Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes: Loaded For Bear: The Best Of Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes Loaded For Bear: The Best Of Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes (1999)
Originally Released June 22, 1999\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: In the late '60s, when such things mattered, Ted Nugent was quickly gaining a reputation as a young-gun guitar hotshot, largely based on the back-to-back success of two singles issued by his group, the Amboy Dukes. The first, "Baby Please Don't Go," was a hopped-up rendition of the old blues standard, which Nugent and the band had learned off the version by Van Morrison's group, Them. The second was a group original, "Journey to the Center of the Mind," one of those tunes that shows up regularly on TV record ads for "Psychedelic Groovy '60s" collections. Nugent and the group continued to make great, musically interesting albums for the tiny Mainstream label, but had no more hits. They went through numerous personnel changes as Nugent's ego started asserting itself. They moved on to Polydor, then finished up their ride on Frank Zappa's DiscReet label as Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes before Nugent moved on to a solo career, dumbing down his music for larger commercial success. These are the recordings that made Ted Nugent's early reputation, the ones he made before he turned into a cartoon character. Loaded for Bear brings together 18 tracks from the first three Amboy Dukes albums with the inclusion of the rare-as-hen's-teeth single "You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire," a period piece if there ever was one. In addition to the pair of hits, album tracks like "Migration," "Scottish Tea," "Good Natured Emma," and "Flight of the Bird" show that Nugent had more musical concerns and a better sense of song structure going than his later solo hits would lead you to believe. On the other hand, "Mississippi Murderer" demonstrates that Nugent shouldn't be allowed within 20 yards of a slow blues, his stiff phrasing proving emphatically that fast doesn't always get the job done. Oh, there's some silly stuff on here, too, like "Why Is a Carrot More Orange Than a Orange," but that's half the fun of a collection like this, a chance to enjoy the landscape of a bygone era without having your high school photo exposed in the process. If you can temporarily divorce the present-time image of Nugent -- "the Motor City Madman" who has reinvented himself as an archconservative, conservationist family man while still wearing a loincloth and singing "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" -- you'll be rewarded with a collection of great music here. The smoking lamp is lit. -- Cub Koda\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nStrange bedfellows, August 18, 2005\nReviewer: Raymond B Howard (Oakland, CA USA)\nTed Nugent and Steve Farmer had to be one of the strangest combos in rock history, and it still amazes me how well they sounded together. Nugent's early guitar work was distinctive, fluid and original, more refined than much of his later stuff. Farmer's songwriting antics were just as original, although his attempts at psychedelic "deepness" were sometimes hilarious. (And he hasn't changed much, check out his "Journey to the Darkside...") \n\nNugent claims he didn't know the songs were about drugs... does anyone believe that for a minute? \n\nThis disc is missing some notable songs, including "Surrender To Your Kings" and "Inside the Outside". Also, for no good reason, this version of "Prodigal Man" has been remixed, with instrumental passages out of their original order. Who would do such a thing? \n\nBut this music is definitely worth hearing... the Amboy Dukes showed WAY more imagination and talent than your average 60's American garage band.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nNo Missionary Mary?, December 11, 2004\nReviewer: Jack B. Nimble (Phila., PA)\nThis is a very good compilation of the original Amboy Dukes! The sound quality is excellent and nice packaging as well with the Mainstream logo present. Most of the tunes on their 67' debut and their 68' release "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" are awesome garage/psych rock and interestingly enough are included here on Loaded For Bear. Songs NOT included that I would loved to have had on this CD are: "I Feel Free" and "Missionary Mary". I mainly bought this because it contains "Colors" and "Why Is A Carrot More Orange Than An Orange?" which are omitted on other Dukes' compilations for some reason. Two examples of fine acid rock! Ted Nugent's guitar playing during the Dukes' 67-71' period is among the best of any guitar player in the country. His conviction and execution is almost flawless and the flaws lend very well too. I love the Amboy Dukes' first 4 LP's on Mainstream, but I think Mainstream producer Bob Shad did very little to promote the groups on the label, maybe a magazine ad or two. He eventually dropped every group from the label, even sold away Janis and Big Brother to Columbia in 68' for a hefty sum. Consequently, most of the rock groups that released a full length album on the label commands high prices and are sought after collector's items! Mainstream signed some other great psychedelic bands, most notable: Big Brother and The Holding Co., The Tangerine Zoo, The Jellybean Bandits, The Art Of Lovin' and The Stone Circus. My favorite Amboy Dukes' tune without a doubt is D.O.P.E. This music was made to be played LOUD!