Hi Glen, Mott The Hopple played the Bournemouth Winter Gardens in the UK in 73, and a up and coming band called Queen supported them on that tour, what a great concert. "Drivin Sister" and "Rock and Roll Queen" great songs.
Excellent idea for a series...and to think Ian and Mick Ronson played at a small club here in Trenton in the early 80's... Love his first album and need to get more for sure.
Hi Glen!!! this is a cool new series and great artist to start..... you really have a great Ian Hunter collection, he's an artist i'm not very familiar with, just know some of his work with Mott and solo work, now i have a lot of homework to do. cheers and be well
I could tell Ian Hunter was already an accomplished musician when I saw Mott the Hoople quite a few times in 1969/70. The first time was in the basement of a club called the Speakeasy in London. A very sweaty night, his singing and stage presence was memorable. At that time they played amazing versions of You Really Got Me and Keep a Knockin, even more raunchy than the originals. Then the Roundhouse and the Lyceum. Also I got to know some of the bands fans, they had a big following, even before their first album was released 😊
Interesting idea for a series. I have to admit that Ian Hunter is a big blank spot in my musical knowledge. Have you heard about the new Billy Strings Live album? A mix of 10 songs from 23 and 24 (resulting in roughly 100 minutes), sounds really good.
A band of mine used to do (40+ years ago:) “Life After Death” from the album you were holding up - side 2, opener? It’s been a long time- Love that song. I did lose track of Ian’s discography and would love to get caught up on it. 😊
Hunter was born in Oswestry in Shropshire I think which is West of London near Wales. He did not form Mott The Hoople but became the front man and main writer. He was quite old for a Rock Star when they made it.
In the early 70s, me being in my late teens, early 20s, I had biases music wise. One was against glam rock of which I associated Mott the Hoople with. I didn't even get into Bowie until post glam. I have a Mott comp is all.
Mott the Hoope was very much not a glam band originally, as you can tell from their first eponymous album and their excellent fourth one, 'Brain Capers.' Even the 'All the Young Dudes' album is basically heavy rock, but Bowie wanted to give it a lighter touch so its sound would be more radio-friendly. 'Jerkin' Crocus,' 'Sucker' and 'One of the Boys' are all heavy rockers at heart. So, Mott was a heavy rocker band with a wild following, and spectacular live, although the audience tended to trash every venue they appeared in. It was also fundamentally an albums band that couldn't capture their live sound and excitement. The third album, 'Wildlife,' was meant to be a live album to get over this problem, but the audience stormed the stage at the Fairfields Hall, Croydon, where they were taping it, smashed all the recording equipment and destroyed all the tapes, apart from the 15-minute medley which is still on the album. But in the Bowie era, they did wear those clothes and Ian affected a rather effete Bowie-style accent, if you see the clip on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test.' But, apparently, his accent does move around a bit. An interviewer observed, back in the day, that his accent would start out London and then switch over to Shrewsbury when he relaxed after about 20 minutes.
David Bowie offered Mott The Hoople two songs. They chose All The Young Dudes. The other song Bowie decided to record for himself. That song was Suffragette City.
And I’d read that Bowie offered, a little later, Drive In Saturday- but that Bowie (maybe a little coked or Ziggy was taking over) was rude at the meeting to Ian- And that Ian responded by writing these lines in “Hymn for the dudes” - “if you think you are a star, and people come from near and far… Don’t forget now, just who you are: you ain’t the nazz, you’re just a buzz- some kind of temporary” 😮
Some great albums there, Glen. I agree, 'All of the Good Ones are Taken,' is not a great album - excellent title track but the rest isn't. I'm not so keen on 'Short Back N Sides' either - horrible production from Mike Jones of the Clash. Ian Hunter re-released it as 'Long Odds & Out-takes,' where, I would guess had more of a Mick Ronson hand in the production - much better but it is missing 'Central Park & West.' However, it does have an excellent version of 'Rain' (quintessential Britain) and a great rocker called 'Venus in a Bathtub.' I fully endorse the extended version of 'You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic' and the 'Once Bitten Twice Shy' comp, which has quite a few overlaps with it. The comp also has a very rare Ian Hunter duet, with Genya Raven on 'Junkman,' which I think was a lot more successful than his duet with Lucinda Williams on 'What would I do without you?' from his recent 'Defiance Part 2' album. As for 'You are Never Alone,' I thought 'Just Another Night' was just another rocker, albeit a fine one, but it is actually the story of what happened after a gig in Indianapolis. The band was sitting in the bar of their hotel when the tour manager told Ian that someone had stolen the $10,000 take from the show while he was sitting in the bar. Ian immediately demanded that all the doors to the hotel be locked and went around shouting, "My dad was a cop. I'll handle this!" Anyway, there was an altercation with hotel management, Ian and a couple of other people were arrested, and they spent the night in the slammer. 