TED NUGENT LIVE AT PENN'S PEAK, JIM THORPE, PENNSYLVANNIA, AUGUST 2011
Ted Nugent is a great guitar player and he can sing. Dekek St. Holmes likewise. Greg Smith moves along on the Fender Precision Bass. Mick Brown is a good drummer. I am going to listen again to Ted Nugent Live: I Still Believe.
Ted starts out with a Gibson 335 or maybe it is a 345. (I own a very similar Gibson ES 347 with an acorn head inlay.) I am amazed at what Ted's guitar sounds like, perhaps Ted is really strong, I cannot fly away like Ted does, those hollow body Gibsons are Mack Truck like compared to the solid body Les Pauls which seem fast and sporty. Ted has a collection of custom Gibsons with the Abalone inlay on the fret-boards and the varying head piece inlays. I am not sure which are best I really like the big Turkish Cross on my 1970 Black Beauty. I was watching Ted Nugent's guitars for the Turkish Cross and then I realized I had seen the Turkish Cross head ornament on a blue Gibson SG played by the guitar player for the newly reformed "Cars". The new Cars performed live on Steven Colbert sometime in the first week of August. They didn't sound like the old Cars I remember. Whomsoever was singing cannot sing. The guitar licks were very tasteful and the blue SG with the Turkish Cross sounded a lot better than most of the SG's I hear.
Derek St. Holmes has the acorn on the Gibson hollow body guitar he opens with, which looks like a 175. Ted Nugent has a chalice with flames on several of his Gibson hollow body guitars. Later in the performance Ted plays an American Flag Les Paul and then the speed of the entire band accelerates dramatically. The only flaw I sense is probably not a concern nor even discernible to most of Ted's fans. I could be wrong but Ted sounds slightly flat. Could the Nigerian Rebels" tune some part of a tone flat as Stevie Ray Vaughn is reputed to have done? This is the only flaw I could point to with the music. The composition I don't know what to say, Ted is not trying to be a story teller. The lyrics are dumb and repetitive and the yap might even be worse than rap. With that in mind I took a second look at Niki Minaj trying to appreciate her hip-hop stylings. On careful study, she has some interesting story telling and attitude declaring and she trips out and transcends the ordinary in her portrayals. Ted is on a Ted and his guitar trip. From time to time Ted tonally transcends but generally it is an electric band stage performance, be in awe.
The best tightest band? Lynerd Skynerd from 2009 just happened to play after Ted Nugent, oh my, oh my, can those old boys play. Ted is playing the tune I thought the greatest music, Dog Eat Dog. I guess the drummer "Wild Mick Smith" is better than good. Ted Nugent calls his tunes Motown classics but I hear blues and the Excellent Fresh Nugent Noddles may have inspired much bland noodling that I found annoying. I still do not like Ted's noodling that much and there is a lot of noodling.
I could not end without mentioning the incredible sounds made by St. Holmes' and Nugent's Paul Reid Smith guitars. Just Incredible! Is there some one working effects, as I see neither guitarist working effects. If the guitars are being changed so much simply by how they are played this authentic performance is a tremendous show of musical power.
Part of the review process involves looking and listening to other bands who are reputed to be good. I went and looked at Niki Minaj. Niki portrays strories and declares attitudes in an art form I would classify as hip hop, in that she raps and sings, I reviewd Lupe Fiasco sometime ago and I was accused of being prejudiced against rap. The comparison between between Niki Minaj and Lupe Fiasco leaves Lupe looking un-artistic uninventive and boring.
My digital recording of Ted Nugent: I Still Believe ran long and I accidentally recorded part of a 2009 Lynerd Skynerd live performance. I thought that every aspect of the Lynerd Skynerd performance was superior to anything Ted Nugent and TheNigerian Rebels performed at Penn"s Peak. I am transported to another place by Lynerd Skynerd, their songs are transcendent. Ronny Van Zant sings so well and so much I simply can't believe that a singer's voice could hold out for most of two and one half hours.
Ted Nugent continually raves about himself and his band. It is strange and gross. The flag raising and machine gun waving at the end of Ted Nugent: I Still Believe at Penn's Peak was truly a low point in Rock and Roll Intellect. I am amazed that such a good guitar player could be so dumb otherwise. Ted says that he is always clean and sober.
Ted starts out with a Gibson 335 or maybe it is a 345. (I own a very similar Gibson ES 347 with an acorn head inlay.) I am amazed at what Ted's guitar sounds like, perhaps Ted is really strong, I cannot fly away like Ted does, those hollow body Gibsons are Mack Truck like compared to the solid body Les Pauls which seem fast and sporty. Ted has a collection of custom Gibsons with the Abalone inlay on the fret-boards and the varying head piece inlays. I am not sure which are best I really like the big Turkish Cross on my 1970 Black Beauty. I was watching Ted Nugent's guitars for the Turkish Cross and then I realized I had seen the Turkish Cross head ornament on a blue Gibson SG played by the guitar player for the newly reformed "Cars". The new Cars performed live on Steven Colbert sometime in the first week of August. They didn't sound like the old Cars I remember. Whomsoever was singing cannot sing. The guitar licks were very tasteful and the blue SG with the Turkish Cross sounded a lot better than most of the SG's I hear.
I could not end without mentioning the incredible sounds made by St. Holmes' and Nugent's Paul Reid Smith guitars. Just Incredible! Is there some one working effects, as I see neither guitarist working effects. If the guitars are being changed so much simply by how they are played this authentic performance is a tremendous show of musical power.
Part of the review process involves looking and listening to other bands who are reputed to be good. I went and looked at Niki Minaj. Niki portrays strories and declares attitudes in an art form I would classify as hip hop, in that she raps and sings, I reviewd Lupe Fiasco sometime ago and I was accused of being prejudiced against rap. The comparison between between Niki Minaj and Lupe Fiasco leaves Lupe looking un-artistic uninventive and boring.
My digital recording of Ted Nugent: I Still Believe ran long and I accidentally recorded part of a 2009 Lynerd Skynerd live performance. I thought that every aspect of the Lynerd Skynerd performance was superior to anything Ted Nugent and TheNigerian Rebels performed at Penn"s Peak. I am transported to another place by Lynerd Skynerd, their songs are transcendent. Ronny Van Zant sings so well and so much I simply can't believe that a singer's voice could hold out for most of two and one half hours.
Ted Nugent continually raves about himself and his band. It is strange and gross. The flag raising and machine gun waving at the end of Ted Nugent: I Still Believe at Penn's Peak was truly a low point in Rock and Roll Intellect. I am amazed that such a good guitar player could be so dumb otherwise. Ted says that he is always clean and sober.
