Double Live Gonzo!

In the 1970s, every major rock act made a double live album, and Ted Nugent, riding the success of his third solo studio LP, 1977’s Cat Scratch Fever, was no exception. This set includes the expected hits like “Cat Scratch Fever,” “Motor City Madhouse,” and an 11-minute “Stranglehold,” but also throws in two songs never recorded in the studio (“Yank Me, Crank Me” and “Gonzo”) and some material going back to the Amboy Dukes days, like a cover of the blues song “Baby, Please Don’t Go” that he’d been playing since the mid-’60s and “Great White Buffalo” and “Hibernation” from that band’s final album, Tooth, Fang & Claw. The performances are manic and high-energy, showing why Nugent was a major concert draw in the mid ’70s; it also puts a cap on the first era of his solo career, as vocalist/rhythm guitarist Derek St. Holmes and bassist Rob Grange would leave the band in early 1978.