Customer Reviews

Double Live Gonzo

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The 10 Motown Digits of Doom at their finest. One of the great live rock and roll albums of all time (along with Seger's LIVE BULLET, Skynyrd's ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD, and Zeppelin's SONG REMAINS THE SAME). This one captures Ted at his high-energy, ear-splitting, lickety split best. Unparalleled guitar playing, Ted as the First White Rapper, Nuge's primal screams - it's all here. As a veteran of a half dozen Ted shows (most in his hometown of Detroit), DOUBLE LIVE GONZO is a terrific representation of one of the 70s' great rockers. Opens with a souped-up "Just What the Doctor Ordered" and closes, as it should, with "Motor City Madhouse." What's in between is worth cranking up the volume all the way to 11 (eh, Spinal Tap fans?). Highlights are "Stormtroopin'" and an incredible version of "Great White Buffalo" that showcases Ted's amazing guitar virtuosity. Even the album cover, with the Motor City Madman, complete with tail (yes, an actual tail), getting blasted with a wall of sound is worth the price. If you've got room on the rack for only one Nugent CD, this is the one. It's such a madhouse.

I just saw "Uncle Ted" turn it up and turn it out before KISS a couple of weeks ago, the good news is, he hasn't lost it! He jammed through some great tunage, much of it on this record.

If you only get 1 Nuge album, get this. It contains all of the elements that make Ted who he is: References to hunting (Great White Buffalo), references to womenz (Cat Scratch, Wang Dang), references to kickin' a** (Storm Trooper), plenty of cursing (between nearly every tune), and GREAT, spirited guitar throughout. Scare the sh*t out of your friends and neighbors, play it loud and proud, rock is alive! :)

PS ck Nuge out live sometime if you can.

Originally released in 1978,this is one of those records that any true fan of late night FM radio never grows tired of.I mean,I think I heard this lp in like every record store I ever visited there for maybe the first year it came out.Some employees would even lower the volume between tracks,you know...when Ted rambles on a bit with some foul mouthed chatter.Come on,folks,that's one of the best parts of this record.Anyway,Uncle Ted and crew rips through eleven heavy in-your-face meat and potato rockers like "Just What The Doctor Ordered","Stormtroopin'","Stranglehold","Yank Me,Crank Me" and one of his best ever "Great White Buffalo".Line-up:Ted-guitar&vocals,Derek St.Holmes-rhythm guitar&vocals,Rob Grange-bass and Cliff Davies-drums.Turn this motha UP!!

First off, let me start by saying that the sound on this albums is very flat, and you have to turn it up <i>really</i> loud (not that there's anything wrong with that) to even hear it very good at all. It has evidently not been remastered. Also, it should be pointed out that some of the times on the songs are off (Hibernation is not 6 minutes, but 17, and Motor City Madhouse isn't 12 minutes, but 10 and a half). Nonetheless, the performances themselves are great. All of Ted's legendary antics are captured here, including, but not limited to, several great solos. Vocalist Derek St. Holmes puts on quite a show himself, and the band/crowd dialogue is pretty good throughout. Also, unlike some live albums, every song comes to a satisfying ending. Standout tracks include Stranglehold, Cat Scratch Fever, and Great White Buffalo.

The bottom line about this album is that it absolutely kicks the a$$es of all the other live albums out there. As far as high- energy, uninhibited, bone- crunching guitar maneuvers go, nothing else touches it. It also has the definitive version of Great White Buffalo. If you can pick yourself up off the floor after getting leveled by that assault the rest of the album is also incredible.

This double cd has a number of great performances, unfortunately the sound on the 2 disc set is wretched. In order to do the Great Gonzo justice, pick up the remasted version (on one Disc no less) from Rockcandy records. You will not be disapointed!

Pure rock'n'roll energy at high voltage, this is what Uncle Ted's delivers here. This album is rightly super famous, it is really a shot (a shot!!) of pure energy. Ted is unstoppable here, he is like one of those wild animal he loves to hunt. His riffs played through his precious Byrdland are of the highest caliber (and never a word has been so well chosen!) even to today's standards. This album is essential to understand where all that hair metal from the eighties came from (by the way each time I see Ted's with a guitar in the seventies I understand where John Sykes for example took a lot of his cool attitude and look from ... I love him too be sure). I guess this album has been incredibly popular in the seventies and the building riffs of these song from Ted's songbook are the roots of thousands of tunes and riffs from the hair guys (but even their wild looks and their sexist macho attitude). I can't choose a tune here even if "Stranglehold" really attacks you with such a strong riff that it's almost incredible and it blows me away each time I listen to it (and Ted didn't had the full shred distortion we had today, you can hear its EXTREMELY beautiful and absolutly original archtop guitar tone). "Cat Scratch Fever" is splendid and the full run from "Just what the doctor ordered" 'till the instrumental "Hybernation" may be considered some of the best hard rock ever played (hard rock not nu-metal kids). After the long and strechted out instrumental "Hybernation" comes the second full gas run of the album, from "Stormtroopin" to "Motor city Madhouse". You can't lose this thing for real, it's too much, too much. Exceptional "Wang Dang Sweet Pootang". I mean this Gonzo live it's even more fantastic than what I remembered. I had this vynil of Gonzo Live in my school days, but rediscovering this album nowadays something like 25 years later, makes it perfectly clear to me that Ted's music was not a small thing and that he was not a clown dressed like a caveman. He was and still is a natural born performer, an extremely talented guitarist and his music was (and still is) extremely good, despite his lyrics that some may call stupid but are simply funny r'n'r lyrics to me. I don't take them too seriously ... they're only funny R'n'R lyrics. What do you expect from a man in a caveman dress? Some Shakespeare? I can't do nothing but love Ted and this album and to envy the people that attended these concerts in the seventies. Hunt those who don't like this album (just joking guys!)! Long live Uncle's Ted!!! PS (the rock candy remastered edition makes justice of this hard rock masterpiece)

