Customer Reviews

All the Young Dudes

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The album from Mott the Hoople that was considered by most fans to be the End, the Beginning and the End. Confused? Let me explain. After four critically acclaimed, but poorly selling albums, numerous sell out shows all across Europe and early forays into the United States, the group of five musicians collectively known as Mott the Hoople decided to call it a day after a particularly disastrous concert in Switzerland. "The End".

Upon hearing this, David Bowie a huge Mott the Hoople fan, persuaded them to keep at it, gave them the song "All The Young Dudes", offered to produce their next album, persuaded Tony Defines to take the band onto his management label Mainman, buy them out of their contract with Island, and got them re-signed on a new contract to C.B.S. The Beginning.

Although all this brought Mott the Hoople, and particularly Ian Hunter, international success, it also hastened the departure of keyboard player Verden Allen, never to be heard of again on the international rock scene; and guitar player/second vocalist Mick Ralphs, who went off to form "Bad Company" with Paul Rodgers and we all know what's happened to them. The End.

But free from the pressures of their Island contract, Mott, under Bowie's guidance, produced an absolute corker.

Opening with a Rockin cover of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane", taken much faster than "Velvet Underground" would ever have dared, gave the album an eye opening start. Mott had never heard the original version before recording it just following what Bowie strummed on guitar. In fact, bass player Overend Watts thought the song was called "C.J." until he saw the song title written down on the album cover. Nonetheless, a great song and a particular favorite of Mr. Rock 'n' Roll, the D.J. at Tahitian Queen.

After hard rockin' self-composed track "Momma's Little Jewel" comes the Bowie song "All The Young Dudes", released as a single proceeding the album it had been a top ten hit all over Europe and Motts first top thirty hit in the United States. Although a Bowie written song, Mott had made it their own with Mick Ralphs' guitar playing and Ian Hunter's fantastic rap outro. The album continues with three Mott rockers, all staying in their live set in one form or another until their demise three years later.

Then comes Verden Allen's moment of glory, his second solo composition to be released under the Mott the Hoople banner. Unfortunately it foretold of future trouble, as the title suggests poor old Verden felt he was on "Soft Ground". It is still one of my favorite Mott the Hoople tracks and is undoubtedly one of the heaviest keyboard sounds ever laid down in a recording studio. The lyrics perhaps tell their own story.
"Too many people about,
Telling me what to do with myself,
It's hard to get around
Walking on soft ground".

Mick Ralphs' contributed a superb composition with "Ready For Love", essentially one song with two hook lines, which Mick later took and re-recorded for Bad Company's debut album.

The album closes with the emotional "Sea Diver" (which was to give its name to Mott the Hoople's fan club). For this David Bowie brought in his co-producer and lead guitarist Mick Ronson, who arranged and conducted dramatic strings and brass for this Ian Hunter composed song ironically written about the difficulty of writing a hit single.

The album entered the U.K. charts on 23 September and stayed for four weeks reaching number 21. The Critics acknowledged that it was a much cleaner sounding Mott the Hoople and predictably noted a Rolling Stones "feel" on many tracks. The British album release contained black and white group photos, the back of the U.S. Jacket featured colour live shots of the band members. The original album sleeve concept had comprised a photo of a young boy brandishing a cardboard cut out guitar by Bob Rock. However, for some reason better known to record company executives, it was changed to a rather bland illustration of three finely attired but slightly threatening "Young Dudes". See which album cover you think suits Mott the Hoople best. Nonetheless, a ground breaking album setting Mott the Hoople on the fast lane to Rock 'n' Roll stardom.

Mott The Dog

Not as groundbreaking as Brain Capers (the blue print for punk rock), nor as biting as Mott, ATYD is David Bowie's version of Mott The Hopple. Bowie took the band's sound, tarted it up(as any good producer would) and gave them an "image" to sell to the public.

