hunter-mott.com
Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople unofficial CD: "European Ending"

Sleeve and track listing

Rock 'n' Roll Circus #4. (1 star!)

  1. American Pie
  2. Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll
  3. Roll Away The Stone/Sweet Jane
  4. Lounge Lizard
  5. Rest In Peace
  6. Angel #9
  7. Born Late '58
  8. One Of The Boys
  9. All The Way From Memphis
  10. Rose
  11. Sweet Angeline
  12. Drivin' Sister/Crash Street Kids/Violence
  13. All The Young Dudes
  14. Saturday Gigs

Review

A whole CD of Mott The Hoople live with Mick Ronson should cause any self-respecting rock fan to drool with anticipation. This CD attempts to capture the live sound of the last incarnation of Mott The Hoople, and was recorded across two gigs: Orebo, Sweden (at the start of the tour) and Paris, France (at the end). The source in both cases was audience tapes.

American Pie/Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll starts the set off nicely, but problems start with Roll Away The Stone/Sweet Jane. Immediately it is apparent the sources for this CD are not good. The sound level peaks and dips alarmingly, and the quality itself varies wildly, at times reasonable while at others quite poor.

Rose is dreadful, the sound almost disappearing at times and sounding quite muffled. This is a shame, as far better quality tapes are circulating of the Paris show. The misery continues with Violence and again with Saturday Gigs (both from Sweden), both of which sound faster than normal.

It's not common for me to cringe when listening to a live recording of Mott The Hoople and to long for the music to end, but this was one of them. For die-hards only.