Sunday, June 10, 2007

286. Mott the Hoople - Mott (1973)





















Track Listing


1. All The Way From Memphis
2. Whizz Kidd
3. Hymn For The Dudes
4. Honaloochie Boogie
5. Violence
6. Drivin' Sister
7. Ballad Of Mott The Hoople (26th March 1972 Zurich)
8. I'm A Cadillac/El Camino Doloroso
9. I Wish I Was Your Mother

Review

Humm, this isn't such a great album, but it is also not bad. It suffers from a capital crime, it is immensely derivative it sounds like other people's music, mainly David Bowie's with the exception of the last track which sounds like Bob Dylan. This isn't such a bad thing because those two are very good models indeed and Bowie has a very close relationship with Mott The Hoople, by giving them their first hit with All The Young Dudes.

Still the album commits the cardinal sin of lack of originality, it feels too much like Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane without being brilliant enough to ever come close to the quality of those two albums. It is, however, still an enjoyable album, and there are some treats for Glam lovers here, Roxy Music's Andy Mckay's Sax on the first track is definitely one of those. One of the tracks which shows a more independent sound here is also the least successful track on the album, Violence has a kick but isn't as enjoyable as the other tracks.

In the end it amounts to little more than a pretty competent album, with some good lyrics which fails by being derivative and unoriginal. Had this album come three years earlier on the list I would have been very impressed indeed, this way... I am not. Get it from Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Honaloochie Boogie
2. All The Way From Memphis
3. I Wish I Was Your Mother
4. Ballad Of Mott The Hoople

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It was clear by the time Mott was released that Ian Hunter had become the dominant figure of the band. Aside from the lead track, the album includes introspective songs such as "Ballad of Mott The Hoople", which exposes Mott’s near break-up, and the peculiar "I Wish I Was Your Mother", featuring multi-tracked mandolin, in which Hunter sings of his wish to see his love as a child. Hard rockers are given their due with "Drivin’ Sister", "Violence" and "Honaloochie Boogie", the last-named being another UK single. A fine performance is delivered by Hunter in the almost religious "Hymn for the Dudes."

The album has featured different covers among the number of UK and U.S. releases, as well as remastered tracks on some editions. The cover pictured here is the US design. In the UK the front cover featured a motif based on the bust of a Roman Emperor, and initial copies had a gatefold sleeve with the Emperor motif printed on a transparent plastic sheet. A remastered and expanded version was released by Sony's Columbia/Legacy imprint in the United States in 2006.

Crap version of All The Way From Memphis, they are all old:

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