First off - I am a Ted Nugent fan. His first three album run of "Ted Nugent", "Free For All", and "Cat Scratch Fever" are of undeniable greatness. Because of these albums alone, Ted remains one of my all-time top 10.

(THE GOOD)

"Great White Buffalo", "Cat Scratch Fever", "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" and "Stranglehold". These four numbers were good choices and were performed well.

(NOW THE BAD)

However, Ted's live performances are notoriously an exercise in self-indulgence. There is nothing musical about relentless false endings, and there is nothing useful that comes from turning a tight, well-played 4-minute song into a loosely orchestrated, and way redundant 8-minute garage jam.

Example - "Stormtroopin". A killer little tune from his debut album with a clean, slick, and way cool riff. On this album that riff is muddled and lost among the slam bang intro, and is played sloppy anyway. The proceedings then wander off into a meandering jam session that leaves you wondering what the heck song is this? Typical live Ted.

I can't be sure, but my hunch is that much of Ted's live production style led to the detriment of his relationship with Derek St. Holmes.

The opportunity to present an outstanding concert chock-full of great rock'n'roll numbers was Ted Nugent's for the having. But he came up short, choosing instead to tastelessly belabor a few choice and even "unchoice" tunes. "Hibernation?" Well there's ten minutes down the drain. Could've offered up "Free For All", "Dog Eat Dog", and "Snakeskin Cowboys" in that time frame.

And "Motor City Madhouse" - drawn out into an ear-splitting, headache inducing yawner, rather than leaving a little room for "Sweet Sally" or "Live It Up" or "Hammerdown".... you get the idea.

"Baby Please Don't Go".... This is not what Ted Nugent fans have signed up for. Although he plays this tune about as well as I've ever heard it, Nugent fans want Nugent songs! Heaven forbid! Nothing more, nothing less.

Ok, look. I'm an old dude now, but I was at the height of my adolescent rockin' prime in 1978. Nugent's live concert really disappointed me. I wanted the tunes, not a slew of 8-minute riffing sessions that leave me wanting to never hear another shrilly Byrdland A-minor guitar scale for the rest of my life.

Sorry, but 1978 was Ted's chance to seize the world. And had this album been anything like "Kiss Alive" or "Cheap Trick At Budokan", then Ted would have sealed the deal. But he gave us 90 minutes of riffing, shrieking, and elongated boredom.

The Nuge has written it in stone for us here. The versions of Great White Buffalo, Hibernation, Stranglehold, and Stormtroopin' on this album are incredible. Uncle Ted has so much to teach us and this album lays those lessons out like a "how to" manual for living. How any young man can survive his formative years without this album is beyond me.

Sony does a pretty good job of re-mastering/re-issuing catalog titles and have already done several Nugent titles, why not this one? It's the one that deserves it the most. Generations yet unborn deserve to hear these classics in the most pristine sound quality we can provide.

Please Sony, wield your mighty corporate sword for good. Send your legions of engineers to raise this classic to the level of fidelity it so rightly deserves.

Do it for all of us, but mostly, do it for the children.

In my opinion, this is Ted Nugent's last great album. "State of Shock" (1979) is the one since "Double Live Gonzo" I listen to most, but I won't take the time to argue its merits. "If You Can't Lick 'Em" (1988) is his only good album of the '80s. There's no excuse for the penny-dreadful songwriting of "Intensities in Ten Cities" (1981) or the disastrous "Little Miss Dangerous" (1986). He made a great comeback in 1995 with "Spirit of the Wild," but the hooks lack that ear-friendly quality of his heyday. Nugent's two albums since then have been uniformly strong--with the emphasis on "uniform," which doesn't really suit his persona, if you know what I mean.

But I'm a fan. Nugent has a spirit, a straightforward sense of craftsmanship, and an energy level that I've always responded to, even if his ego sometimes blocks his vision and his politics tend more toward ignorance than insight.

Tearing up the landscape, pumping bullets into earth and stream from a careening jeep (as he did on one of his TV shows), doesn't quite jibe with the message of either 'Great White Buffalo' or 'Fred Bear.' Pointing a gun at the consumer's face (the tray of "Caveman") isn't my idea of public relations. As an r&b-and-blues-based guitarist, he could do with a bit more appreciation for black folk. Last, and least, I'd like to know what he meant when he said he was "99% celibate" during a tour while married.

Yet he's more responsible with his guitar than with his mouth, and it's rare for a rock star to mention loving the voices of his children (the liner notes to "Out of Control"). I certainly don't expect him to go gentle into that good, or any other, night. Given the wilderness of human behavior, though, he might surprise us all.