Ted Nugent, Shut Up & Jam, A Review (2014)

Ted Nugent, Shut Up & Jam, A Review (2014)

By: Ghost Writer

Rock N Roll Animal

 Of course, there´s something in the water in Detroit, Michigan, the hometown of Motown, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad, The Stooges, The MC5 and Ted Nugent, the reason why Kiss made Detroit Rock City, despite being a New York City band. Detroit was all about soulful and powerful music, and of course, the Motor City Madman is still one of its favorite sons, awful sense for politics apart, Ted Nugent is still one of the busiest and fittest hard rockers coming from this city, making still brutal records just like other Detroit legends like Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper, Nugent issued Shut Up and Jam in 2014, a powerful record still showing Nugent in great musical shape and more energetic and forward moving than most of his contemporary musicians, featuring the help of longtime collaborator Derek St Holmes and seasoned hard rock veterans Greg Smith and ex Dokken´s Mick Brown, Shut Up & Jam is a very strong recording for a man who has performed rock n roll for almost 6 decades, nothing astonishing original, but full of energy, intensity and fun, opening title track reminds me of a song by Jayne County, crossed with Lennon and McCartney´s I Wanna Be Your Man and Jagger and Rcichard´s Let´s Spend The Night Together, a lightning speed rocker with an unmistakable taste of classic rock, Nugent paying homage to some of his heroes thru his guitar playing and always maniac energy delivery, perfectly backed up by his band.

For Fear Itself he goes to a little politics on his lyrics, but the song is a great guitar tune featuring brilliant riffing by both guitarists and a venomous vocal performance by Nugent that makes me thing of the possible influence of Ted on Megadteh´s Dave Mustaine snarling singing style, Nugent also flying high here on his guitar in a death fight with drummer Mick Brown who also shines during the whole track, right before going into a soulful bluesy grooved tune named Everything Matters (sung here by Holmes, who used to be the original singer in the Nugent´s band) which puts a stop to the almost metallic hard rock and goes for a more rootsy performance not as brilliant as the previous material, but equally engaging, but is a perfect intro to a great jam by Nugent and his friend Sammy Hagar, once a truly legendary singer with the Montrose band, Hagar showing he is still in top shape despite his continuous battles with Van Halen, Hagar and Nugent make up here a perfect team for another tune that smells like a classic, putting together two legends that basically helped to build American hard rock, but unfairly never were as popular as Aerosmith or Kiss.

It’s a little strange to talk about maturity when referring to Nugent, but on Never Stop Believing that’s exactly what comes to mind, a punk rock influenced hard rocker with a stellar heartfelt vocal performance by Nugent, I guess it should have been a hit, perhaps Nugent should make more of this type of song, but his madman persona wouldn’t allow him, returning to powerful riff lead songs sung in a maniac way, like on I Still Believe, where Nugent desperate riffs and the wonderful work of Smith and Brown serve as a perfect match, on this song about his love for the country, and then spitting monstrous guitar sounds on the blasting Throttledown an instrumental piece that frees Nugent from vocal duties allowing him to pick up a sensational battle with Holmes, two guys knowing each other to perfection, having the chance to communicate almost telepathically ad bringing us a guitar dialogue of impeccable quality.

But Nugent never goes out of ammunition here, delivering perfect hard rock song after hard rock song, as displayed on Do-Rags and A .45 that remind me immediately of a hard rocking Alice Cooper (much in tune with his recent Paranormal recording), the idea of Cooper and Nugent making a song together comes to mind, but perhaps not a possibility in the near future, or ever, with Screaming Eagles upping the ante putting in display the formidable stamina of Nugent, a man that sounds even better as times passes by, not bad for a guy in his 70s, Shut Up & Jam closes with the frenzied Trample the Weak Hurdle the Dead with its relentless riffing and repetitive vocal lines, not as charming as the previous songs, and lacking some of other songs riffing density, but featuring some unexpected moves, making it a perfect vehicle, leaving you screaming for more, it’s been almost four years since Nugent issued this little noticed gem, his unfortunate political choices have spoken louder than his guitar, and that’s a bad thing, his closeness to the disastrous Donald Trump leaves him in a very bad position, but he has made an effort to start away from such a dangerous rhetoric, perhaps it’s time for Nugent to shut up and start jamming like this once again.