Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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After disintegrating the Amboy Dukes in the early '70s, Ted Nugent finally decided to strike out on his own as a solo star. Even without a recording contract, Nugent toured constantly, built up a fervent following, and created a smoking hard rock quartet with the help of singer/guitarist Derek St. Holmes, bassist Rob Grange, and drummer Cliff Davies. The band's first release, 1975's Ted Nugent, is a prime slice of testosterone-heavy, raging, unapologetic rock & roll, and along with the band's 1977 release Cat Scratch Fever, it is Nugent's best solo studio album. While the grinding opening track, "Stranglehold," stretches beyond eight minutes and contains several extended, fiery-hot guitar leads, it does not come off as your typical '70s overindulgent fare – every single note counts, as Nugent wails away as if his life depended on it. Other Nuge classics include "Motor City Madhouse," plus the St. Holmes-sung "Hey Baby" and "Just What the Doctor Ordered," all eventually becoming arena staples and making the band one of the late-'70s top concert draws. Additional highlights are the unexpected breezy jazz ballad "You Make Me Feel Right at Home," plus the untamed rockers "Stormtroopin'" and "Queen of the Forest." Nugent himself hails Ted Nugent as his best work, and with good reason. It's an essential hard rock classic.

Review by Greg Prato, Allmusic.com

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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While Ted Nugent's second solo album, 1976's Free-for-All, was another raging slab of rock & roll, it wasn't quite as consistent as his self-titled debut. The main reason was due to singer/rhythm guitarist Derek St. Holmes' departure from the band just as recording of the album began (due to constant grappling with the Nuge about certain musical issues). To solve the problem, producer Tom Werman convinced a then-unknown singer by the name of Meat Loaf to handle the vocal chores on the songs Derek was going to sing. While it seems like a mismatch in theory, the results were not catastrophic – such rockers as "Writing on the Wall" (a virtual rewrite of "Stranglehold"), "Street Rats," and "Hammerdown" are classic Nuge stompers. But they would have been stronger with St. Holmes' contributions, as evidenced by a bonus outtake of "Street Rats" with St. Holmes on vocals and the turbo-charged "Turn It Up." But still, the title track is one of Ted's all-time best (featuring a downright vicious groove), as is the rocking tale about the 1967 Detroit riots, "Dog Eat Dog." Despite St. Holmes' absence (he would return in time for the album's subsequent tour), Free-for-All solidified Ted's commercial success, reaching the Top 25.

Review by Greg Prato, Allmusic.com

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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Despite becoming one of the rock's biggest concert attractions, Ted Nugent needed that one album and single that would break through in a big way, and the 1977 album and single of the same name, Cat Scratch Fever, did the trick. Cat Scratch Fever matched the focused ferocity of Nugent's excellent 1975 debut (due to singer Derek St. Holmes' re-entry into the band), featuring another first-rate set of brash hard rockers. While the title track is a certified classic anthem (the only solo Nugent single to crack the Top 30), other tracks are just as delightful, such as the oh-so-subtle "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang." Further standouts include such underrated compositions as "Live It Up," "Workin' Hard, Playin' Hard," and "Out of Control," plus the exquisitely melodic instrumental "Home Bound," which the Beastie Boys would sample on their 1992 mega-hit album Check Your Head (the track "The Biz vs. the Nuge"). A Top 20 release, Cat Scratch Fever was the last Nugent release to feature his original solo band (St. Holmes, along with bassist Rob Grange, left for good in 1978). And while he enjoyed further chart success with such titles as Weekend Warriors and Double Live Gonzo, many consider Cat Scratch Fever to be Nugent's finest hour.

Review by Greg Prato, Allmusic.com

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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Weekend Warriors, Ted Nugent's follow-up to the career peaks of Cat Scratch Fever and Double Live Gonzo, isn't quite as strong as his two previous albums, but it remains one of his better albums, featuring a handful of prime hard rockers.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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Don't know if Tom Werman is considered a production genius, but this in-house hair architect helmed some of the sharpest recordings in the catalogs of Cheap Trick, Mötley Crüe, and the Producers. He also varnished Ted Nugent's three-and-a-half stadium stompers per album and added enough subtle seasonings to the remaining roadkill to construct a consistent record while the MC Madman ran off to the stage or the woods. In 1979, Nugent's face graced a pinball game, but behind the bells and lights, he still needed the studio support of Werman on State of Shock to make the predictable pieces fit. The terrible one uses and abuses the same formula every outing, so nothing unexpected is expected. But drummer Cliff Davies takes over Werman's boards completely, and the crisp cutout sound starkly exposes recycled riffs and bloozy boredom. Nuge's brush with the Beatles pops out, but hints of his '80s dearth creep among too many fair-to-middling grooves, some of which, in Nuge's tender terms, "Bite Down Hard." Course some erudite scholars justifiably claim State of Shock sizzles with the true Ted Nugent, no longer disinfected for the airwaves. Granted, "Paralyzed," "Snake Charmer," and "It Don't Matter" are electrifying, with razor-sharp guitar, but these afternoon buzzers would sound better at the next Nugent show, fired off with his other silver-tippers. Most rock music of the late '70s attained a dreamy level of sophistication where the listeners put on gargantuan headphones just to be closer to the music, regardless of the lyrics, but no need for phones here. State of Shock is only half-cocked and ended Nugent's platinum period. Next time out he produces himself, and then keyboards hunt down the Nuge.

Review by Doug Stone, Allmusic.com

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Ted Nugent - Original Album Classics (2008) 5CD Box Set [Re-Up]

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