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Mott the Hoople, April 9th
Orpheum Theater
MOTT THE HOOPLE
ORPHEUM THEATER,
Boston, Massachusetts
Tuesday April 9, 2019 7:30 pm
Mott The Hoople ’74 is Ian Hunter (vocals and guitar), Ariel Bender (guitar)
and Morgan Fisher (keyboards) joined by James Mastro (guitar, saxophone,
mandolin), Steve Holley (drums, backing vocals), Mark Bosch (guitar), Paul Page
(bass) and Dennis Dibrizzi (keyboards, backing vocals).
The
most exciting concert on the books at this moment in time! Check out this YouTube preview from John
Beaudin and
Rockhistorymusic.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qIYjVRgSIw
WHY MOTT MATTERS
Preview/Report by Joe Viglione
Three years before the release of the All
The Young Dudes album on Columbia records there were four albums on Island in
the U.K. and Atlantic in the United States worthy of your attention. Those 4 Atlantic discs were a delight to this
teenager back in the late sixties early 1970’s, especially the songs “The Moon
Upstairs,” “Death Will Be Your Santa Claus,” “The Journey,” “Rock and Roll
Queen,” and covers of “You Really Got Me” and Sonny Bono’s “Laugh at Me.”
Those early Mott the Hoople music, three
albums produced by Guy Stevens, one by Mott, and the compilation Rock and Roll
Queen, contain key recordings that have staying power and should be
remembered. They broke new ground in the
era of underground music from Iggy and the Stooges (debut album The Stooges,
1969,) the Velvet Underground (third album, 1969,) and Mott The Hoople (1969,)
three albums (two debuts!,) released in 1969 and all eponymous, using the bands’
own names!!in the same year!!
That
David Bowie would bring the Hoople and elements of the Velvet Underground
together for the All The Young Dudes album three years later was elementary, it
was the U.S. underground meeting the British underground, and it was powerful
stuff. Powerful stuff with the
self-titled Roxy Music album also emerging in 1972 – three years after the holy
trio, and simultaneous with Mott the Hoople’s re-emergence and success with
Dudes.
_________________________________________
Listen to the power surge on Ian Hunter’s
rendition of “Laugh at Me” from genius Sonny Bono.
Sonny Bono https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2C9sjzTktM
Laugh At Me
Mott the Hoople with Ian Hunter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zlWFxfu0tg
On “Laugh at Me” Mott the Hoople sound like a
cross between “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan with Al Kooper’s surging
keyboard smashing into Procol Harum! *(Note: Island Record producers Guy Stevens and Jimmy Miller were
pushing for “A Whiter Shade of Pale” to be on Island, Miller telling this
writer that Chris Blackwell noted “this could be a spectacular hit or a huge
flop.” (paraphrased!) Well it
was the former and this incredible arrangement and performance of Sonny Bono by
Mott deserved to be a smash around the world.
Pure rock! Mayhem and majesty.
One of my first reviews for
AllMusic.com in 2000 was for the compilation Rock and Roll Queen. Well the
computer ate it and a great writer, Dave Thompson, got the honors. Read his
review here: https://www.allmusic.com/album/rock-roll-queen-mw0000313991
What I’m doing now is my idea
for what could have been the “best of” the Island years for Mott, and there’s
so much great music to choose from.
Take Mad Shadows and a superb
vocal on a superb ballad, “I Can Feel.”
Folk meets gospel, not what one would expect from Mott the Hoople, but
that’s exactly what one should expect.
The unexpected. Guy Stevens read
the book Mott the Hoople and named the band after it. Michael Leigh’s The Velvet Underground
S&M non-classic became a classic because a rock band named themselves after
it. That parallels continue to perpetuate the evolving myth of this very precious
time in rock and roll, a period we will not see again unless space
aliens/dimensional travelers or supercomputers give birth to the replication of
these miraculous rock moments.
“Waterlow” from 1971’s Wildlife
sounds like a classic Andrew Loog Oldham production (it’s not!) and is just
stunningly beautiful.
Brain Capers, the fourth album,
is a masterpiece. A rock and roll
classic that demands more servings on classic rock radio. When Ian Hunter and the Rant bands go into
Mott material with Ariel Bender (Luther Grosvenor) and Morgan Fisher it puts an emphasis on how masterful this
music was, and still is, and its influence on David Bowie and so many others.
THE MOON UPSTAIRS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ_NJF27bw4 MottTheHoople.com
So, in the success of Columbia
Records All the Young Dudes album, here’s what Atlantic released as a “best of”
:
1.
"Rock and Roll Queen" (Mick Ralphs) – 5:06
·
From Mott the Hoople's first album Mott the Hoople (1969
UK, 1970 North America).
2.
"The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception" (Ian
Hunter, Guy Stevens) – 0:26
·
Edited version, from Mott the Hoople's fourth album Brain
Capers (1971 UK, 1972 North America).
3.
"You Really Got Me"
(Ray Davies) – 2:53
·
From Mott the Hoople. Instrumental.
4.
"Thunderbuck Ram" (Mick Ralphs) – 4:48
·
From Mott the Hoople's second album Mad Shadows (1970).
Vocals by Mick Ralphs.
5.
"Walkin' With a Mountain" (Ian Hunter) – 3:53
·
From Mad Shadows.
6.
"Death May Be Your Santa Claus" (Ian Hunter, Verden Allen) – 4:54
·
From Brain Capers.
7.
"Midnight Lady" (Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs) – 3:28
·
Non-LP single recorded during the Brain Capers sessions,
and released in 1972.
8.
"Keep A Knockin'" (Richard Penniman) – 10:06
Here is Joe Vig’s idea for Rock
and Roll Queen
1)Rock and roll Queen
2)The Wheel of the Quivering
Meat Conception
3)Ohio
4)You Really Got Me
5)I Can Feel
6)Thunderbuck Ram
7)Walkin’ With a Mountain
8)Waterlow
9Lay Down (Melanie)
10)Death May Be Your Santa
Claus
11)Darkness Darkness
12)Sweet Angeline
13)The Moon Upstairs
14)Wheel of the Quivering Meat
Conception (Reprise)
---oh – what the heck, make it
a double album and add “Midnight Lady,” “Keep A Knockin’” and maybe a couple of
extra live tracks.
All things being equal, with hindsight being 20/20, and lots of other clichés, the music of Mott the Hoople is no cliché. And here’s my re-write of the Rock and Roll Queen album that a computer (WebTV, actually) ate 19 years ago. Now go see Mott the Hoople on April 9th at the Orpheum Theater in Boston.
And dare I say that Paul McCartney’s Wild
Life came out in 1971 when Mott the Hoople’s Wildlife came out…
Pertinent Link
https://www.discogs.com/artist/227476-Mott-The-Hoople
Would love to hear Ian Hunter sing this one:
Wild Life
Paul McCartney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVBmogGl5xc
8 pm on http://activatemedia.org
arts & entertainment
oe Perry 2001 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee with band Aerosmith talks with Joe Viglione this Friday night on www.activatemedia.org
Perry who's celebrating his forty nineth year in the music business
with fellow members of Aerosmith, and also his other bands he goes out
with The Joe Perry Project and the Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper
and Johnny Depp, will talk about his days of glory with Aerosmith, his
current projects with his other two bands plus what his current plans
include for his upcoming musical future. For more information and up to
the minute tour dates and more go to the official Joe Perry website
below:www.joeperry.comJoe Perry of Aerosmith & Steve Holly of Wings on Non Visual RAdi
Friday Night From 8-9 p.m. on www.activatemedia.org
Aerosmith's Official Twitter
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