Cat Scratch Fever Medford MA

Cat Scratch Fever

Ted Nugent

Epic Records, 1977

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/10/2001

You all probably know the old saying, "The third time's thecharm." In the case of rocker Ted Nugent, that's kind of amisnomer. After all, his self-titled debut and Free-For-All were hardly failures, both creatively andcommercially. If anything, Cat Scratch Fever continued in the vein of success forNugent, capping what quite possibly was the best period of hiscareer.

What's interesting about this particular disc is that it's onlyknown for two songs, the title track and "Wang Dang SweetPoontang," a song which sometimes I'm still surprised gets any airplay for the use of that one word. (No, I'm notoffended by it, but there are people who could find somethingsexually suggestive in a dial tone who probably could organize abunch of like-minded closed-minded people to boycott a station whoplayed it.) Granted, there's some filler on this album - but thesame could be said for Nugent's two previous releases. But there'ssome strong material on Cat Scratch Fever that's just as worthy of your attention asthe two hits.

Take "Death By Misadventure," a track featuring the lead vocalsof Derek St. Holmes. (By this time, Nugent was the unquestionedleader of the band, in both guitar work and vocals.) If this trackproved anything, it's that sometimes a different singer was perfectfor the material, giving the Nuge the opportunity to grab hisGibson Byrdland and shred the absolute daylights out of it. While Iadmit I'm still in the process of re-educating myself in all thingsNugent, this could possibly be his most underrated song andperformance.

Likewise, tracks such as "A Thousand Knives" and "Home Bound"(the latter an instrumental) show off the songwriting skills ofNugent strongly. You can think what you want of the man, hispolitics and his sexual bravado, but it's songs like these thatprove Nugent to be a songsmith.