MEDIA
Preview
Videos Motor City Mayhem is a must-buy. The flash, the spectacle, and most importantly the solid,
fist-pumping rock ‘n’ roll that the man is known
worldwide for is all here, and then some. For
Nugent, it’s all part of the act. —JW
BY CHRIS BURGESS, CHRIS KIES, GAYLA DRAKE PAUL, PAT SMITH AND JORDAN WAGNER
List $24.98
eaglerockent.com
and full, and Brad Terry is a damn fine clarinet
player. The two of them have a nice dynamic
together and are obviously winging it in classic jazz fashion. It’s a terrific performance, but
at two songs it’s over way too quickly. The
DVD includes two audio-only tracks and an
interview with Brad Terry that includes some
nice clips of him playing. Flawed as it is, this
is a must have DVD for any fan of great guitar
(and clarinet) playing. —PS
Ted Nugent: Motor City Mayhem
Ted Nugent has never been a proponent of
understatement. His flashy, expressive guitar
playing is only overshadowed by his exuberant
and boisterous personality. For the aptly-named
Motor City Madman’s 6000th performance, he
chose to pay tribute to both his hometown and
his country by ripping through a classic set of
tunes on July 4th, 2008, in Detroit. The Nuge
pulls out all the stops, complete with a huge
birthday cake featuring a bikini-clad woman
dancing on it. Available as a Blu-ray or DVD,
and also as a double-disc live CD, Nugent and
his solid backing band tear through such classics as “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang,” “Cat
Scratch Fever” and the epic “Stranglehold,”
which might be the best performance of the
night. It’s clear that Nugent intended the show
to be just as much a dedication to the birth
of the country he so deeply loves as it was to
commemorate his 6000th performance. He
frequently peppers the music with patriotic
screams and shouts, screaming the word “
freedom” at the sky with a ferocity that wouldn’t
expect from your average 60-year-old.
The fact that most people know Nugent by
his political and social views is a real shame, as
evidenced by this impressive live performance.
Love him or hate him, make no mistake: Ted
Nugent is a very, very good guitarist, a fact that
is, sadly, often upstaged by his political persona and pro-2nd Amendment ways. For those
listeners who have never really given Nugent
a chance because of his often polarizing qualities, Motor City Mayhem is a good place to
start. The live performance of “Stranglehold” is
worth the wait alone, accompanied with vocals
by Nugent’s original rhythm guitarist, Derek St.
Holmes. For those familiar with Nugent’s career,
Lenny Breau & Brad Terry: Live at
the Maine Festival
Lenny Breau is my all-time favorite guitar
player. I knew him briefly and have listened
to his music for 35 years. Breau has become
as famous in music circles for his demons
as he was for his unique and brilliant guitar
picking. He was also a tenderhearted, witty
human being who gave his life to music in
ways few of us can imagine. His music could
be spellbinding, and though some great solo
jazz guitarists have come and gone, nobody
played like Lenny Breau. His style so belongs
to him that when someone else plays his
licks, it’s obvious. So Breau has a small but
very loyal following of guitar players who
“get it,” and currently there are two record
labels that are carrying the torch of Breau’s
legacy: Randy Bachman’s Guitarchives and
Paul Kohler’s Art of Life Records.
Art of Life has released several CDs of Breau’s
music and now a DVD. Live at the Maine
Festival is far from perfect: the video quality
is poor, as it was taken from old video. And
it’s too short at thirty minutes and only two
songs: “Emily” and “Autumn Leaves.” But the
audio is good, and as far as I know this is the
only video released (so far) that shows Breau
playing his Dauphin nylon seven string. Sadly,
we only see Breau in profile, so you can’t really
cop his licks either. The good news is that the
music is sublime. Breau is relaxed and playing beautifully. The sound of his guitar is rich
List $11.99
artofliferecords.com
Adam Rafferty Teaches How to
Play the Music of Stevie Wonder
When we heard Adam Rafferty playing his
arrangements of these tunes at the Cole Clark
booth at NAMM in Nashville, we knew we had
to look deeper. As it turns out, we weren’t the
only ones who were won over by his interpretations. This DVD, he informed us, was motivated
by the tidal wave of requests for notation, tab
and instruction he received after he began
posting videos of the songs on You Tube. Stevie
Wonder probably never knew he was writing songs for solo guitar performance, but
Rafferty’s arrangements make it seem like that’s
what he meant all along. It’s a joy just to watch
him play the four Wonder songs offered here
(“Overjoyed,” “Superstition,” “Sir Duke” and “I
Wish”), but the instruction sections are also jam
packed with performance and arranging tips,
and pure inspiration. With split-screen and step-by-step instruction that ranges from guitar performance to syncopation and music theory that
is instantly applied to the fretboard, as well as an
accompanying booklet with complete music and
tab, it’s a master class in a box (and Rafferty’s
Cole-Clark FL2AC sounds gorgeous, too). —CB
List $34.97