The result was an album that actually had a hit single (penned by Bowie but owned by Mott)and climbed the charts. That isn't to dismiss this classic album or Bowie's importance at rescuing Mott. Bowie suggested to Ian Hunter that since he was essentially the front man that he needed to take control of the band (creatively and in performance). While it spelled the end of the original line up, it also liberated Hunter and Ralphs allowing them to come up with some of their best songs on the follow up Mott.

If you're going to purchase ATYD search for the remastered import. The sound on the British edition is sharper, more focused and sounds almost like it was cut yesterday.

Released in 1972 debuting on Columbia Records, "All The Young Dudes" was David Bowie's attempt to save this band from demise. Bowie wrote the title track "All The Young Dudes" for Mott and it became a hit for them, thus saving them from breaking up. The entire album (or cd in this case) is a gem of cleaverly written songs, some by Bowie, Lou Reed and Mott members Ian Hunter,Mick Ralphs, Verdon Allen and Overend Watts. This l.p. represents a more mature Mott than, say their previous releases. Songs such as "Jerkin Crokus", "Mamas Little Jewel","One Of The Boys", and "Ready For Love" show the creativity of the band. Ian Hunter's Dylanish voice is certainly up to par on this release as is guitarist Mick Ralphs guitar licks. Mott The Hoople was part of the glam rock scene that was emerging in England. Groups such as Bowie & his Spiders From Mars, T-Rex and The Sweet were some of the top glam groups at that time. This is one of those albums that seems to never grow old, but betters with age. A definate must for classic rock aficianados. Highly recommended!

This is the album which brought Mott to commercial and critical acclaim. At this point, the boys were at their creative peak, and with David Bowie's sterling production (not to mention the Bowie-penned hit, "All The Young Dudes"),the album is a winner from start to finish. Ian Hunter turns in an inspired performance, and Mick Ralphs, although not in a class with Clapton or Page, is more than adequate. Verden Allen, Dale Griffin and Pete Watts also shine throughout. Although the follow-up album ("Mott") was similarly successful, this is the definitive Mott album. Highly recommended.

To save Mott the Hopple, David Bowie had to kill it. Bowie had the band do a couple of fashionable covers(Lou Reed), a handful of Ian Hunter originals and Bowie's own killer song(which Hunter made his own--check out the original demo and compare the two). The album cleaned up the band's sound and, while the Blonde on Blonde influences were buried, Hunter and Ralphs found their mature songwriting voice.

The album sounds terrific--worlds better than the muffled version issued by Columbia in 1988. While the production is a little sterile and lacks some of the fire from their earlier albums, the album's slickness is its salvation with some of the weaker songs.

Bowie encouraged Hunter to take the leadership role in, what essentially, had been a democracy. By taking a leadership role Hunter helped create the band's best album MOTT, and also, inadvertantly, managed to push the band's other key member Mick Ralphs out(Verden Allen left as well).

The follow up album, THE HOPPLE, would have been a stronger album with the input of Ralphs, or even Mick Ronson if he had come on board a little earlier. But, sadly, that was not to be. Still, this is a terrific album and, although not up to BRAIN CAPERS or MOTT, has moments that stand up to the best music by Mott and the best music in rock'n'roll.

That period was a creative explosion, and Mott's jump to stardom from obscurity was one of the hallmarks of a special time alongside Dark Side of the Moon, Strawbs, Yes, Bowie, Lou Reed's Transformer... oh, the list is long.

Every song here has its strengths, and the production is cracker-jack. Remains my favorite version of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane," and "Sucker" is a fab Ian Hunter original.

It's a mystery as to why Mott the Hoople had such a hard time breaking through in the music industry before "All the Young Dudes," especially considering they had albums such as their eponymous debut and the hard driving "Brain Capers." Nevertheless, it's easy to see why this particular album DID finally break them through. It's a glam rock (and perhaps even 70's in general) classic.

