Ted Nugent – Ted Nugent

“There was a moment, in 1975 to be exact, when Ted Nugent was taken very seriously. As a musician. Before he decided to become whatever it is that he is now. … Let’s think back to 1975 when Ted was just a sex–crazed rock star who made a killer self–titled debut solo record that has now been remastered and reissued as a gatefold, by Chad Kassem’s Analogue Productions and Quality Record Pressings. While his songwriting interests have never really changed, these were the best takes on all those ideas that Nugent would from this point on build his career on. … on Ted Nugent his guitar riffs were never sharper, his playing never less indulgent. This is a record where even the inner cuts like ‘Just What the Doctor Ordered’ and ‘Queen of the Forest’ were good to great.” — Robert Baird, Stereophile, May 2014. Read the whole review. https://www.stereophile.com/content/billion-dollar-babies

We were fortunate with this one. Fortunate you say? How so? Well for starters, the late and lauded mastering engineer George Marino at Sterling Sound mastered and cut the original 1975 release of Ted Nugent. Almost 40 years later, after some digging by George’s protege, Ryan Smith, on behalf of this Analogue Productions reissue — lo and behold — George’s mastering notes resurfaced as well as the original analog tape masters.

With the release of Ted Nugent, the self-proclaimed Motor City Madman and god of gonzo guitar became not just a star, but one of rock ‘n’ roll’s icons. The songs “Motor City Madhouse” and “Just What The Doctor Ordered” would become two of many of Ted’s road anthems. These and the other 10 monster tracks on Ted Nugent were clear evidence that Ted was an artist to be reckoned with.

Ted Nugent still likes to reflect back on what his critics were saying as he put his band, the Amboy Dukes, to rest and started the next phase of his career—one that would be under his own vision, his own direction and most importantly, his own name.

“I remember some of the more creative writers of the ilk claimed it would be ‘the final nail in my coffin’ — quote, unquote,” Nugent says with a redemptive laugh. “I knew better.”

The mention of Ted’s name elicits different reactions from rock fans today in different parts of the country. Nods of familiarity on both coasts, and clenched fists and knowing grins in the vast Midwest and South. He’s sold millions of albums. Rock radio couldn’t play enough of him — and neither could promoters, who made him the hardest-working and top-grossing gunslinger of the mid- and late-’70s. While most other rockers posed with their sleek Stratocasters and Les Pauls, there was Nugent, whipping his mane of hair around his head as he cranked out sound on his big Gibson Birdland, a hog of a guitar with rich, thick and creamy tones — clearly not something to be trusted to amateurs. But in Nugent’s hands it screamed, squealed and cried, providing a vivid 3-D voice for the monster crunch of “Stranglehold,” the menacing stomp of “Stormtroopin” and the fiery boogie of “Hey Baby,” “Motor City Madhouse” and “Snakeskin Cowboys.”

We feel this is Ted’s finest recording by far. And here, you’ll hear this classic more clearly and vividly than ever before. This reissue was remastered by Smith in the late George Marino’s mixing room at Sterling Sound using Marino’s VMS 80 lathe and an ATR 102 tape machine modified by Mike Spitz—the only one of its kind in the world.. Then this 180-gram vinyl beauty was pressed by Quality Record Pressings, makers of the world’s finest LPs, where it was plated for vinyl by Gary Salstrom, QRP’s master plating technician and general manager. The power burned into these grooves is difficult to find anywhere else this side of the Atlantic, and indeed it remains a rare commodity anywhere in the world.

As Ted himself proclaims: “If anyone wanted to know what rock ‘n’ roll was all about, this is the only album they’ll need.”