Search - Ted Nugent & Amboy Dukes :: Loaded for Bear: Best of Ted Nugent & Amboy Dukes

Strange bedfellows

Raymond B Howard | Oakland, CA USA | 08/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ted Nugent and Steve Farmer had to be one of the strangest combos in rock history, and it still amazes me how well they sounded together. Nugent's early guitar work was distinctive, fluid and original, more refined than much of his later stuff. Farmer's songwriting antics were just as original, although his attempts at psychedelic "deepness" were sometimes hilarious. (And he hasn't changed much, check out his "Journey to the Darkside...")



Nugent claims he didn't know the songs were about drugs... does anyone believe that for a minute?



This disc is missing some notable songs, including "Surrender To Your Kings" and "Inside the Outside". Also, for no good reason, this version of "Prodigal Man" has been remixed, with instrumental passages out of their original order. Who would do such a thing?



But this music is definitely worth hearing... the Amboy Dukes showed WAY more imagination and talent than your average 60's American garage band."

Not definitive but a good overview...

50 | hermitage, pa United States | 12/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Let me first state my bias: "Journey to the Center of the Mind" is the song that convinced me I needed to become a guitarist, so it's the most important song in my own personal history...a genuinely life-changing thing, so it should come as no surprise that the Amboy Dukes were my favorite band in that time period. The music on this CD is all drawn from the three albums (and one single) released on the Mainstream Records label (when the band was still known only as The Amboy Dukes, without Ted Nugent's name being featured) and purports to be the best of that time period. For my money, the stuff from the first album is interesting from an historical perspective but is definitely the weakest material presented here (tracks 2-6). Tracks 1 and 7-12 come from their second album ("Journey...") featuring a stronger line-up of musicians and a lot of their best stuff (one glaring omission from this album is the song "Surrender to Your Kings": one of the RIPPING-EST Dukes tunes ever, it SHOULD have been included). Track 13 ("You Talk Sunshine...") was their attempt at a follow-up to their hit "Journey...". It's a decent song in-and-of-itself, and I'm glad it's included here, but if you listen to "Journey..." and then listen to "You Talk Sunshine...", it's almost hilarious to hear how these guys practically broke their own necks trying to re-create "Journey..." and score another hit. I've never heard a more blatant example of self-plagiarization. Tracks 14-18 come from the "Migration" album, and the compilers managed to get all the best stuff from this album. HOWEVER (and this is my biggest bitch with this collection), someone decided to re-edit the great "Prodigal Man" to disastrous effect. In the original recording, the solo section starts off with a beatiful drum solo by Dave Palmer; bassist Greg Arama then joins him and takes a bass solo that 99% of all rock bassists would never have been able to accomplish; those two are then joined by Andy Solomon playing some of his exquisite Jimmy Smith-inspired jazz organ stuff; and finally Ted Nugent comes in with one of his most blistering guitar solos ever. This section has a very organic flow to it that just builds and builds and is one of the Amboy Dukes finest moments. So some MORON comes along and shuffles the solos around and completely destroys the flow! This might not be so noticeable to someone who's never heard the song before, but to someone familiar with the original, it's absolutely JARRING.



In closing, I think it's important to note that, although Ted Nugent is featured prominently in these recordings (and rightly so: he WAS a brilliant and unique guitarist and the evidence here is ample), the Amboy Dukes were a great BAND, and Ted WASN'T the only virtuoso therein. If you're a fan of the arena-rock Nuge of the late 70's, you might not be too interested in this music, but if you want to hear a great and largely-overlooked progressive rock band from the late 60's, this collection is well-worth checking out."

Before Ted Nugent went ultraconservative.

Patrick M. Kadas | Portland OR USA | 12/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes it has Baby Please Don't Go, Journey To The Center Of The Mind, Colors and the Outstanding Loaded For Bear, but it was this one that stood out for me:



Dr. Slingshot - Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes - 1968 - "Good first impression on this Jimi Hendrix-esque song that has hot guitar HOOKS and drum work. I think I know where Prince and Lenny Kravitz got their inspiration from. BEST CD track?"





The below albums are covered somewhat.



The Amboy Dukes [import] (debut 1967): Covers 12/13. Two 5 star songs.

I have this on CD. This is well covered by Loaded For Bear.



Journey to the Center of the Mind (1968): covers 7/13. Three 5 star songs.



Migration (1969): Covers 6/11. A couple of 4 star songs.



BOTTOM LINE: Don't expect Ted Nugent to sound like he did when he went solo, BUT you may like him more during this era ~1967-1968."