Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople CD: "Friends And Relatives"

Sleeve and track listing

Eagle EAGCD104. (4 stars!)

Disc 1

  1. Mott The Hoople: Sweet Jane (live)
  2. Mott The Hoople: Sucker (live)
  3. Mott: Collision Course (live)
  4. Mott: By Tonight (live)
  5. British Lions: One More Chance To Run (demo)
  6. Verden Allen: Hypnotised
  7. Mick Ralphs: All Across The Nile
  8. Morgan: The Sleeper Wakes
  9. John Fiddler: Only The Roses
  10. Steve Hyams: Treat Yourself Right
  11. Doc Thomas Group: Harlem Shuffle
  12. The Silence: We'll Silence You
  13. The Rats: The Rise And Fall Of Bernie Gripplestone And The Rats From Hull

Disc 2

  1. Mott The Hoople: Ready For Love (live)
  2. Mott The Hoople: Hymn For The Dudes (live)
  3. Mott: Born Late '58 (live)
  4. Mott: Storm (live)
  5. British Lions: Wild In The Streets (demo)
  6. Verden Allen: A New Way
  7. Mick Ralphs: Take This
  8. Doc Thomas Group: Barefootin'
  9. The Silence: See You Tomorrow
  10. Ray Majors: Walk The Line
  11. The Rats: Early In Spring
  12. Overend Watts: Caribbean Hate Song
  13. Mott The Hoople: One Of The Boys (live)

Review

There has been a flurry of Mott The Hoople releases recently on the Angel Air label, so now is a good time to take stock, hence this compilation of tracks from those releases, and provide a taster of material yet to come.

We have tracks from "roots" such as the Doc Thomas Group (which featured Mick Ralphs and Overend Watts) and The Rats (which featured Mick Ronson) and "branches" such as Mick Ralphs and Verden Allen, as well as the post-hunter Mott and British Lions

The live material from both Mott The Hoople and Mott pack a powerful punch, and show just how good they really were - if the listener is still not convinced to buy the albums from which they came, he never will be. Ditto the material from Doc Thomas Group/The Silence and The Rats which demonstrate how versatile they were as musicians. There's Mick Ralphs' jazzy Take This, Morgan's prog-rock The Sleeper Wakes, The Rat's psychedelic Bernie Gripplestone and Doc Thomas Group's beat-pop Harlem Shuffle. The track selection here is consistently strong, without ever getting "samey" or one-paced.

Of particular interest are the tracks by John Fiddler, Ray Majors and Overend Watts - all from forthcoming Angel Air albums. Fiddler's is medium-paced and sounds good - I'm sure Mott fans will not be disappointed. Majors' is fantastic - slower-paced and moody with great blues guitar work and harmonica playing. Watts' is lighter and certainly different from his Mott-related works - those with a dry sense of humour could well like it.

The 2-CD set comes in a clear jewel case with a 12-page booklet featuring track-by-track notes and Mott The Hoople biog excellently written by Dale Griffin.

A strong track selection, this 2-CD compilation will appeal to the casual and uncommitted fan who has yet to invest in the full set of Mott The Hoople-related releases. Highly recommended.