“You’re born at point A and you die at point B,” said Ted Nugent. “In between, kick maximum ass.” And for seven years, the “Nuge” did just that.

It’s easy to criticize Ted Nugent and it’s easy to poke fun at him, too. After all, his extremist views represent everything that is wrong with conservatives, and his maniacal personality makes him come off as, well, a nutter.

But it’s also easy to forget that Ted Nugent was once an incredible rock ‘n’ roll performer.

His latest retrospective, The Ultimate Ted Nugent, succeeds because it doesn’t attempt to stretch the Motor City Madman’s career into something that never was.

It focuses on the time between his 1975 self-titled debut and 1982’s Intensities in Ten Cities, a period in which Nugent could do no wrong. Tellingly, it’s a period during which he was known more for “Stranglehold” than for bow hunting.

If you’re looking for classics, this is a great place to start. But as sure-fire classics like “Cat Scratch Fever,” “Stranglehold” and “Wango Tango” are sure to please, it’s his other material that shines.

Longtime producer Cliff Davies is especially present on “Turn It Up” and “Street Rats,” songs during which Nugent’s guitar shows true influence. In many ways, it was as influential then as Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar playing is now. It’s powerful and relentless.

Before he first strapped on his loincloth, Nugent led the

Amboy Dukes, a fantastic psych-rock band that formed in Chicago and later moved to Detroit.

Their song “Journey to the Center of the Mind” is a modern garage classic, and their biggest hit, the Big Joe Williams-penned “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” which has been covered, most famously, by Them, appears on this album. On Ultimate, compiler Bruce Dickinson opts for the version from Double Live Gonzo to close the record.

It’s a bold move, plucking a rehashed version from a live record as the penultimate moment to document a legend, but it works.

Nugent was clearly on fire, snarling and attacking his guitar like he had something to prove.

This isn’t the Ted Nugent of late. Rest assured, you won’t find any Damn Yankees or any of the gimmicky Ted from Behind the Music. The Ultimate Red Nugent presents us with maximum rock ‘n’ roll from point A to point B.