Mott the Hoople 1974 Autumn Tour Programme

Along the road Mick Ralphs moved on to Bad Company and Ariel Bender featured his unique guitar sound on the great "The Hoople" album and through one tour each side of the Atlantic, before leaving to work on a solo career as Luthur Grosvenor once more. There'll be no crying, though, 'cos today there's Bowie's old side-kick Mick Ronson stomping the Mott boards, adding another voice and another songwriter to the potent music force of Mott The Hoople.

Long time side-man Morgan Fisher has now been a central figure for nearly two years, adding his sophisticated piano and synthesiser to the sound.

1974 so far has seen smash tours of Britain and the States and, of course, the seventh album...

"The Hoople" took three months of hard studio sweat and devotion to complete; a labour that was rewarded even before released with a silver disc for advance sales, and subsequently with Mott's first gold album.

The first single from the album, "Roll Away The Stone" had also sold in high quantity before even being heard, so respected was the band's work at this stage. This respect has steadily grown even from there, through the subtle "Foxy Foxy" single and recent personnel change.

Mott have worked hard to attain their stature. Harder, perhaps, than anyone outside the band can ever really know. There've been times when they've nearly called it a day, times when it's all been too much to take... times when the critics didn't understand, and when the things they said hurt deeply.

"Behind These Shades, The Visions Fade
As I Learned A Thing Or Two
But If I Had My Time Again
You All Know Just What I'd Do..."

They've proved it now... that they can take more than enough to finish a lesser band, and come though it all to take their places at the top of Rock 'n' Roll's ladder with their heads held high. And they've done it alone. Bowie helped them - but no more than they helped Bowie:

"Bowie gave me the knowledge of what Mott was: he was shivering and shaking when he came to see us... he thought I was the ace butch of all time and the band were like, one false move and he'd get smacked. I watched the confidence he had, and my confidence grew with it. He wrote "All The Young Dudes" and produced it. Full stop".

And again:

"We're going to do it the way we've always done it: our way and our way alone. We're a band - we're not ever going to compete with oversell or glitter."

- Ian Hunter.