The Fool Circle

The Fool Circle
Studio album by Nazareth
Released	14 February 1981 (1981-02-14) [1]
Studio	AIR (Montserrat)
Genre	Hard rock
Length	36:23
Label	NEMS
Producer	Jeff Baxter
Nazareth chronology
Malice in Wonderland (1980) The Fool Circle (1981) 'Snaz (1981)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

The Fool Circle is the twelfth studio album by Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, released in February 1981. "Cocaine" was a live cover of the song written by J. J. Cale and recorded in 1977 by Eric Clapton. There are remastered editions of the album with different sets of bonus tracks.

Because in 1997 Castle Communications was unwilling to produce a 2-CD set of the double live album 'Snaz, four tracks were removed so that a remastered version could be released on a single CD. Rob Corich, who was doing the remastering, included these songs here as bonus tracks to rectify this.

The Fool Circle is notable for a reggae sound on many of the songs. In an interview bassist Pete Agnew commented: "'Fool Circle' was the nearest we came to making a concept album, trying to inject a bit of humour into a pretty heavy subject. I think the fact that we recorded it on the island of Montserrat might account for a teeny bit of reggae poking its way through." ^[3]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Dressed to Kill"	Pete Agnew, Dan McCafferty	3:30
2.	"Another Year"	Manny Charlton	3:28
3.	"Moonlight Eyes"	McCafferty	3:33
4.	"Pop the Silo"	Agnew, McCafferty	3:18
5.	"Let Me Be Your Leader"	Charlton	3:49
6.	"We Are the People"	Agnew, McCafferty	3:33
7.	"Every Young Man's Dream"	Darrell Sweet	3:16
8.	"Little Part of You"	Charlton	3:28
9.	"Cocaine" (J.J. Cale cover; live)	J.J. Cale	4:34
10.	"Victoria"	Sweet	3:19

• Cocaine was recorded at Wendler Arena, Saginaw, Michigan on 25 May 1980.

2002 30th Anniversary Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Morning Dew" (1981 version)	Dobson, Rose	3:56
12.	"Dressed to Kill" (single edit)	McCafferty, Agnew	3:47
13.	"Pop the Silo" (single edit; B-side of Dressed To Kill)	McCafferty, Agnew	3:18
14.	"Let Me Be Your Leader" (live)	Manny Charlton	4:16
15.	"Dressed to Kill" (live)	McCafferty, Agnew	3:32
16.	"Pop the Silo" (live)	McCafferty, Agnew	1:15
17.	"Morgentau" (German language version of Morning Dew)	Dobson, Rose	4:03

2010 Salvo Remaster Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Morgentau" (German version of Morning Dew)	Dobson, Rose	4:01
12.	"Crazy (A Suitable Case for Treatment)" (from the Heavy Metal soundtrack)	McCafferty, Charlton, Agnew, Sweet	3:25
13.	"Razamanaz" (live 7-inch EP version)	McCafferty, Charlton, Agnew, Sweet	4:23
14.	"Heart's Grown Cold" (live 7-inch EP version)	Cleminson	5:43
15.	"Talkin' to One of the Boys" (live 7-inch EP version)	Cleminson, McCafferty, Agnew	4:43
16.	"Hair of the Dog" (live 7-inch EP version)	McCafferty, Charlton, Agnew, Sweet	4:54

• Morgentau and Crazy (A Suitable Case for Treatment) are also available on Salvo reissue of 'Snaz album.
• The last four tracks are from unedited version of the EP Nazareth Live released in 1980.

Personnel

Band members

• Dan McCafferty – vocals
• Manny Charlton – guitars
• Pete Agnew – bass, vocals
• Darrell Sweet – drums

Additional musicians

• Zal Cleminson – 12-string acoustic guitar on "Cocaine"
• John Locke – keyboards
• Jeff Baxter – synthesizer, vocoder

Other credits

• Recorded and mixed at AIR Studios
• Geoff Emerick – sound engineer
• Alan Schmidt and Pat Carroll – sleeve design
• Illustration by Chris Moore

Charts

Chart (1981)	Peak position
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [4]	31
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [5]	29
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [6]	33
UK Albums (OCC) [7]	60
US Billboard 200 [8]	70

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [9]	Gold	50,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "Music Week" (PDF). p. 27.
2. AllMusic
3. Epstein, Dmitry M., (February 2004). "Interview with Pete Agnew (Nazareth)". DMR Let it Rock. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
4. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0302". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
5. "Norwegiancharts.com – Nazareth – The Fool Circle". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
6. "Swedishcharts.com – Nazareth – The Fool Circle". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
7. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
8. "Nazareth Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
9. Lawson, Robert (25 August 2016). The Fool Circle-Release and Reception (Razama-Snaz!: The Listener's Guide To Nazareth). p. 87. ISBN   978-1460286388 . Retrieved 29 April 2021.