The opening cover "Sweet Jane" is pretty basic, not straying too far from the original Lou Reed composition (probably because he was in the studio working with them, and he and Ian Hunter did not get along).

It's followed up with one of the most unique sounding rock songs of the 70's, "Momma's Little Jewel". With Mick Ralph's driving guitar, Ian Hunter's sneering vocals and witty lyrics it defined the sound that Mott the Hoople would become famous for.

Next is the Bowie penned "All the Young Dudes," the homosexual ballad that made them famous, and for good reason. It's melodic, it's often campy, it deals with controversial issues: it's a perfect glam rock gem, and the band pulled it off perfectly.

"Sucker" is another unique Mott the Hoople gem that's one of my personal favorites. Hunter's witty, sarcastic lyrics are complimented by an unusual beat and a crunchy guitar. The guitar solo near the middle adds power and fills a gap in the music that wouldn't have been filled otherwise.

"Jerkin' Crocus" (another one of my favorites) is a straight ahead rocker, but with Hunter's signature sarcastic lyrics and sneering vocals. Even with their latter efforts in "Mott" this stands as one of the best rockers they recorded.

"One of the Boys" is another hard rocker, but doesn't quite sit as well as "Jerkin' Crocus." It's probably because the last half of the song is plagued by some ear wrenching screaming from Hunter. It adds nothing to the song, and actually almost makes that half unlistenable. The first half, however, is great hard rock in the vein of Bad Company.

"Soft Ground" is a pulsing hard rock masterpiece, but is surprisingly not penned by either Hunter or Ralphs, but rather the organist Verden Allen. The vocals are intentionally exaggerated and the organ is loud and rolling. It's sad, after hearing this number, that they didn't use Mr. Allen more often.

That brings us to "Ready for Love/After Lights" a song that Mick Ralphs later used for his 70's arena rock group Bad Company. I can honestly (and happily) say that the original is better than the one Bad Company did. It's faster, more raw, and Mick Ralphs vocals don't sound entirely safe, giving it an edge the Bad Company version couldn't obtain with Paul Rodger's as the singer. "After Lights" also stands as one of the best guitar solos Mick Ralphs has recorded.

And finally "Sea Diver" crawls by with intense feeling and some well used orchestration. Hunter has always been good at creating slow ballads of deep meaning and signifigance, and this one is no different. It does it's job by ending the album on an emotional high note, compelling people to listen to the album again.

What makes this album unique is all the feeling that went into every one of the songs; the same feeling that is eventually spit back out at the listener when he/she hears them. Mott the Hoople has always been brilliant. This album just made people aware of it.

Mott the Hoople is one of those bands which had its glory, but disappeared. This is their best album. Produced by rock legend David Bowie, this introduces the second coming of Mott who had an album which didn't go so well. Bowie wrote the song All The Young Dudes which Mott made into their own song. Ian Hunter is a great singer and also has Mick Ralphs on guitar who would later join Bad Company. Also great is the cover of the Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane and its the best cover of the song IMO. Also added is an early version of the Bad Company hit Ready for Love. Favorites include Sweet Jane, Momma's Little Jewel, All The Young Dudes, One Of The Boys, Ready For Love/After Lights, and Sea Diver. Highly Highly Recommended.

As Pete Frame said this was a "Fabulous band - on a good night the best in the world, and more influential than anyone at the time dared believe..." This sums up Mott the Hoople and the All The Young Dudes album to perfection.

Bowie new a good thing when he saw it, and penned a great song for them that probably did him as much commercial good than it did them - which is fair after all.

Regards,

martyn_jones@iniciativas.com Nice version of Lou Reed's Sweet jane starts the proceedings and then it just goes up hill all the way.

I have been a major fan of this band beginning the day I first heard this recording on 8-Track Tape. This is my personal favorite. I think as a band they are tighter on this recording than any other. If I had to live without all of my MTH stuff and I could keep only one recording this would be my choice. Thanks