Mott the Hoople

 

Track 1:  Instrumental version of You Really Got Me.  Ya got the piano/organ mix that Procol et. al. picked up from Blonde on Blonde.  Pure rock.  Nice solid guitar from Mick Ralphs. 

Track 2:  At The Crossroads.  Written by ol' Sir Douglas Sahm himself.  More Blonde on Blonde influence.  Solid piece of music.

Track 3:  Laugh At Me.  Written by ol' Sonny Bono hisself...you know, that Sonny & Cher guy.  It's too bad we don't remember him as the occasionally gifted songwriter that he was.  The Blonde on Blonde influence is again pronounced.  Hunter's vocals are as heartfelt as any that would come later.  Why do you laugh at me?

Track 4:  Backsliding Fearlessly.  Well it's got that sort of Dylan lyrical rhythm and Hunter is trying his best imitation thereof and the band is certainly up to it.  Still not a bad song. 

 

Editorial interlude:  My version of this, which is a remaster with bonus cuts, is great sounding.  We get all the detail and it can be played at a reasonably loud volume without inducing permanent hearing damage.  This was a great rock  band.  This was a great debut.

 

Track 5:  Rock and Roll Queen.  I was naive.  I had no idea what this song was about at the time, I just thought it was a great rocker.  "You're just a rock and roll queen you know what I mean, I'm just a rock and roll star."  It still is a great rocker.  Layers and layers of guitars are piled on this track, all meaningful. 

Track 6:  Rabbit Foot and Toby Time.  Instrumental with a proto-prog bent.  Make no mistake, these guys were listening to their contemporaries.  We know that because it immediately morphs into

Track 7:  Half Moon Bay.  Growling Hammond, glockenspielingly-ringing guitar, which starts raging and somehow settles into solace, without missing a beat or chord.  Lyrically astute and as always Dylan-esque, the song continues in this vein, until we get a nice piano/organ interlude.  I suppose it's Bach.  I'd have to check.  But then the piano turns a bit darker, and we get pure Hammond growl.  I love this stuff...pure Hammond growl.  The piano simply reconceives the chording of the song, the ringing guitar returns.  The song reignites to where it started.  My friends, this is pure prog.  You still are in doubt, sez Ian.

Track 8:  Wrath and Wroll.  Kinda noisy jamming, attributed to Guy Stevens.  Say no more.

 

The remastered version has a more than decent live cover of Ohio. 

 

 

Mott was a heavy rock act that put out some great stuff on the Atlantic label but poor sales and constant touring drowned them.  Then Bowie glammed them up and wrote a hit for them and they took off.

 

I prefer the early Mott....Half Moon Bay from the first album!  There's a very cheap compilation available that sweeps together some excellent stuff from their Atlantic years.....except Half Moon Bay! 

 

Brain Capers and the first two are my faves....post-Bowie stuff is groovy, too.  Especially the recently augmented live album....except no other.....that live album I wore out as a kid was just the tip of the iceburg, they've doubled the length and added some killer stuff. 

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