'Cleveland Rocks' was originally called 'England Rocks,' and has earned Ian the keys to the City of Cleveland twice. It is also sung at Cleveland Browns' games. Ian himself has not been inducted into the Cleveland-based Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, but his piano has - it is on show there. 'Ships' is Ian's first song about his dad, with whom, as you say, he had a difficult relationship. It was covered by Barry Manilow. Other songs about his dad are '23A Swan Hill,' from 'The Artful Dodger' album, which also features the spectacular 'Michael Picasso' song about the death of Mick Ronson, and 'No Hard Feelings,' from 'Defiance Part 1.' He also wrote about his mother in the fierce 'Shallow Crystals,' from the 'Overnight Angels' album, commenting, "My mum was always trying to keep things on an even keel, but the keel was never even.' 'The Outsider,' which is one of my favorite Ian Hunter tracks too (there again, my Top Tens, like yours, tend to stretch to about 150 tunes), was written during 'The Secret Sessions' with Corky Laing of Mountain. It's an outlaw song, and Mountain, of course, wrote the wonderful 'Theme from an Imaginary Western.' Oh, and while Ian was hired to join Mott as a keyboards player, until then he had been a bass player for the Freddy Fingers Lee rockabilly band, most recently playing 7 hours a day in Hamburg, thus 'Bed of Roses,' about the Star Club in Hamburg, on the 'Defiance Part 1' album. If you type " Freddy Fingers Lee Ian Hunter Hamburg" into UA-cam, there he will be, being very energetic, without his shades, on bass. Great show! Thanks, Glen.
The Ballad Of Mott, Irene Wild and 2000 Miles are my favourite songs of his.
👍👍
Hi Glen, Mott The Hopple played the Bournemouth Winter Gardens in the UK in 73, and a up and coming band called Queen supported them on that tour, what a great concert. "Drivin Sister" and "Rock and Roll Queen" great songs.
Excellent idea for a series...and to think Ian and Mick Ronson played at a small club here in Trenton in the early 80's... Love his first album and need to get more for sure.
Wow..that is crazy..
Lots of guitars and Mick Ronson, what could go wrong 👍🕺
Nothing!!!
He's a great talent .
Absolutely
Hi Glen!!! this is a cool new series and great artist to start..... you really have a great Ian Hunter collection, he's an artist i'm not very familiar with, just know some of his work with Mott and solo work, now i have a lot of homework to do. cheers and be well
Some great music to look forward to..
I could tell Ian Hunter was already an accomplished musician when I saw Mott the Hoople quite a few times in 1969/70. The first time was in the basement of a club called the Speakeasy in London. A very sweaty night, his singing and stage presence was memorable. At that time they played amazing versions of You Really Got Me and Keep a Knockin, even more raunchy than the originals. Then the Roundhouse and the Lyceum. Also I got to know some of the bands fans, they had a big following, even before their first album was released 😊
Interesting idea for a series. I have to admit that Ian Hunter is a big blank spot in my musical knowledge.
Have you heard about the new Billy Strings Live album? A mix of 10 songs from 23 and 24 (resulting in roughly 100 minutes), sounds really good.
I need to get Defiance Pt 2, the first was awesome!
A band of mine used to do (40+ years ago:) “Life After Death” from the album you were holding up - side 2, opener? It’s been a long time-
Love that song. I did lose track of Ian’s discography and would love to get caught up on it. 😊
I got back into him at the start of the year..
Hunter was born in Oswestry in Shropshire I think which is West of London near Wales.
He did not form Mott The Hoople but became the front man and main writer.
He was quite old for a Rock Star when they made it.
Yeah..he was brought into the band as a keyboardist
Was thinking about this and couldn't help thinking that we were the young dude's when this song came out, now we be all the old dudes 😂
It ain’t gettin’ any better..
I do know that he was born in the same town as me and I used to go to school and remain friends with his daughter.
That is very cool..did you ever meet Ian?
@@GlenKellawayfromthebasementFunnily enough, I haven’t as yet. Tracy lived with her mum two streets away, at that time Ian lived in the ‘States.
In the early 70s, me being in my late teens, early 20s, I had biases music wise. One was against glam rock of which I associated Mott the Hoople with. I didn't even get into Bowie until post glam. I have a Mott comp is all.
I had a few biases as well..
