Mott The Hoople unofficial CD: "Flash And Crash"

Sleeve and track listing

Colosseum

Review

The original issue of Rest In Peace as a 2-LP set was one of the best unofficial Mott The Hoople releases available, as it captured Mott's full show from 1974. The show was eventually released unofficially on CD as the first in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus series, and a few months later surfaced again, this time here as a Japanese CD. It has, of course, since been released commcercially.

The show was recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Center on 12th April 1974 and broadcast on local FM radio. The show has been heavily edited to accommodate the CD's running time, and omits the Jupiter intro, Here Comes The Queen (with guitarist Ariel Bender on vocals) and Born Late 58 (with bassist Overend Watts on vocals). It does, however, include the encore track Walkin' With a Mountain which had been left off the RIP CD.

The show (the second that day!) finds Ian struggling with bronchitis, but this is only noticeable at the start of the set. Sucker bristles with menace as always, and the Roll Away The Stone/Sweet Jane coupling is always a delight. Hymn For The Dudes is another delight before the band launch into Marionette - brutal on record and visually totally stunning. They then crank up the octane even more for the medley Drivin' Sister/Crash Street Kidds/Violence.

This CD has been mastered from an off-air tape of the broadcast (rather than the 2-LP vinyl), and so is devoid of the occasional pop and crackle found on the RIP CD. However, I get the impression too much effort was spent reducing tape hiss, the result being a rather dead sound with little treble sparkle and life. Accordingly I feel the sound quality is a notch or two down on the RIP CD, but this is only evident on a ruthless side-by-side comparison.

This was once quite a reasonable purchase, but the official release of this show renders this CD obsolete. As always, support the artist and buy the official product!