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Friday, February 7, 2020

The Amboy Dukes - Journey To The Center Of The Mind (1968 us, outstanding hard garage psych, 2018 japan remaster)



In early 1968 the Dukes went on to studio to record their second album "Journey to the Center of the Mind", it was released in April 1968, on the local "Mainstream" label. 

The title track, which Nugent wrote the music for Steve Farmer's lyrics, was released as a single and climbed the U.S. pop chart to number 16. Despite its apparent drug related theme, Nugent himself claims to have "never smoke a joint...never done a drug in my life. I thought 'Journey to the Center of the Mind' meant look inside yourself, use your head, and move forward in life".

This raw heavy acid psych gem was recorded amidst a whirlwind of lineup changes, many of them due to Nugent’s commandeering of the band and then firing everyone who, lyrics notwithstanding, struck him as a wee bit too pro-drug for real life. 

At this point in time, the Nugent was an ambitious but interesting guitar player who was excessively hairy and liked jumping on top of things (moving cars, battle of the band judge tables, speaker cabinets, etc.). After his raging tours and hits of the late 70s, he quickly turned into a conservative caricature with a remarkable talent for being simultaneously entertaining and vile. 


Tracks
1. Mississippi Murderer - 5:12
2. Surrender To Your Kings (Ted Nugent) - 2:53
3. Flight Of The Byrd (Ted Nugent) - 2:50
4. Scottish Tea (Ted Nugent) - 4:01
5. Dr. Slingshot - 3:09
6. Journey To The Center Of The Mind - 3:33
7. Ivory Castles (Steve Farmer) - 3:21
8. Why Is A Carrot More Orange Than An Orange (Steve Farmer) - 2:26
9. Missionary Mary (Steve Farmer) - 2:35
10.Death Is Life (Steve Farmer) - 2:09
11.Saint Philips Friend (Steve Farmer) - 3:33
12.I'll Prove I'm Right (Steve Farmer) - 1:39
13.Conclusion (Steve Farmer) - 1:59
14.You Talk Sunshine, I Breath Fire - 2:45
All somgs by Ted Nugent, Steve Farmer except where noted

The Amboy Dukes
*Ted Nugent – Lead Guitar
*Greg Arama – Bass
*John  Drake – Vocals
*Steve Farmer – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
*Dave Palmer – Drums
*Andy Solomon – Organ, Piano, Vocals

1967  The Amboy Dukes (2007 bonus track remaster)
1969  The Amboy Dukes - Migration (korean remaster)

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11 comments:

  1. A fantastic album. Thankx for sharing.

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  2. cheers for the amboy dukes tunes,
    haven't heard these for a long time. very cool.

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  3. i've had the vinyl since it was 1st released. What a classic!

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  4. Great Album!
    "Entertaining and vile". Don't really know about the entertaining part, but vile.... YEP! The reality is he has been a caricature for longer than this review suggests IMNSHO! Thanks for posting this.

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  5. oobba, he wrote songs about his "accomplishments" with VERY underage girls AND shat himself to skip out on serving his country during time of war. the fact that he fancies himself as a super-patriot now is beyond ironic. he has made a caricature that is purposely vile and obnoxious to sell to the public. fine. it is what it is. but whining about being "triggered" stinks of being "triggered" yourself. it's more than fair to label the Nuge "vile", and I have no doubt he'd agree with that himself.

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  6. You two are both very silly. Since Marios kindly uploaded this album, Ted Nugent doesn't get a penny from us. We can enjoy Ted's music, without supporting his ideologies. It's a win-win if you ask me. I suppose it's a matter of separating the art from the artist.

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