\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nMore Than Just Nugent's First Recorded Band, June 16, 2003\nReviewer: Anonymous (United States)\nThis compilation finds Ted Nugent at work providing the guitar work behind The Amboy Dukes... Other guitar work and song-writing, The 'Nuge' takes a back seat to the Dukes... He has no lead vocals, instead they are left up to seasoned blues-style shouters like John Drake and Rusty Day, with occasional help from Steve Farmer and Andy Solomon (Nugent's first recorded vocals are on "Papa's Will" from '71s "Survival Of The Fittest"). The group is more than Nugent, the songwriting, the playing and not to mention talent really is amazing. They're remembered for one hit "Journey..." but they are more than that as well. Listen to this CD, and you'll find a mixture of blues, rock and soul. Then again, as one reviewer noted, if you're looking for something up to "Cat Scratch Fever", you might want to hear what you're getting first. If you have an open mind, you'll find some good, original music here. The only reason this isn't five-star is because it misses a few tracks from the 1970 Mainstream release "Best Of The Original Amboy Dukes" (the tracks in question are "Surrender To Your Kings", "Gimme Love" and "Inside The Outside"). But that's only a minor complaint.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\ngreat collection except, lacks essential songs needs revised, January 13, 2003\nReviewer: michael d. chlanda (St. Louis, MO)\nI see by the titles listed that this is a good collection of early Ted Nugent, but it needs revised to include songs from the Diskreet (and no, this is not a mispelling, it was the original label for two releases later put out by Rhino) albums, Tooth, Fang and Claw, and Call Of The Wild, and the Polydor releases of Marriage On The Rocks and Survival Of The Fittest (Live in Detroit in 1970). Some of the tracks might include, Call Of The Wild, Hibernation, though it might be a bit long for some people, and the largely forgotten but classic (especially if you heard it like I did; when Nugent and his crew played in St. Louis)-Papa's Will. It's a "scream" classic, if anyone still has the albums/lps. Play it and you'll see what I mean.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nTed Nugent with keyboards?, December 10, 2002\nReviewer: Jack Ginnever (St. Louis, MO USA)\nI used to own every Amboy Dukes album that there was. So I may be the only reviewer that has this perspective. I watched the band as it slowly went from 'The Amboy Dukes' to 'Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes' to finally.... Ted Nugent. \nFor those of you that are considering this CD because you want more 'Cat Scratch Fever' you might want to preview the songs first. In my opinion this CD is 180 degrees from popular Ted Nugent. But if you want to hear intelligent, thought-provoking, orchestrated, well-mixed studio sessions of a great hard rocking band this is for you. \n\nThere are keyboards and there are harmonies - things you won't hear much of in post-Amboy Dukes Nugent. Ted's licks and hollow body guitar sound are still there. I have to say though that I'm disappointed in the lack of space given to the other members of the band in the documentation. It's worded like a tribute to Nugent's early days. Admittedly, Ted became the most well-known of all of them. But this CD is about music and a band. Ted is just a part of it.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Garage Band with Suprisingly Good Songwriting!, July 4, 2002\nReviewer: William J. Lambert (Oklahoma City, OK., USA)\nIt would be very easy to write off the Amboy Dukes and say that they were really nothing without Ted Nugent. And while that may be true to a certain extent, this collection of Amboy Dukes songs really shows this group in the best possible light. I know that one reviewer had complained that this collection was incomplete because there was nothing from the Amboy Dukes' 1970-1974 output. And while I would still like to see that later material be released on compact disc, that early 70's version of the Amboy Dukes was really a different group with different members--a power trio stripped of all psychedelic pretension, its music more closely related to Ted's post-Dukes recordings, and Ted Nugent taking full-artistic control. This late 60's version, on the other hand, was really just a Yardbirds-style group, Ted still a fairly-shy youngster willing to share leadership with other members such as Steve Farmer, who had a different vision for the group. And this collection represents that 1967-1969 version of the Amboy Dukes quite well. \nAs Michigan bands go, they were more melodic than the MC5, wrote better songs than The Stooges, played louder than the Frost, and pretty close in sound to Grand Funk Railroad's first album. Of course, many people wrote them off as "just another psychedlic garage band". And while one could make a case that their songs "sound" somewhat psychedelic, and their music was defintely as "garagey" as it gets, the biggest surprise to me was just how good a songwriting team Steve Farmer and Ted Nugent were together. Unlike most garage bands back then, who just started a riff, and thought up words on-the-spot to go around that riff, these guys actually took the time to write some fairly intelligent and witty lyrics, perhaps before they thought of the music itself, and it shows on songs like "Colors", "Night Time", and "You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire". Now admittedly, some of Steve Farmer's lyrics are kind of "spacey", but they're no more spacey than Jim Morrison's lyrics, and people thought of him as a genius. I think Steve Farmer was as good as lyricist as came out of Michigan-a place not generally known for great songwriters, and probably one of the better ones at expressing himself