Customer Reviews

Penetrator

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up a used copy of Ted Nugent's 1984 album Penetrator based solely on the fact that it featured Brian Howe on vocals. Howe had a lot to do with Bad Company's revival in the late 80's, so I was interested in hearing his earlier work. I've never been much of a Ted Nugent fan, but I know better than to underestimate the guy's talent or songwriting ability. As he did in his Damn Yankees days, Nugent plays to the strength of his vocalist, creating a made-for-radio serving of arena rock perfectly suited to Howe's Lou Gramm-inspired vocal style.

Penetrator is a completely accessible, commercial rock album along the same lines as Bad Company, Aldo Nova, and Foreigner. Howe hadn't quite developed his own style yet, so there are times when you have to do a double-take to make sure you didn't put in a Foreigner disc by mistake. It's a solid album, but it's also a bit uneven. Classy rock anthems like Tied Up in Love are offset by more juvenile Nugent material like Thunder Thighs, and the contrast between the songs Howe sings versus the ones where Ted takes over is pretty big. The Howe track Blame it on the Night seems especially out of place between Nugent's No Man's Land and Lean Mean R&R Machine. Still, there are enough good moments to make this a worthwhile arena rock album.

This is very much a commercial album, so I could see it turning off some hardcore Nugent fans. For Brian Howe fans, or those who still love 80's AOR and melodic rock, this is definitely an album worth checking out.

The singer Ted uses on this album sounds like the lead singer of a Foreigner Cover band. Yes, it sounds as if Lou Gramm took over the studio and told Ted this is how rock and roll should be played!

Back in the early 80's when MTV ignored 70's rockers like Ted, he was releasing some great material. For those of you who remember U68 the UHF channel that played hard rock videos during the Power Hour, I saw the video for Tied Up In Love(Coal Miner Ted with chicks). My addiction to Ted Nugent began. This album rocks hard with classic rock tunes and scorching guitar. Classic songs like Thunder Thighs, Draw the Line and Go Down Fighting are Great stuff. Its a shame this album fell between the cracks. If your a Ted fan buy it. If your not a nugent fan and you buy it you will be.

This is a good nugent cd with songs like 'thunder thighs' and 'tied up in love' which sounds like a solid hit single by any means. This one is more accessible radiowise and sounds it on this one. I like this one but if you aren't a fan of mid80's organ driven metal then you may not dig this nuger. However these songs are enjoyable and often have scorching lead guitar licks in them something pure rock pop wouldn't have had. I love melodic metal it has alot of type of metal in it and this fits in there well in the mid80's with some hard and some more popmetal sounding but it's all nuge and although I wouldn't say this is near as good as his 70's stuff it's good mid 80's stuff.

This album is a good addition the Ted Nugent collection and has some great shining 70's style moments on it but the alot of the album is commerical 80's bland rock, hence the three stars. The album over all is good, fun and rockin but again this is no where near as good as his Scream Dream and earlier work.

If one thing is true, is that with PENETRATOR (1984), Ted Nugent not only changed his music concept but turned to the left for good his career 180 grades!. After a big rest (?), Ted Nugent returned with this exiting album in 1984, showing a renewed and sparkling long haired personality complemented by an amazing big muscled guitar technique that contained the best of the best, of all the tricks and licks (in the vein of Eddie Van Halen) that gave substance and power to all the eighties rock movement. So Ted Nugent was no exception in this evolution: A new era had started. I'm not counting the NUGENT album (1982) because its almost seventies dry sound flavor and its lack of compositional maturity in spite of some good tracks.

But what the PENETRATOR disc was showing of, was the matured capacity of Nugent to create good and more comercial material, (AOR; related to bands like Foreigner, Aerosmith or Robert Palmer!). "Tied Up in Love" was really a hot number, treated as the first and only single from the album and aired in the MTV's video programation; or at least, here in Mexico City. But we cannot forget another good songs like: "Go Down Fighting" or "Don't You Want My Love" from the same album. The follow up LITTLE MISS DANGEROUS (1986) was in the same track for all the new Ted Nugent fans, and IF YOU CAN'T LICK'EM... THEN LICK'EM (1988) to "complete" this wild trilogy, but with the "little" diference that in the last one Ted Nugent was in charge of the vocals again (!)...

Maybe Ted Nugent has been one of the most underrated guitarist in the rock field of seventies, owed to his obsessed desire to sing almost all his songs, a bad move if we consider that Ted is better as a guitarist and song writer than as lead singer because his unskilled way to sing properly (very unmelodic, almost telling the songs) as long as every LP gone by... So CREDIBILITY was the cost of it all. A prove of this was the band Damn Yankees, at the end of eighties; where Ted was like a God if you could have seen the DY live DVD or just listened the CD's Damn Yankees and Don't Tread, where they really enjoy the amazing chemistry between them. Superb!... So don't miss the oportunity to listen this long lost recording! I hope that as well as this recording has been released, the Peter Frampton's " THE ART OF CONTROL " album from 1982 will be released soon too!... Good Luck!

Ted Nugent's "Penetrator" is a strong album of melodic heavy metal. With songs like "Tied up in love" and "Draw the line" among others, this effort is better than many other albums by Mr. Nugent. A good thing is that he has recruited a proper singer - Brian Howe - and keeping his own singing at a minimum. If you like melodic but not cheesy rock, this album could be a real treat for you.

this is the 1st Nugent release with Brian Howe as the lead singer (a few years later, he fronted Bad Co.). Although the songs have a very strong "pop metal" sound to them, You still hear Ted's awesome guitar wailing and screaming throughout most of the tunes. The riffs are good & Ted is awesome as usual. Brian Howe's vocals add the strong pop sound. Ted also sings lead vocals on a few tunes and on those songs, it sounds more like Teds usual stuff. I prefer Ted's earlier releases a lot more, when his sound was more heavy and crazy. But I also like Brian Howe's voice and it seems to go well with Ted's work too. So if your a Ted Nugent fan, you should get "Penetrator" for your collection as Ted makes all kinds of rock great!

Great cd by Uncle Ted. Every song is great. Great vocals, great guitars. 5 stars.

rock has never been the same since the 80s. i was disapionted in this album although it had amazing volcals and teds gutar solos were awsome what i dont like about this album it sounds like all the other. instead of sounding like the sound did in the late 60s and the 70s. thats what makes legends legends. i give this cd 3 stars. if you are a die hard fan buy this cd