Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter LP: "Greatest Hits Live In London"

Sleeve and track listing

Secret Records SECLP173. (1.5 stars!)

Side 1

  1. Rock 'n' Roll Queen
  2. Roll Away The Stone
  3. Saturday Gigs
  4. All The Young Dudes
  5. I Wish I Was Your Mother

Side 2

  1. Once Bitten Twice Shy
  2. Just Another Night
  3. Cleveland Rocks
  4. All The Way From Memphis

Review

Sigh. Another live album, containing previously-released material. There's a twist, though - this one is a vinyl-only release and so may appeal to the audiophiles out there (yes, there's still a few).

Recorded at London's Astoria theatre back in May 2004 it was released in full as The Truth, The Whole Truth, Nuthin' But The Truth and on DVD as Just Another Night. Two great releases indeed, but I was scathing when part of the same show was released as Behind The Shades, and I'm sorry to say that this LP covers pretty much the same ground.

Yes the 'hits' are here, but that's about it. Joe Elliott and Brian May are credited on the sleeve (they appear on encore track All The Way From Memphis), but why is there nothing from the then-current album Rant? Dead Man Walking (Eastenders) perhaps, or maybe perennial favourite 23A Swan Hill (from 1997's The Artful Dodger) would perhaps have been better than I Wish I Was Your Mother. But at the end of the day it's still only half a good live album. Why would you want only half of Deep Purple's Made In Japan (no, I don't know either)?

Don't get me wrong - it's a great live performance, a stellar show, but what we've got here is only half of it. Like I said, when you think of great live albums, why would you want only half?

Completists will buy it, but the more casual fan should look at the complete package. Unless, of course, you fancy giving that turntable a spin...