Post by jptheprofessor on Feb 7, 2008 15:53:52 GMT -5
TED NUGENT – LOVE GRENADE (Eagle Records) On his last album, 2003’s Craveman, Ted Nugent returned to the loud, rowdy, screaming, foam-at-the-mouth rabid rock and roll that first put him on the map to begin with. On his new album, Love Grenade, the Motor City Madman ups the ante even further, offering the total package of all things Nugent rock and roll over the disc’s thirteen tracks. The Nuge howls and screams like there’s no tomorrow, and dishes out his heftiest doses of snarling, searing guitar fire since Cat Scratch Fever and Scream Dream over a quarter-century ago. In the best (worst?) Nugent tradition, there’s plenty of sexual innuendo to go around, starting with the boisterous title track opener “Love Grenade” and continuing with the sleazy blues of “Girl Scout Cookies,” “Bridge Over Troubled Daughters” and the blatant “Lay With Me,” another slinky blues jam with guest Jack Blades on bass. “Still Raising Hell” is Nugent’s latest bare-bones hard-rocking statement of purpose, while the hammering high-velocity ode to Ted’s education, “Funk U,” is the rowdiest education-related ode to come down the pike since Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher.” Ted blasts commies, government assistance, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Ted Kennedy on his outspoken blast “Stand!,” and kicks new life into his old Amboy Dukes classic “Journey to the Center of the Mind.” Perhaps the most interesting part of the album, though, is when Nugent worships native men and beasts in a three-song passage; affiliating himself with legendary Native American warriors on “Geronimo & Me” and praising the “Spirit of the Buffalo,” bridging the two songs with his guitar-slinging instrumental “EagleBrother.” The performances are all rip-roaring and go-for-broke, with Ted delivering his “full bluntal Nugity” while bassist Barry Sparks and Tommy Clufetos hang on for the ride. The production by Nugent and Jack Blades is clean, sharp and full; allowing Ted to fully bear his teeth on all fronts. At this stage of the game, Ted Nugent has nothing left to prove except perhaps winning the White House; Love Grenade should firmly keep him a frontrunner with longtime fans. This CD is Ted in his most primal, outspoken and outrageous display in years, and should add another exclamation point onto his already legendary status.