Customer Reviews

Mott the Hoople

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Early Mott, not to be confused with later Mott. It's their debut album. It's not as good as their fourth album, Brain Capers, which is the best of early Mott. Early Mott is not in any way the glam rock band they became. If you like "All the Young Dudes" and are buying your first Mott the Hoople album, do not start with this one!

The choice of the Escher cover image tells you how smart they were. Guitarist Mick Ralphs later formed Bad Company, so you know that their hard rock credentials are secure. They covered the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" years before Van Halen existed. The surprise is how much, in the second and third tracks, they sound like Bob Dylan on the Highway 61 Revisited album. Singer Ian Hunter never sounded more like Dylan than he does here. These two slow songs are also cover versions. Again, their smarts are on display in picking two songs that you don't expect to hear from a hard rock band.

"Rock n Roll Queen" is a great original rocker and always sounded great on the radio, except it also demonstrates that at this stage of their career they're still not very original. It's basically a thin rewrite of the Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash." They give their source away when they actually start singing "Jumping Jack Flash" at the end.

Mott the Hoople burst upon the scene at the end of the Sixties with five musicians who could barely be considered a real band at the time. Their lead vocalist had just been replaced by strange looking and sounding pianist who had "changed his name in search of fame". Little did Mott know at the time that Ian Hunter would become the dominant force in the band eventually causing original leader, guitarist Mick Ralphs to leave the band he started. Mott's first record is a typical mess of course considering the condition of the band during its genesis but it is still a very good record. The first three songs are covers including a pounding instrumental reimagining of the Kinks classic "You Really Got Me", which is the first song on the album! Sonny Bono's "Laugh at Me" also gets a Mott rendition and both this and "At the Crossroads" seemed perfectly suited to Hunter's legendary Dylanesque vocal delivery. However the album's most memorable track is Mott's first great rocker, Mick Ralph's "Rock and Roll Queen" which has metal bite and classic band meets groupie lyrics. It really should be better known than it is but like much of Mott's pre-Bowie saving era, it has been unfortunately overlooked. Mott's self titled debut is an interesting little record, not essential but still worth a few quality listens.

Do you remember Half Moon Bay? This is a great album long lost vinyl LP! Great songs and a few memories as well. Rock and Roll Queen a Mott favorite was on this disc. The late 60's and early 70's featured many great bands that came and went like the change of the seasons. Ian Hunter added a few solo efforts after the Hoople days you may check out too if your like this kind of music.

Early "Hoople" is the BEST "Hoople". "Rock N' Roll Queen" SHOULD be a Classic-rock staple. Yes, there are several covers on this album, but the overall raw energy more than compensates for the lack of originality. A hidden gem!

The Wounded Bird label has reissued some terrific near forgotton rock'n'jazz gems, but this edition of Mott The Hoople's 1969 debut is unnecessary, inferior sonically, in terms of packaging and liner notes, and musical content to the lovingly restored Angel Air edition (UK - check the other recent edition of this CD in amazon's listings), which was issued less just months earlier under the supervision of Mott drummer Buffin. The A.A. versions of the early MTH catalog also feature bonus tracks and archival releases. The debut is not the best Mott album, but it has a melancholy charm and raw, haunting quality that led those who discovered it 37 years ago to hope for finer, more developed work in the future. Here, Ian Hunter's vocals remain too reminisicent of Dylan, and the two keyboard lineup recalls The Band (as does the pace of most songs). Mott were a lot more raw, however, and the instrumental take on "You Really Got Me" and Mick Ralphs' hard rocking (and lyrically slight) "Rock 'n' Roll Queen" move along quite nicely. "Half Moon Bay" may be Hunter's best original here, but covers of Doug Sahm and Sonny Bono are also rather impressive, if conceptually jarring. But you'll forget the seeming incongruity once the tracks have been heard - which they should be, but on the Angel Air label's edition of Mott's very promising if flawed debut.

I bought this album when it came out and tossed it sometime way back when. I decided to buy it again. Now i know why i tossed it in the first time. Its just not that great. probably would have been better to buy their second album which had some killer cuts like "All the young Dudes". Oh well, live and learn.