intelligently. \nAs far as Ted Nugent's guitar playing with the Amboy Dukes, I think one of his best riffs ever was here on the Dukes' "Dr. Slingshot", my personal favourite of this album. "Dr. Slingshot" is what I call a "classic" Detroit groove--Nugent just drags one funky riff through the mud the entire song until it infects your brain to the point that you can't get it out of your head! He also dominates on "Flight of the Bird", which has some other great Nugent riffs, but the song itself sounds a little like early-Deep Purple, Nugent playing in more of a "dramatic" Ritichie Blackmore vein. I wasn't as impressed with "Migration", as other reviewers were. I think both "Migration" and "Scottish Tea" were Ted's attempts to do the "Jeff Beck self-indulgent guitar instrumental" thing, as both are sort of a variation on "Beck's Bolero", and to me, they kind of bridge a gap between "Beck's Bolero", and the melody Mark Farner plays to open Grand Funk's "Into The Sun". He would also later nick that same "bolero" riff for the instrumental section of "Stranglehold" on his first solo record in the 70's, but by then, I think Ted was having a lot more fun with his music, and didn't take it as seriously as he did with the Amboy Dukes, nor did he sound as stiff as he did here. \nAs for the rest of the Amboy Dukes besides the songwriting of Steve Farmer and the guitar talents of Ted Nugent, my opinion of them hasn't really changed much--they're still pretty mediocre in my eyes. So these guys might have been just another average garage band without Ted Nugent. But I think Ted could have kept Steve Farmer around as a lyricist in the '70's--a lot of Ted's solo stuff does suffer from a lack of intelligent songwriting. But then again, Ted Nugent wouldn't have been Ted Nugent--guitar riffs taking priority over the song. But you could tell with the Amboy Dukes that the song was top priority, and it shows on this collection. But I definitely think this needs to be repackaged and titled "Best of, Volume 1 (1967-1969)", and come out with another one; "Best of, Volume 2 (1970-1974)" to represent the power trio years that bridge the gap between the early Dukes, and Ted Nugent's solo material.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nBack when Ted was a peaceful hippie..., July 13, 1999\nReviewer: A music fan\nBefore the loin cloth, before the bow-hunting blood lust, before the rude, crude, obnoxiousness of Ted Nugent as we now know him, there was the Amboy Dukes. And Ted was just another member of this fine late '60s midwest band, albeit an extremely important member. Consigned to one-hit-wonder status with the psychedelic hit "Journey to the Center of the Mind," the Dukes actually released four very good albums (three of which are included on this compilation) that showcased a high standard of musicianship and songwriting. The strongest cuts are the guitar-driven instrumentals like "Scottish Tea" and "Migration," where Ted's soaring guitar work shines brightly. Unfortunately, "mainstream" success ultimately eluded the Dukes, and after numerous personnel changes and several more (mostly mediocre) albums, Ted put the band to rest. He then embarked on a highly successful (but musically disappointing) solo career that pandered to all the worst aspects of lame, show-biz '70s rock. The Amboy Dukes, though, are definitely worth checking out.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe best Amboy Dukes Best Of compilation to date!!!, June 26, 1999\nReviewer: A music fan\nThis is by far the best Amboy Dukes greatest hits compilation that has been released. The sound is excellent and the best part is it includes the full version of "Prodigal Man" which had been butchered on other Amboy Dukes best of CD's.\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Bob Irwin (Compilation) \n\nAlbum Notes\nTed Nugent & The Amboy Dukes: Ted Nugent (vocals, guitar, bass, percussion); Steve Farmer (vocals, guitar, strings); Andy Solomon (vocals, strings, piano, organ, keyboard, percussion); Rusty Day (vocals, percussion); Michael John Drake (vocals); Rick Lober (keyboards); Bill White, Greg Arama (bass); David Palmer (drums, percussion).\n\nIncludes liner notes by Gary Graff.\nDigitally remastered by Vic Anesini (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).\n\nLOADED is a compilation CD that brings together the first three Mainstream albums by this seminal Detroit band, which combined psychedelia with loud guitar to create a unique sound.\nThough in the liner notes to the group's first record, the Nuge explained that he "didn't know what those opium pipes were on the album cover," tracks like "Journey to the Center of the Mind" and "Colors" hint at a newfound awareness. The former cut, as well as the group's raucous cover of Them's "Baby Please Don't Go" were hits for the band. Nugent has always gotten high through his hunting, a habit that is the inspiration for three songs on this record, "Dr. Slingshot," "Good Natured Emma," and the rip roarin' title track. Nugent's guitar licks are inventive and exciting, especially on "You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire" and "Migration," the latter of which is an instrumental featuring the heavy-metal soloing for which Nugent would later become famous. This CD is an excellent companion piece to Nugent's '70s material--it's a mind blower to discover the orchestral-era Moody Bluesish quality that earmarked Terrible Ted's early work. YEAR: 1999
This rock cd contains 18 tracks and runs 73min 33sec.
Freedb: 03113b12
Buy: from Amazon.com

Categories

Latest lists

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes: Loaded For Bear: The Best Of Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal