At one time I recall having a number of Ted Nugent albums in my collection. Some have survived the test the time (like the 1975 debut), some others haven’t. ‘Scream Dream’ wound up being one of those.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Ted Nugent
ALBUM: Scream Dream
LABEL: Epic
SERIAL: FE 36404
YEAR: 1980
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Ted Nugent – vocals, guitars, bass, percussion * Charlie Huhn – vocals, guitars * Dave Kiswiney – bass, backing vocals * Cliff Davies – drums, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Wang Tango * 02 Scream Dream * 03 Hard As Nails * 04 I Gotta Move * 05 Violent Love * 06 Flesh And Blood * 07 Spit It Out * 08 Come And Get It * 09 Terminus Eldorado * 10 Don’t Cry (I’ll Be Back Before You Know It Baby)
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
At one time I recall having a number of Ted Nugent albums in my collection. Some have survived the test the time (like the 1975 debut), some others haven’t. ‘Scream Dream’ wound up being one of those.
What quite possessed me to chow down on a diet of Ted Nugent I’m not quite sure. Looking back, Ted’s style of arena heavy metal wasn’t as solid as the stuff coming out of Britain. Even many years later, the material on ‘Scream Dream’ sounds very dated, and if 1980 was the template, then Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and The Scorpions were the pace-setters, Nugent somewhere back in the midfield.
Have to say though, Ted is in his element in a live setting. ‘Double Live Gonzo’ and ‘Intensities In Ten Cities’ well worth scorching your ears for, it’s just the studio setting is not where Ted is at his optimum. I’d know he’d rather be out shooting at something.
The Songs
The opener ‘Wango Tango’ is ear-splitting rap-o-riff-o-rama, sitting somewhere between Sammy Hagar, David Lee Roth and a rap artist like Enimem for example. The cutesy doo-wop backing vocals makes this sound more comical than it’s meant to be I gather. The spoken word parts from Ted borders on cringe-worthy, sorry to say.
More ear-splitting screams announce the title track ‘Scream Dream’, more notable for its heavy 70’s hard rock persona, and we’re on a gradual improve as we progress. The guitars chug and churn on ‘Hard As Nails’, spitting out fire and solos like the proverbial nail-gun. Ted heads into boogie territory with ‘I Gotta Move’, continuing on with the dense sounding ‘Violent Love’.
The best known track on the LP is ‘Flesh And Blood’, which has also appeared on a handful of CBS related compilation albums over the years. ‘Spit It Out’ could be a bawdy Rolling Stones tune, while things get back to Nugent’s fiery American metal thanks to the coarse sounding ‘Come And Get It’.
I didn’t realise Ted had a funky side to him, as evidenced on ‘Terminus Eldorado’, which sounds as if it was sourced back in 1975. The closer ‘Don’t Cry (I’ll Be Back Before You Know It Baby)’ is the definite oddball on the album, not quite sure what to make of it. Part cowpoke, blues, Ozark mountain music, boogie.. you name it.
In Summary
The album was produced by drummer Cliff Davies, and surprisingly made it quite high into the album charts during 1980 (#13). After the next live album ‘Intensities In Ten Cities’ released in 1981, Ted Nugent’s career went up and down, with loads of personnel changes and musical stylings, eventually moving to a streamlined style of hard rock as evidenced on his late 80’s albums, prior to his move to Damn Yankees.
His discography from 1975 through to 1981 retains a certain raucousness that is consistent throughout the albums released during that timeframe.
Ted Nugent on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
