Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter CD: "Sampling In Reality"

Sleeve and track listing

Proper PRPEP003(4 stars!)

  1. A Little Rock 'n' Roll
  2. Your Eyes
  3. Waterlow
  4. Sons 'n' Lovers
  5. When I'm President
  6. American Music1
  7. Sweet Jane1

1 Not on the box set (or anywhere else)

Review

With a massive box set covering Ian's entire solo career due to be released, Proper have put out this sampler to whet the appetite and give an indication of what is to come. Interestingly, it includes two tracks that are not on the box set thus giving the fan an incentive to buy. As a taster for what is to come it does the job.

Opener A Little Rock 'n' Roll is a pre-Rant outtake is a decent enough mid-tempo rocker. Your Eyes is from the Shrunken Heads bonus disc. Waterlow is not the Mott track, but described as a "Trio Studio version". Ian's vocals are close and intimate, with an acoustic arrangement.

Both Sons ''n' Lovers and When I'm President are live tracks, taken from Ian's acoustic tours in 2008 and 2013 respectively.

American Music is an early version and not on the box set. It is interesting to compare this with the final version, without the studio gloss that the producer applied.

Finally, Sweet Jane (which is credited to 'Ian Hunter and Tribes') is a slower arrangment than the familiar Mott version - almost at the tempo of the Velvet's original.

So there you have it - just seven tracks providing a taster of what is to come. Not aimed at the casual fan, but at the die-hard who must have everything. Just one previously-released track and six previously unreleased this is a great teaser for what is to come. But with just two tracks not on the box set, it is up to the purchaser to decide whether that is reason enough to buy.

Ordering is from Proper's website and (supposedly) nowhere else.