty amazing coming from someone just of their teens. I assumed you still lived in Philly?

     • Yeah, but none of us had the slightest idea who was in the band. Rundgren got famous later.

     • It may be just me but I’m getting a weird ‘403 access forbidden’ error in going to your blog. Your blog is on my blog roll so you can see the behavior there.

       • Thanks for letting me know – that’s weird. I tried testing from a few different locations (using Pingdom) and couldn’t get the error. Do you mind letting me know if it’s still happening tomorrow?

         • Seems ok now. I must have hit some weird server glitch as t just the right moment.

6. I can’t believe you’re on Disc 1 already. Now that I look at the track list I wonder if I would have liked the album as much if the original one was the first one I heard. Cuz the first disc isn’t even the best. It’s only got five 10/10s really and some of the other discs have more. I wish they would let me re-do it and I would make it awesome and cut it down to about half the size so only the greatest tracks were left.

   • I suspect the first is my favourite, but I guess we’ll find out at the end. I think a two disc set, with one song per artist, would be better. But there haven’t been many weak tracks – it’s just a lot.