Customer Reviews

Rock & Roll Queen

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most Mott the Hoople fans came on board after the release of "All the Young Dudes" or "Mott," like what they heard and then worked their way back to the handful of the somewhat obscure blues-roots albums the band made 1969 through '71.

But in 1974, Mott the Hoople released "Rock and Roll Queen," which features eight tracks pulled from their old albums; a strange move, considering the band was skyrocketing to superstardom on Bowie-glitzed heartstoppers and stage antics.

And there was "Rock and Roll Queen," a poor seller (at least in the U.S.) and sitting in the record bins, without purpose. That is, unless, in a Hoople haze, you scooped it up just because it was a Mott album. Then you listened to it. Nothing sounded like "Jerkin' Crokus" "Whizz Kid" or "Marionette." Instead, a Kinks' cover of "You Really Got Me"--without lyrics; "Walkin' With a Mountain," so generic sounding that Ian Hunter could fit in a few bars of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in the middle of it; a 10-minute concert stomp of "Keep a Knockin." No new ground broken here.

But "Rock and Roll Queen" was your introduction to the old stuff, the good stuff, the stuff that still holds up today. Granted, if you have the self-titled first album, "Wildlife," "Brain Capers" and "Mad Shadows," you don't need "Rock and Roll Queen." Or so you think. But it's one heckuva record that packs a lot of memories as well as some of Mott the Hoople's R&Boogie best.

I bought "Rock and Roll Queen" on a pink 8-track when it came out, but it's long gone and the years have marginalized it. For nostalgic reasons, I recently picked it up on CD. Something about the album cover, I guess. The Warholian Marilyn Monroe look-alikes will do it.

Whether you have all or some of the old albums, "Rock and Roll Queen" is worth revisiting.

I love Mott & have for years. This is sorta a catch-all recording, but it shows of the stuff they had beside "All the Young Dudes" about as well as anything they ever did, really. It's a remarkably solid record. I had the old vinyl LP years ago, and had practically forgotten about it when I got to poking around on the Intertubes and found it again. I'm glad I did. Mott's sound is something like what might've been if Bob Dylan was and Englishman fronting David Bowie's early 70s groups. Two of my favorite song titles are on this disc, too: "The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception" (pretty much a throw away vamp @ :26, and the nearly 5 min long "Death May Be Your Santa Claus."). What can I say? Those phrases stick with you over the years.