Customer Reviews

Best Of Island Years 69-72

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Many people remember Mott the Hoople as a one-hit wonder with All The Young Dudes. A few more stuck around through three more brilliant albums for Columbia Records before Ian Hunter left the band and enjoyed some success of his own. But before all that, Mott the Hoople were a struggling band on Island Records (Atlantic in the US) whose albums were commercial disasters and whose live performances were legendary.

This import Best of the Island Years is a much better retrospective than Rock and Roll Queen. While the latter is great for its straight ahead rock, the former showcases the depth of the band.

There are also some great rarities that were previously available only on a vinyl release titled Two Miles From Heaven (not the same as Two Miles From Live Heaven) not available on CD anywhere else.

(EDIT - Two Miles From Heaven is now available as an import CD.)

Pre Glam. A down and dirty band with unrealized potential, running out of road fast with Island. Four selections from "Brain Capers" a rollicking end to their contract with the label. Tender ballads such as "Waterlow" along with classic rockers like "Thunderbuck Ram" remind us that rock was not catagorized and pegionholed in the 70's as it is today. Punk, mellow, bluesy? Definitely rock n' roll.

Before the Glam. When Mott were the new thugs on the block and running out of road, threatened to be thrown off their label, they produced the rollicking "Brain Capers". Represented here on four tracks. Suffering growing pains and about to fold, yet capable of so much, as Bowie soon recognized. From the gorgeous ballad "Waterlow" to hard hitting classics like "Rock n' Roll Queen" and "Thunderbuck Ram", represents the far reach of an amazing band and how rock was not limited to one mode of expression. Punky, bluesy, mellow? Rock n' Roll? You bet.

Mott the Hoople are hard to describe...they're what we oldsters used to call "hard rock" in the early 1970s, yet they also had (a wee bit of) country influences and ESPECIALLY a Dylan influence...imagine a cross between "Blonde On Blonde"-era Dylan and Spooky Tooth (or early Jeff Beck Group minus guitar virtuosity). Literate, surly, thudding yet passionate, raging full-on rock & roll...a DANDY cross-section of their Island/Atlantic days at a FANTASTIC price! (PLUS there's great liner notes from their drummer.)

I picked up this sampler of Mott's Island albums for the car and it works just fine as such. It is no replacement for the albums themselves, ultimately, and I have a few minor quibbles about some songs that ought to have been here, but what IS here is all worthy. It sounds good, has a couple of little gems from the vaults, and the liner notes are fun and useful. I must put in a plug for Brain Capers, my choice for the most criminally overlooked album of the 1970's (and one of my desert island records), so if you like what you hear here, then by all means you must get that. But as an intro, sampler for the car, or argument as to why Mott was great well before Dudes, this is a go.

For fans who are unfamiliar with pre-All the Young Dudes Mott,this is a great cross section of their first 4 albums.The rockers {Rock and Roll Queen,etc.}are raucous and not as polished as their later work but just as enjoyable.Listening through you can hear Ian Hunter finding his singing and songwriting voice.Musically they were becoming a more focused unit as well.I always preferred the Mick Ralphs era and he is well represented here.This is a band capable of wild abandon at their most rocking,and great poignancy in their quieter moments and both are displayed amply in this collection.One of the most overlooked bands of the 70's but one of the best{and one of my absolute favorites to this day!}.If you don't own the first 4 albums this is a great place to start. Highly recommended!