Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ted Nugent with keyboards?, December 10, 2002
I 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. For 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. There 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.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Garage Band with Suprisingly Good Songwriting!, July 4, 2002
It 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.
As 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.
As 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.
As 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.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back when Ted was a peaceful hippie..., July 13, 1999
By A Customer
Before 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.
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