Customer Reviews

Great Gonzos-Best of Ted Nugent

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

While many of today's music fans only know Ted Nugent for his pro-hunting stance and his lack of subtlety, Great Gonzos: The Best of Ted Nugent, shows the man in his best setting as an excellent guitarist who wrote several hard rock classics. This compilation covers Ted in his peak years from 1975 through 1980 when he was selling millions of records and, as Henry Rollins once stated, blowing audiences into little pieces. The excellent rockers "Just What the Doctor Ordered" and "Motor City Madhouse", along with one of the great long tracks of the classic rock era, "Stranglehold", are from Ted's self-titled debut album. "Free for All" and "Dog Eat Dog" are the best tracks from his Free for All release. His most popular album, Cat Scratch Fever, is represented by the essential title track, which like Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", is instantly identified by its opening guitar riff, and the melodic instrumental "Homebound." The tracks "Yank Me, Crank Me", "Baby Please Don't Go", and "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" are from the Double Live Gonzo release and show Ted's stellar reputation as a live performer. "Paralyzed", originally released on State of Shock, and "Wango Tango", which appeared on Scream Dream, are the best tracks from those albums. The remastered version also features the strong rocker "Give Me A Little", which actually sounds it was recorded recently, since its sound is similar to that of his latest release, Craveman. While this is a very good representation of his peak, it feels incomplete as several great rockers such as the minor hit single "Hey Baby", the underrated melodic rocker "A Thousand Knives", and the live version of "Stormtroopin'", which has an absolutely wicked solo from the Nuge that must be heard to be believed, are not featured. Also worth noting is there are no tracks from the decent Weekend Warriors album. While not definitive, Great Gonzos hits most of the high points of Ted Nugent's peak and is a good place for newcomers to start.

Yes, yes, yes, "Wango Tango" and "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" are sexist songs with sexist lyrics about sex. But Ted Nugent communicates best when he hangs his loincloth up, leaves his guns on the rack and grabs a guitar. Then you hear some of the hardest, finest rock riffs ever put on tape.

This collection was overlooked when it was first released in New Wave-crazy 1981, but it's all here to enjoy again in clearer sound. "Cat Scratch Fever" has a opening air-raid guitar riff equal to the best of the Rolling Stones. "Motor City Madhouse" and "Dog Eat Dog" from 1976's "Free For All" build rock n' roll chants up to screaming climaxes. "Baby Please Don't Go" shows what Ted can do to a (relatively) traditional blues song. Then there's "Stranglehold," with its whirling bass line and punishing guitar work, a song which with any justice belongs in the rare air with "Free Bird" and "Stairway to Heaven." You never will hear rock guitar this good yet this unsubtle. A great one-disc sampler of a rock and roll original.

This is a great compilation of Ted's earlier hits. If you want to hear some awesome guitar playing, make your purchase.

I would also like to respond to "Fed Up"'s review: Yes, Ted is quite opinionated and has no restraint in voicing those opinions. I certainly don't agree with all his views. But how offensive is Kurt Cobain spray painting "Jesus Christ is an abortion" on a school bus? It's all relative. Try to separate the music from the person - and consider how boring it would be if we weren't all different.

this album has everything thats good by nugent. pinfull songs and pleasureable songs,, this would be a good guy to listen to while having sex with your girl. i would rate this album 10 stars but they dont go that high.

Great gonzos is a superb single disc overview of the work from the detroit guitarist.all his great hits from the seventies like stranglehold,cat scratch fever,free for all,wango tango are included here.ted's guitar playing is superb on all the songs.very highly recommended with his live at hammersmith album.five stars.

Unless you already own all of his regular albums, this is a must for any Nuge fan. It has a good selection of songs, including essentials, live cuts, and a brand new song. All are good, although some are below average for Nugent, mainly some of the later songs on the album. However, it has pretty much all the songs you need, including unarguable rock anthems, Stranglehold and Cat Scratch Fever and several live cuts off the excellent Double Live Gonzo.

I have the old version of this CD, which is missing Yank Me, Home Bound, and Give A Little, and contains only 10 tracks. Darn! Anyway Great Gonzos is a great best of for Nugent. Yes there are good songs of his missing, but if you'd like a single-disc starting point this is a nice representation of his best music. This CD is also the only place to get one of my favorite songs, Paralyzed. Why is State of Shock $50+ ?! That's a disgrace. State of Shock was one of my fave Nugent albums. If you like Great Gonzos and want more Ted I'd get Free For All or Cat Scratch Fever next. Great rock & roll, outstanding guitar riffs and solos. This is music from the groin, not from the brain. Turn it up, rock out, and try to forget what an idiot Ted is when he talks about politics or animals or women. Standout tracks: Just What the Doctor Ordered, Free For All, Paralyzed, Stranglehold, Wang Dang Sweet Poontang (live version here is better than the studio version from the Cat Scratch Fever album).

if you want ted nugents real best of you should buy this but there are many more trax from all of his other cds (namingly Ted Nugent-TedNugent) that could have been on here too.

Nugent isn't the type of guy who's best of is the only good thing. Almost everyone of his CDs has been a hit in my book!

Buy this CD if you want to start being a ted nugent fan. It started me on a path of guitar and liberal rights.

2 best songs: Stranglehold & Just What the Doctor Ordered

2 Worst Songs: Give Me Just a Little & Homebound

All these people with reviews that say Ted is not that good are so stupid i can't stand it. Complete fools. All of them. They don't know good muisc if it smacked them right in the face.
Ted Nugent is one of the most underrrated guitarist of all time. He can flat out play. Not only that he puts on one of the coolest shows of all time. He did it in the 70s and still rocks your socks off today. I saw him over the summer at Moondance Jam and he was amazing.
This showcases some of Ted's best songs. This album rocks for anyone who likes and appreciates good hard rocking.

I remember the long curly hair, the head sent in the back, the giant moustache, the really tight jeans and the wild performances. He was really rocking. Best songs: the 8 minutes long "Stranglehold", "Cat scratch fever" and "Wang dang sweet pootang".

It is fun to go back in the past.