Customer Reviews

You're Never Alone with A Schizophrenic (30th Anniversary Edition)

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4 star:		(1)
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One of my favorite albums from the 70's and a seminal album from Ian Hunter, "You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic" never got the deluxe treatment which was odd given that "Short Back 'n' Sides" and "Welcome to the Club" the two follow up albums did. Hunter's bestselling album (it charted at #35 in the U.S.)has been expanded with bonus tracks and a live disc form the tour to support this terrific album.

Hunter is continuing to have a career renaissance (three terrific albums in a row). This reissue is just icing on the cake. "Schizophrenic" sounds extremely good with a nice sounding remaster courtesy of Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch. The bonus tracks include demos for "Ships",the original ballad version of "Just Another Night", an early version of "When The Daylight Comes" as well as a demo "Don't Let Go" and a rockin' version of Jerry Lee Lewis's "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" (One of Hunter's idols).

The second disc features live performances from the tour to support the album including seven from Cleveland, 2 from Berkeley and 5 from Hunter/Ronson's only appearence(s) in the UK for this tour at the Hammersmith Oden. Yes, some of these songs are duplicated on "Welcome to the Club" but these performances HAVEN'T appeared on CD before and some of them live are arguably better than the live tracks on "Club" particularly the performances from Cleveland which bristle with energy.

Campbell Devine provides us with an excellent essay on the making of the album with plenty of quotes from Hunter about working with Ronson, John Cale and members of the E Street Band to make the album.

It is hard to get used to the reversed cover (the U.S. original issue had Ian facing the other way although the booklet has the cover the "right" way.

Highly recommended.Ian HunterShrunken Heads

And it is great to see it remastered and expanded, but for the hard core fan, which I am, there is something missing. Disc One is great. You get the original album with 5 bonus tracks and further 2 only available as downloads. The original album was 5 star and with the bonus tracks it just show the power of the Hunter/Ronson combination. These guys were on fire. Disc One really is something special and if you don't have it buy it right now.

The problem for me lies with Disc Two, which is a combination of live tracks from shows that the Hunter/Ronson band played at Cleveland, Berkeley and Hammersmith. OK, this is their first legitimate release, but for collectors these have been around for a while. Rather than chopping up three great shows it would have been nice to see them all get official release. I do understand the economics of it, as not everybody is a completist, but it would have been nice to have had these packaged with period photos. I would have happily bought a 3-CD set and I am sure that there are others who would too. It is also a shame that there is no video footage included. There is colour footage from the Cleveland show and some B/W promo footage from the period that would have been a great addition.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great album and it is one that I will be playing for years to come. Ian Hunter is one of the most honest writers in the business and he continues to produce the kinds of albums that others can only dream of. Am I glad I bought it, you bet! But I can dream of what it might have been ... and I would have given it 4 and 1/2 stars, if Amazon had the facility.

The original album is classic. This expanded reissue makes that classic even better. Although I agree with a fellow reviewer who properly states that some of the live recordings have been available elsewhere , to my ears , these sound much better than any other prior edition.
Having been at the Cleveland show where some of these tracks were recorded makes this a very special release for me indeed. I have followed Mr. Hunter since the Mott The Hoople debut in '69 , and one would be hard pressed to find a more intelligent writer. "Schizophrenic" only scratches the surface.
The man is now 70 and has released a trio of unbelievable discs ("Rant" , "Shrunken Heads" and 2009's "Man Overboard") in recent years. You would benefit greatly from owning all of these , as well as the rest of his Mott The Hoople and solo career recordings.
And if you ever get the opportunity , see him perform live. I have had the pleasure a dozen times and the guy puts on a better show than performers half his age !

This 1979 album was the fourth Ian Hunter solo release after Hunter left Mott The Hoople in 1974.

It's the best of his 1970's solo albums, followed a close second by his debut solo release, Ian Hunter, in 1975.

Mick Ronson, formerly of David Bowie's Spiders From Mars band, plays guitar throughout the album. Three members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band also back Hunter on this album.

TV sitcom fans will undoubtedly recognize the song Cleveland Rocks, which became the theme for the now defunct Drew Carey Show. Another track, Ships, was later covered by Barry Manilow.

If you're not familiar with Ian Hunter's post Mott The Hoople career, this is good album to start with.

This 30th anniversary edition includes the original album plus several bonus tracks as well as a second CD containing previously unreleased concert material from 1979. All the extra material is worth having.

Hard to believe it's been 30 years since I walked into the legendary "Peaches Record Store"to pick this up on vinyl and to this very day it remains my all-time favorite Hunter release.I'm not gonna sit here and go through each individual track for you let me just say this disc(re-mastered)is incredible and sounds just as good as it did the very first time I heard it back in my days in Cleveland (Yeah,Cleveland Rocks!!)If your a true Ian Hunter fan you should already have an old copy of this somewhere in your music library,if not shame on you and don't call yourself a fan until you pick this one up.The way I judge music and always have is to sit down krank it up and see it if it sends shivers down my spine and goosebumps down my arm which this does even after 30 years.What's even better is that Ian continues to make good music to this day so I'm always on the lookout for something brand new from him.
"Cleveland Rocks and so does Ian Hunter"

If you have this album already..and you love it as much as many of us do...then know it is worth buying again. Right, I know this gets tedious. But this time it is money well spent. It sounds wonderful and the bonus disc of live tracks is a treat. But the real treat is the original version of "Just Another Night" back when it was a ballad called "The Other Side of Life." It has some of Ian's most heartbreaking lyrics that he's ever penned. And if you know Ian, you know his lyrics can break your heart into pieces. If you feel as though you deserve a kina pricy treat, you could do much worse than this!

The CD arrived in great shape within the estimated time and was exactly as described by the vendor. I would use this vendor again.