Ted Nugent - The Ultimate Ted Nugent

The Motor City Madman

Ted Nugent as always delivers high powered rock and roll. This one has all the classic hits as well as live gems too. It is a must for every rockers collection. I highly recommend this cd and check out the rest of Nuges cds August 11, 2008

The Great White Buffalo is Missing !!!

It's hard to call this the "Ultimate" anything without that classic tune and rock radio staple, Great White Buffalo. A glaring omission from an otherwise stellar "best of". April 4, 2008

Best Loincloth wearing guitarist ever

The path of Ted Nugent from Detroit guitar slinging madman to consummate 70's rock showman to conservative redneck reality-show clown is one of rock's more interesting tales. As frontman for the Amboy Dukes (and nothing from them on this set), he established his rep as a guitarist with flash and style, and as soon as he went solo, his rep for unparalleled mayhem in concert soon pushed him to superstar status. Starting with Ted Nugent, he slung inventive riffs and a love for volume into songs that became Detroit legends. "Stranglehold" was the big airplay banger, for its fiery instrumental work.

The second album found Nugent struggling with his bandmates. A control freak and firmly anti-drugs, members of the Ted Nugent band were frequently on a revolving door. Free-for-All enlisted a then unknown Meat Loaf to do a great amount of the vocals. The classic riff-rockers "Dog Eat Dog" and the title track were the best things here. Derek St Holmes from the first album mended his ways with Nugent and agreed to come back for album number three.

That was Nugent's watershed moment. Cat Scratch Fever was the tipping point, with a top 40 single and his highest charting studio album. It was also about now that Nugent was slipping into his Loincloth phase, shooting flaming arrows into his stage props and entering the stage on a swinging rope. None of that deters from the power of this album, with the title track, "Out of Control," the cautionary drug anthem "Death By Misadventure" and the great instrumental "Homebound" all here. It also marks Nugent's first major stupid sex-song, "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang."

The band changed again - with St Holmes out for Weekend Warriors. Not as strong as the earlier albums, his persona was beginning to overpower his music. Only the power-pop centric title song was really up with his best work. State of Shock was a bit rawer, with the title track and "Paralyzed" both strong. But then Scream Dream pretty much put an end to Nugent's streak. When the best song on your album is almost a parody of yourself, you know the book is about finished. "Wango Tango" is both horrible and hilarious, with chirpy girl singers backing up Nugent as he speed-raps his way through some of the stoopidest lyrics about Cars-Girls-Getting Some ever. After that, CBS dropped him, and Nugent jumped to Atlantic for a series of lesser albums and diminishing returns, none of which made this collection.

However, some of the live work did. Ted Nugent live was always crazier than studio Ted, and when he wanted to establish just how powerful he was, he followed Kiss, Skynyrd and Peter Frampton into the realm of definitive live albums. Double Live Gonzo! matched "Cat Scratch Fever's" chart peak and Intensities in 10 Cities upped the ante by offering all new material. The good is that "Jailbait" (from Cities) is really hot-licks Nuge, the bad is that "Yank Me Crank Me" continues the sexist swill but still has a sense of humor, the ugly is that "Flying Lip Lock" offers no redeeming qualities whatsoever. "Ultimate" ends on the high-note, "Baby Please Don't Go," with Nugent blasting through Big Joe Williams' blues classic and a staple from Nugent's early triumphant live days.

Overall, a good collection of a seventies wild-man. A couple key tracks missing are "Great White Buffalo" from "Double Live Gonzo" (could have easily bumped "Lip Lock") and "Journey to The Center of Your Mind." Your need to have this probably depends on if you're a seventies guitar rock-helmet and your copies of Kiss Alive! or getting worn out. February 15, 2008

The Mighty Ted!

Let's face facts here, love him or hate him, Ted has produced some of the best hard rock tunes ever written. The 70's and early 80's were when the man was at his prime. This collection of classic Nugent tunes pretty well gives you the listener all of the greatness of those years. Yes their are some missing gems, but what compilation has everything? The fact is, this is the Best Of the bunch when it comes to putting together a Nugent best of. This collection of tunes should satisfy any diehard fan and be a great beginning for any new fan. Yeah the man is opinionated and has put his foot in his month from time to time, but who cares. Simply put, he has given the rock world a lot of great tunes over the years and should be remembered for that!

Check it out if you love old school guitar driven hard rock. December 29, 2007

Good but not Great

As a kid growing up in Detroit during the 70's who wasn't into drugs - Ted was my guitar hero. This is a pretty good collection for someone who doesn't already have a collection of the Nug's albums, but I can't help but ask; "What about The Great White Buffalo?" There is also no material from his Amboy Dukes days. It's kind'a hard to be a complete Ted Nugent collection without "Journey to the Center of the Mind." But this song will probably never appear on any Ted Nugent collection on which he has any say because he hates the words to this song. August 15, 2007

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