Call of the Wild (Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes album)

Call of the Wild
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 1973
RecordedJune–July, 1973, Sleepy Hollow Studios in Ithaca, NY
Length38:01
LabelDiscReet
ProducerLew Futterman
Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes chronology
Survival of the Fittest Live
(1971)
Call of the Wild
(1973)
Tooth, Fang & Claw
(1974)

Call of the Wild is the fifth studio album by The Amboy Dukes, credited as "Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes", released in 1973.

Composition[edit]

AllMusic says that the composition of the Call of the Wild album was influenced by AM and FM radio hits of the period in which the album was recorded.[1] The publication says that the album's title track, which opens the album, is "not as blistering as ["Cat Scratch Fever"], but more metallic than the psychedelia/blues of the original Amboy Dukes", calling the song "more Jeff Beck gone rock than the quasi-Ozzie persona Nugent gleefully would embrace" in his subsequent albums under his own name, comparing the composition to the music of Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne.[1] AllMusic also said that "Sweet Revenge" lifted it's melody from the Grass Roots' song "Things I Should Have Said".[1] The website called the song "Pony Express" "a strange amalgam of '60s out-of-the-garage/heading-toward-stadiums riff rock", saying that it borrowed it's melody from Deep Purple's "Highway Star", and said that "Ain't It the Truth" was a piano boogie, comparing it to "Jumpin' Jack Flash".[1] The album's second side is sequenced to sound like a single continuous jam session.[1] AllMusic says that "Rot Gut" sounds like "Joe Perry emulating Jeff Beck".[1] "Below the Belt" contains keyboard and flute instrumentation played by Gabe Magno; AllMusic compared the song to the Rolling Stones' "2000 Light Years from Home", and called "Cannon Balls" a "heavy vocal progressive rocker".[1]

Reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

AllMusic described the Call of the Wild album as "Ted Nugent going through another mutation, but shows him as more diverse and adventurous than he sometimes gets credit for".[1]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Ted Nugent, except where indicated

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Call of the Wild" 4:51
2."Sweet Revenge" 4:06
3."Pony Express" 5:21
4."Ain't It the Truth"4:57
Total length:19:05
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Renegade"Grange3:25
6."Rot Gut"
  • Grange
  • Nugent
  • Gabriel Magno
  • Vic Mastrianni
2:45
7."Below the Belt" 7:03
8."Cannon Balls" 5:43
Total length:18:59

Personnel[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Viglione, Joe. "Call of the Wild Review by Joe Viglione". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-05-26.