Nugent, Ted-Full Bluntal Nugity Live (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-Ted Nugent Music Video-Crave Short Film-1967 "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" Featurette-5 Vintage Performances Discography Featurette-The Making Of Craveman Credits Web Links Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	117:30 (Case: 140)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Tommy Thayer Jonathan Beswick
Studio Distributor	Spitfire Warner Vision	Starring	Ted Nugent Marco Mendoza Tommy Clufetos
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$59.95	Music	None Given

     Full Bluntal Nugity Live is taken from the Detroit, Michigan 2001 concert of the motor city's favourite son - Ted Nugent. Backed by Marco Mendoza on bass and the amazing Tommy Clufetos on drums Nugent storms through an extensive set including rock standards such as Paralyzed and Cat Scratch Fever. If you're already a fan of "the Nuge" then the constant references to hunting and shooting and gun control will come as no surprise. Casual observers however might be put off by the rhetoric. I'd suggest you just ignore the banter, put on your red white and blue seat belts, and go along for the ride.

     Nugent burst into prominence in the 1970s with a self-titled album that gave immediate indication of the talent that was emerging. Using his Gibson Byrdland guitar like a machine gun, Nugent created explosive riff after riff in subsequent years culminating in the Double Live Gonzo album of 1978. The 1980s proved less successful for Nugent however as his star started to wane with band member turnover and poorly selling album releases. His confrontational views on pro-gun ownership, hunting and anti-conservatism also led to criticism from many quarters. Ironically enough, and despite his love of guns, Nugent confesses to being a Vietnam draft evader which seems at odds with his prominent pro gun stance. I guess stalking the Vietcong was less appealing than shooting furry animals that didn't shoot back. The mid-1990s however saw a resurgence in popularity with Nugent returning to his rock roots and releasing the Spirit Of The Wild album. This concert recording was made just prior to the 2002 release of the Craveman album but features no tracks from that release.

     The Full Bluntal Nugity concert commences with Ted entering the stage astride a genuine American bison. I'm not sure what they gave the buffalo before hand because it was remarkably docile, although the slathering mouth (I'm referring to the bison here) might have been an indication of stage fright. Ted immediately launches into a blistering set with the Nugent classic Paralyzed and proceeds to tear up the stage without let-up for the remainder of the show. This concert is not called Full Bluntal for nothing! This brings me to a pet peeve of mine where concert recordings are broken up by interviews or extras or other extraneous clips. I want the concert in entirety as if I was there, not a manicured product. Given that many of the breaks give Ted a chance to espouse his thoughts on gun control, vegetarians, left wing politicians and similar it’s perhaps a deliberate method of making sure you understand his leanings. I personally am not interested in hearing about his politics so from that point of view it's a turn off and ultimately results in a lower rating for the concert experience. The concert is also split into two discs with extras duplicated on both discs. Again I ask - WHY? After a very abrupt (probably inadvertent) end to disc one, disc two opens with a clip from an unrelated concert where former lead singer/guitarist of the Nugent band Derek St. Holmes guests. Although this is a welcome addition to the overall package it should have been part of the extras and not a branch into the concert as if it was part of the show.

     Nugent commences his first encore again astride "Chief" the buffalo (note that according to the closing credits Chief died in the following year, hopefully not from a well aimed bolt from Ted's crossbow) and adorned with American Indian chief headwear. Launching into Great White Buffalo Ted finally concludes by sacrificing his Gibson by shooting it with a flaming arrow. Seems a waste of a fine guitar to me! Although it's not apparent from the footage this scene leads into what is presumably a second encore performance of Fred Bear. Ted has changed his hat and guitar this time around so I assume he's gone off stage and then returned. After an extended version of this Spirit Of The Wild classic Ted bids the enthusiastic crowd a final farewell after proclaiming his "attitude" (whatever that means).

Video

     The video quality presented here is only fair considering that it was recorded in comparatively recent times. Colours are dull, blacks are crushed and the detail is soft. That being said there are no glitches or mpeg compression artefacts and the camera work itself is quite adequate. Shots taken facing the stage lighting exhibit flaring, but that is to be expected. The menus, distributor logos and closing credits are all soft and somewhat blurry. On a big screen they look quite awful. The aspect ratio is quite strange in that it is slightly narrower than expected at 1:29.1 however I expect this would be the original aspect ratio. It is not 16x9 enhanced .