Mott the Hoope was very much not a glam band originally, as you can tell from their first eponymous album and their excellent fourth one, 'Brain Capers.' Even the 'All the Young Dudes' album is basically heavy rock, but Bowie wanted to give it a lighter touch so its sound would be more radio-friendly. 'Jerkin' Crocus,' 'Sucker' and 'One of the Boys' are all heavy rockers at heart.
So, Mott was a heavy rocker band with a wild following, and spectacular live, although the audience tended to trash every venue they appeared in. It was also fundamentally an albums band that couldn't capture their live sound and excitement.
The third album, 'Wildlife,' was meant to be a live album to get over this problem, but the audience stormed the stage at the Fairfields Hall, Croydon, where they were taping it, smashed all the recording equipment and destroyed all the tapes, apart from the 15-minute medley which is still on the album.
But in the Bowie era, they did wear those clothes and Ian affected a rather effete Bowie-style accent, if you see the clip on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test.' But, apparently, his accent does move around a bit. An interviewer observed, back in the day, that his accent would start out London and then switch over to Shrewsbury when he relaxed after about 20 minutes.
David Bowie offered Mott The Hoople two songs. They chose All The Young Dudes. The other song Bowie decided to record for himself. That song was Suffragette City.
Interesting..thank you
I would have turned down Suffragette City too. It’s the weakest song on Ziggy
And I’d read that Bowie offered, a little later, Drive In Saturday- but that Bowie (maybe a little coked or Ziggy was taking over) was rude at the meeting to Ian-
And that Ian responded by writing these lines in “Hymn for the dudes” -
“if you think you are a star, and people come from near and far…
Don’t forget now, just who you are: you ain’t the nazz,
you’re just a buzz-
some kind of temporary” 😮
Some great albums there, Glen.
I agree, 'All of the Good Ones are Taken,' is not a great album - excellent title track but the rest isn't. I'm not so keen on 'Short Back N Sides' either - horrible production from Mike Jones of the Clash. Ian Hunter re-released it as 'Long Odds & Out-takes,' where, I would guess had more of a Mick Ronson hand in the production - much better but it is missing 'Central Park & West.' However, it does have an excellent version of 'Rain' (quintessential Britain) and a great rocker called 'Venus in a Bathtub.'
I fully endorse the extended version of 'You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic' and the 'Once Bitten Twice Shy' comp, which has quite a few overlaps with it. The comp also has a very rare Ian Hunter duet, with Genya Raven on 'Junkman,' which I think was a lot more successful than his duet with Lucinda Williams on 'What would I do without you?' from his recent 'Defiance Part 2' album.
As for 'You are Never Alone,' I thought 'Just Another Night' was just another rocker, albeit a fine one, but it is actually the story of what happened after a gig in Indianapolis. The band was sitting in the bar of their hotel when the tour manager told Ian that someone had stolen the $10,000 take from the show while he was sitting in the bar. Ian immediately demanded that all the doors to the hotel be locked and went around shouting, "My dad was a cop. I'll handle this!" Anyway, there was an altercation with hotel management, Ian and a couple of other people were arrested, and they spent the night in the slammer.
'Cleveland Rocks' was originally called 'England Rocks,' and has earned Ian the keys to the City of Cleveland twice. It is also sung at Cleveland Browns' games. Ian himself has not been inducted into the Cleveland-based Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, but his piano has - it is on show there.
'Ships' is Ian's first song about his dad, with whom, as you say, he had a difficult relationship. It was covered by Barry Manilow. Other songs about his dad are '23A Swan Hill,' from 'The Artful Dodger' album, which also features the spectacular 'Michael Picasso' song about the death of Mick Ronson, and 'No Hard Feelings,' from 'Defiance Part 1.' He also wrote about his mother in the fierce 'Shallow Crystals,' from the 'Overnight Angels' album, commenting, "My mum was always trying to keep things on an even keel, but the keel was never even.'
'The Outsider,' which is one of my favorite Ian Hunter tracks too (there again, my Top Tens, like yours, tend to stretch to about 150 tunes), was written during 'The Secret Sessions' with Corky Laing of Mountain. It's an outlaw song, and Mountain, of course, wrote the wonderful 'Theme from an Imaginary Western.'
Oh, and while Ian was hired to join Mott as a keyboards player, until then he had been a bass player for the Freddy Fingers Lee rockabilly band, most recently playing 7 hours a day in Hamburg, thus 'Bed of Roses,' about the Star Club in Hamburg, on the 'Defiance Part 1' album. If you type " Freddy Fingers Lee Ian Hunter Hamburg" into UA-cam, there he will be, being very energetic, without his shades, on bass.
Great show! Thanks, Glen.
Thanks Tim..love the detail and history lesson!!!👍❤glen
I know he was born at a very early age.
lol…