Ted Nugent: Love Grenade
What can you say about Uncle Ted that hasn't been said before? Slightly mad, totally outrageous and always over the top without so much as breaking a sweat. In the midst of a sell-out tour of the U.S. in support of this CD he has taken swipes at his critics every chance he gets. Like most of the man's output, the CD is a mixed with at least one complete turd of a song.
That said tracks like "Broadside" and "Girl Scout Cookies" make this the perfect CD for the Indian Summer in the next few weeks. Over the top, in your face, brash and cranky, it's old Ted doing what he does best. Jack Blades of Damn Yankees and Night Ranger is along to play bass on a few tracks and produce the CD with Nugent. Nugent pays tribute to the band that gave him his start with a new version of "Journey to the Center of the Mind" by the Amboy Dukes.
Will it win him new fans? Probably not. It will keep his followers happy as they head to his gigs nearby and the rest of us can sit back imaging what its like to see him live in 2007. Girls, guns and rock & roll...wtf is there not to like?
Schenker & Schwarz: Live Together
Guitar extraordinaire and unreliable German nutcase Schenker and some German bloke called Siggi Schwarz do some impressive guitar dueling on this CD recorded live in 2004. Rather than having it a boring wankfest, bassist for the night Martin Hesner does an admirable job, with a bit of German butchering of the English language, of singing the tracks from Schenker's past like "Doctor, Doctor" & "Rock Bottom" and other blues rock classics.
He holds his own on tracks like 'Wishing Well' and the cheeky bonus track "Ice-cream Man." This is far from essential, but hearing two great blues guitarists have a wail of a time playing some great songs ain't a bad way to spend an hour or so. Jack Daniels optional, but useful, of course.
Poison: "Poison'd"
Yep, you guessed it; Poison has jumped on the bandwagon of almost every group from the '80s and released a covers album. Not the worst of these outings or the best; this CD seems to be a stopgap until the band gets its arse in gear and does some new material. Fortunately they don't go for all the clichés and have some interesting choices on here like 'What I like about You" by the Romantics and "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. They sound like they are having a good time, but don't really add much to the tracks.
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
I think we're coming to the point in rock and roll where some of the old guys seemed to have gotten their second wind. And now that they don't have to live the excesses of a r'n'r life style, they're actually making good music again.
Of course, it doesn't apply to everyone - but it's always fun to see a young whippersnapper get his ear chewed on by an old dog with an old trick.