by Stephen Thomas ErlewineSpirit of the Wild ranks as one of Ted Nugent's finest moments because it cuts away the filler and keeps the wildman's tendency for indulgence in check. A fair amount of the material does concern itself with the wilderness, which fits right in with his '90s reinvention as a conservative family-values spokesman. That doesn't mean that it's a tame record -- it means that Nugent sounds committed again, since that passion for hunting and family flows throughout his performance.