When Mott The Hoople finally disintegrated in 1974 the rhythm section of Overand Watts and Dale Griffin, together with Morgan Fisher on keyboards, dusted themselves down, abbreviated the name and soldiered on with two new recruits taking the place of Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. With the original band recently confirming two London gigs to mark their 40th anniversary 2009 looks set to be a bumper year for Mott The Hoople fans and this live release marks the first of several that are planned from specialist archive label Angel Air.
This album draws from club shows in the UK in Aylesbury and Leeds and more substantial venues in the US (LA Forum and Cleveland Agora) where the band still drew a significant following. As we have come to expect from Angel Air attention to detail is of considerable importance and here we have comprehensive sleeve notes from Griffin together with rare photographs and sound quality is more than acceptable given the age of the recordings. Inevitably the album suffers from the absence of Hunter; Nigel Benjamin does a fair facsimile on 'All The Way From Memphis' and 'Sweet Jane' but is less convincing on an unlikely cover of the Doors 'Love Me Two Times'. For the most part this release concentrates on material from the post-Hunter era which was primarily written by Watts and there is less of the bar room swagger of the bands heyday and more straight forward hard rock on the likes of 'Storm'.
Anyone with only a passing interest is advised to look elsewhere but for the devoted collector this represents a welcome snapshot of a less celebrated part of the bands legacy.
Track Listing
1 Storm
2 Great White Wail
3 Collision Course
4 Hold On You're Crazy
5 She Does It
6 Career
7 By Tonight
8 Love Me Two Times
9 I Don't Wanna Discuss It/All The Way From Memphis
10 Born Late 58
11 Love Now
12 Rock 'n' Roll Queen/It Takes One To Know One/Sweet Jane
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