My Insipid Record Collection – Ian Hunter

If 1979 seems like a long time ago, well, it WAS a long time ago.  I was reading Classic Rock Magazine the other day and they were talking about the Mott The Hoople reunion at the Hammersmith Apollo awhile back.  Being a huge Mott The Hoople fan I would have paid big money to attend, but Living in America, as James Brown once sang, can sometimes work against you.  I would love to be independently wealthy so I could jet set around to great world events (not just concerts obviously), but I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir.  It seems like the monster reunions I always wish I could attend happen in London.   Led Zeppelin, Cream, Mott The Hoople and others that escape me for the moment.  I have a friend who is planning to move his family over there pending the sale of his company and I envy him.   If I could do in London the next thirty years what I’ve done in Boston the last thirty years I could probably die a happy man.   An old wrinkly happy man, but happy just the same. 

When I was younger, around 1974 give or take, one of my best friend Jim’s older siblings handed us a copy of All The Young Dudes to fool around with.   Jim and I would play rummy 500 or Strat-O-Matic (a baseball dice game) and listen to the ten or fifteen records we each owned.   When that got old we’d dig into his sister’s collection.   One of the many records I consider ”musts” in my collection today came from her lending us a copy of All The Young Dudes.  ”Ready For Love” by Bad Company was a big hit on the radio at the time so I was a bit perplexed when this superior version poured out of Jim’s speakers by Mott The Hoople.  How could this be?  I didn’t know David Bowie had written the title track for sure at the time either.  I’m not even sure I knew “Sweet Jane” was a Velvet Underground cover back then.   I do know this; All The Young Dudes was a fantastic record all the way through.   For the record I always seem to get the Micks (Ralphs & Ronson) a bit confused, but Ralphs was the “Ready For Love” mastermind who moved onto Bad Company and Ronson was the David Bowie axe man who unfortunately passed in 1993.  Ralphs was in Mott The Hoople until 1973 and Ronson spent 1974 with them before collaborating with Hunter on his 1975 debut record.   That didn’t last long either.

Mott had really struggled under earlier management and even though they had a nice treasure chest of hits like “Rock & Roll Queen, Sweet Angeline and Walking With a Mountain” they never got over the proverbial hump.  This one did it for them.  Now they were front and center amidst the Glam Rock movement spearheaded by T. Rex, The New York Dolls and David Bowie.   Dudes had some stellar B cuts though.   “One of The Boys” is a killer track.  “Mama’s Little Jewel” is another.   I love “Jerkin’ Crocus” too.  Highly recommended by me personally.   1973 brought Mott and “All The Way From Memphis” and 1974 brought The Hoople with “The Golden Age of Rock & Roll and Roll Away The Stone.”  Mott Live followed later that year, but unfortunately it also spelled the demise of Mott The Hoople.

Lead singer and chief sun glass wearer Ian Hunter was having some health issues and the mega commercial success Mott The Hoople craved never really surfaced so he went solo.   Mott The Hoople had lost it’s lead singer, but they courageously shortened their name to “Mott” and put out a record called Drive On in 1975 and another called Shouting and Pointing in 1976.  I have to tell you, Shouting and Pointing is an absolute guilty pleasure of mine.   Drive On wasn’t bad either.  For a band that just lost an icon I thought they did a fantastic job of not only holding it together, but really soldiering on with these two records.   Clearly, the world at large didn’t share my view as both of them are long out of print.  You’d be lucky to find a cutout copy in some dusty used record store…with the emphasis on the record.   The CD’s finally surfaced earlier this decade and I paid more than I should have for my two copies, but they are secure.  I’ll bet you’re really happy for me.

Ian Hunter had a nice solo career as far as I’m concerned.   His first hit on his self titled 1975 debut, was a rocker called “Once Bitten Twice Shy.”   I suppose this is his signature song, but it’s not my personal favorite even though I do love it.   All America Alien Boy followed in 1976 and Overnight Angels in 1977 before 1979′s You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic.   I thought this record came out of the box as strong as it gets.  I remember posting about side two of Grand Funk Railroad’s Closer To Home last month and saying how much I enjoyed the three songs I posted back to back.  Well, here I am again.  I never seem to get tired of hearing “Just Another Night” which is the lead cut from YNAWAS.  “Wild East” follows and the songs are butted together so as to seamlessly flow.  The third song of the trilogy is “Cleveland Rocks,” which you may know as the convenient lead in for the Ohio based Drew Cary Show.   The album also includes “When The Daylight Comes” and “Bastard” so it’s a pretty strong record.    It’s no Speaking in Tongues mind you, but it rocked my 19 year old butt pretty hard once upon a time.   

Ian Hunter – Just Another Night.mp3

Ian Hunter – Wild East.mp3

Ian Hunter – Cleveland Rocks.mp3

Ian Hunter – Cleveland Rocks.mp3 YSI

Buy or download You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic from Amazon here.