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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople CD: "Best Of... 1969 to 1972"

Sleeve and track listing

Spectrum 554 600-2. (3 stars!)

  1. Rock and Roll Queen (3:44)
  2. You Really Got Me/Wrath and Wroll (Crossfads) (3:58)
  3. At The Crossroads (5:33)
  4. Walkin' With a Mountain (3:52)
  5. Thunderbuck Ram (4:50)
  6. No Wheels To Ride (5:51)
  7. Whiskey Women (3:38)
  8. Keep a Knockin' (6:58)
  9. Waterlow (3:03)
  10. Midnight Lady (3:29)
  11. The Moon Upstairs (5:02)
  12. Death May Be Your Santa Claus (4:53)
  13. Your Own Backyard (4:12)
  14. Darkness Darkness (4:32)
  15. Road To Birmingham (3:29)
  16. Growing Man Blues (2:44)
  17. Black Scorpio (Momma's Little Jewel) (3:35)
  18. Black Hills (1:28)

Running time: 74m 58s

Sleeve variations

Original (Island) sleeve

Review

In 1990, with Ian Hunter touring for the first time in years, and renewed interest in Mott, Island put out this excellent compilation of material from 1969-72. The track selection is strong, and includes material from the hard to find 1980 rarities compilation Two Miles From Heaven, as well as the non-LP single Midnight Lady. Rock And Roll Queen is edited (is it a single version?), as is Keep a Knockin' (to remove the "bulls**t" reference), so I'll deduct half a point for that. Sound quality is very good but not excellent - the US-released Backsliding Fearlessly CD offered similar tracks but marginally better sound quality. Don't get me wrong - sound quality here is better than on most compilations.

The booklet contains excellent and informative sleeve-notes from Buffin, but the typesetting is awful - IT IS ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS, making it hard to read.

This CD was reissued by Spectrum/Polygram in late 1998 (to cash in, no doubt, on the publicity surrounding Sony's box set) with, to these ears, slightly better sound quality. Buffin's sleeve-notes remain, but still in those awful capitals. Aaargh!