Uncle Ted is back with another collection of guitar fueled hard rock on Detroit Muscle, out now on Pavement Entertainment. Joining the great Gonzo is bassist Greg Smith and drummer Jason Hartless. With 11 songs and clocking in at barely 35 minutes, this is a short one, and considering one of the tracks is Ted's version of "Star Spangled Banner" and "Feedback Grindfire" is a mostly instrumental noisefest, there's a somewhat lack of material here. The title track "Detroit Muscle" busts things out of the gate in typical Nugent fashion, snarling riffs and solos flying all over the place in what is clearly the highlight song of the album, but it kind of goes downhill after that. "Come and Take It" isn't bad, a fiery rocker with a catchy chorus, but Ted's voice isn't nearly what it used to be, and the cover of "Born in the Motorcity" is fairly lifeless. "American Campfire" is another miss, Ted's weak vocal and campy lyrics just seem forced and dumbed down. "Drivin' Blind" and "Just Leave Me Alone" are merely 'ok', while the more melodic "Alaska" hints at the Nuge trying something different, which is commendable. "Winterspring Summerfall" is a killer instrumental, with soaring lead guitars and melodies...give me more of this any day. "Leave the Lights On" is another merely decent hard rocker, and while his take on "Star Spangled Banner" is really good, you almost get the impression that Ted was way short on delivering a full album to Pavement and just tacked this on at the end to get over the 30 minute mark.
Great guitar work as always, and the band is just fine, but I'm left feeling that there's only really 4-5 notable songs on here, a lot of mediocrity, and Nugent's vocals just aren't cutting it for me any more. Bring back Derek St. Holmes to handle lead vocals and help with the songwriting, and that might help bring Ted Nugent back to brighter days.
Track Listing
1 Detroit Muscle 2:07
2 Come And Take It 2:33
3 Born In The Motorcity 2:16
4 American Campfire 2:29
5 Drivin' Blind 4:04
6 Just Leave Me Alone 2:33
7 Alaska 4:00
8 Winterspring Summerfall 3:13
9 Leave The Lights On 3:52
10 Feedback Grindfire 3:14
11 Star Spangled Banner 2:54
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