hunter-mott.com
Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter LP: "Once Bitten: The CBS Collection"

Sleeve and track listing

Sony. (4 stars!)

Side 1

  1. Once Bitten Twice Shy
  2. Lounge Lizard
  3. Who Do You Love
  4. 3000 Miles From Here
  5. The Truth, The Whole Truth, Nuthin' But The Truth

Side 2

  1. It Ain't Easy When You Fall/Shades Off
  2. All-American Alien Boy (single version)
  3. You Nearly Did Me In
  4. Letter To Britannia From The Union Jack
  5. Irene Wilde

Side 3

  1. Apathy 83
  2. Justice Of The Peace
  3. (Miss) Silver Dime
  4. Shallow Crystals
  5. Broadway
  6. England Rocks

Side 4

  1. Wild 'n' Free
  2. The Ballad Of Little Star
  3. All Of The Good Ones Are Taken
  4. Death 'n' Glory Boys
  5. Seeing Double
  6. Traitor

Review

After leaving Mott The Hoople at the end of 1974 Ian Hunter hit the ground running with his excellent eponymous debut, represented here by no fewer than six tracks. He followed that in 1976 with All American Alien Boy which was altogether much lighter and all the better for it. 1977 saw Ian stumble with the frantic Overnight Angels, producer Roy Thomas Baker giving it a gloss that it didn't in all fairness need. Ian returned to CBS in 1983 but seemed to have lost focus with the patchy All Of The Good Ones Are Taken, represented by just four tracks.

This is actually a good compilation. You get the single version of All-American Alien Boy, the non-LP single England Rocks and the non-LP B-side Traitor, together with several tracks that don't normally feature on compilations. Sleeve notes are by Mott/Hunter biographer Campbell Devine and are excellent and informative as always.

OK, so it's vinyl only and all tracks are readily available on CD but for vinyl completists this release is highly recommended.