It’s been well over 20 years since Ted Nugent unleashed
Double Live Gonzo! on the public, at the height of his
career. Since then, the Motor City Madman has found himself
battling decreasing record sales, the maturing of his audience, the
rise of hundreds of bands who learned their licks at the feet of
the Nuge and the commercial rise and fall of heavy metal.
Through it all, Nugent has been a survivor, though one can
question whether he’s thrived musically. (No references are being
made to Nugent’s stint in Damn Yankees.) His latest release,
Full Bluntal Nugity, is evidence that quite possibly Nugent
has stagnated. Featuring only one relatively new track, Nugent’s
third live outing sounds more like an aging rocker trying to hold
on to his days of glory than a rock pioneer continuing to plow new
trails.
Recorded on New Year’s Eve 2000 at Nugent’s annual Whiplash Bash
in Detroit, Nugent and his band – bassist Marco Mendoza and drummer
Tommy Aldridge – plow through songs which any real fan probably
owns several copies of. With the exception of the opening
instrumental “Klstrphk” (add a few vowels to see what it’s really
saying), only “Fred Bear” approaches anything past 1980. Too bad;
this could have been a great vehicle for Nugent to remind people
about some of the forgotten albums in his career. Anything would
have been better than Nugent’s occasional ode to Jimi Hendrix
scattered throughout the show.
As a vocalist, Nugent at his best was merely marginal. Now in
his fifties, Nugent’s vocals have smoothed out a little bit, but
one does miss the maniacal shrieks he became known for on such
tracks as “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Free For All”. Sadly, Nugent
doesn’t seem to have the kind of vocal power these tracks all but
beg for. Mendoza does an admirable job on “Hey Baby,” doing his
best Derek St. Holmes and holding his own quite well.
The most interesting part of
Full Bluntal Nugity, ironically, is the newest song, “Fred
Bear” – and also is the only acoustic number performed on this
disc. Yes, Nugent seems to stretch it out a tad too long, but he
does capture something in this version that hasn’t been approached
in the studio version. Nugent claims he’s taking the audience to a
campfire with this one – and he succeeds.
Granted, fans would probably feel cheated if
all of Nugent’s hits were absent from
Full Bluntal Nugity – but by focusing on almost all hits,
tracks from albums like
Weekend Warriors,
Little Miss Dangerous,
Spirit Of The Wild (“Fred Bear” notwithstanding) and
Penetrator are ignored. Again, too bad.
Nugent’s days as superstar are all but over except in his own
mind, and
Full Bluntal Nugity is a reminder of that sad fact. Pick
this one up only if you absolutely must have every album in
Nugent’s discography.