     The transfer is presented in 1.29:1 aspect ratio.

     The picture detail is soft.

     There were no examples of source film artefacts.

     This is a double layer disc but there was no evidence of layer change on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     There are four audio tracks for the main concert and most of the extras. I sampled all tracks but listened to the concert mostly using the 2 channel Dolby Digital track at 192Kb/s in pure direct mode with subwoofer enabled. To my ears the surround mixes were slightly muddy with too much bass and I thought my avr did a better job in representing the subwoofer content. In particular the bass in the DTS 5.1 768Kb/s was far too intrusive and not clearly defined. The Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448Kb/s was better but I still didn't think the mix was correct. Both 5.1 tracks had vocals coming predominantly from the centre front speaker with surrounds used for crown noise and ambience. Channel separation was quite good across the three front speakers.

     There was good channel separation from the 5.1 tracks. The surround channels were used effectively enough. The subwoofer was too intrusive and imprecise.

     Overall this audio track is adequate but could have been much better.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     All extras are repeated on both discs of this dual-disc set. Most have audio comprising DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1and Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks apart from The Making Of Craveman, Video For Crave, and Ted Nugent.Com Video Links which are stereo only. Video quality of the extras range from poor to fair with the vintage performance especially sub-standard. In some cases video tracking bars are evident in the bottom of the frame. Aspect ratio is again 1:29.1 or 1:33.1.

Menu

     The menu featured a static display with looping audio. It quite soft and blurry on a big screen.

Audio Commentary From Ted Nugent

     Ted enlightens us on his thoughts briefly at the commencement of each concert song. He advocates against drug and alcohol abuse and surprisingly enough (sarcasm) preaches about his version of the American "dream" which apparently includes keeping a gun in your hands and shooting anything that doesn't shoot back. He expresses considerable vitriol for firearm law advocates and dedicates Kiss My Ass in their honour. This is somewhat amusing at first but rapidly becomes tiresome.

Crave Music Video (4:14)

     Promotional video for the Crave single. Stereo only with good audio and video.

1967 Short Film "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" (3:36)

     Black and white video of the The Amboy Dukes hit of 1967 which sees a very young Ted on lead guitar. Looks to be taken off vhs with tracking bars at the bottom. An interesting addition to the extras.

5 Vintage Performances

     Vintage performances from the late 1970s and early 1980s which are also accessible as an option from within the main concert feature:
Free For All
Wang Dang Sweet Pootang
Cat Scratch Fever
Motor City Madhouse
Fred Bear

     Sound and video quality very ordinary but worth watching to see the unbridled manic energy of the young Nugent, sometimes dressed only in red-Indian style loin-cloth and boots. Interesting also to see the Nugent band as a four piece with the extra guitar creating a fuller sound.

The Making Of Craveman (3:12)

     Short behind the scenes view of the writing and recording of the 2002 Craveman album. Video is washed out with soft focus.

Discography

     Scroll through Ted Nugent album covers with track listings included.

Ted Nugent.com Video Links (5:21)

     Ted talks about his favourite subjects; hunting and shooting and guitars. Watch him shoot to pieces an electronic keyboard with his semi-automatic shotgun.

     What appears to start as a short instructional video on how to play guitar turns into a promotion on Ted’s favourite hobbies; more huntin’ and shootin’ and killin’. Actually quite amusing. This extra is mostly a promotion of Ted Nugent's web site, "safari" side business and general ideology but is worth a look to get some insight into the man.

    Contents appear identical for all available versions.

     Ted Nugent is quite a character and love him or hate him there's no doubting his talents. No one can make a Gibson Byrdland guitar scream like the "Motor City Madman" can. His politically incorrect views on hunting and gun ownership are out there for all to see and opponents can expect a full frontal assault from the Nuge. Leaving that aside this concert is well worth a look for fans of outrageous guitar heroes and paralysing rhythms. Needless to say all Nuge fans would already have this DVD in their collection. The Nugent band is particularly impressive with Clufetos outstanding on the skins. The structure of this release includes a pet hate of mine; concert features which are broken up by different content. This completely loses the concert atmosphere and structure for me. Why couldn't they have left the concert intact and put the extras on the second disc? Anyhow, leaving that aside and excusing the relatively poor video quality and muddy 5.1 audio mix I can recommend this DVD purely on the strength of the Nugent band's musicianship and performance.

     The video quality is fair. The audio quality is good.

     Extras are good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall