hunter-mott.com
Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople LP/CD: "Greatest Hits"

Sleeve and track listing

Sony/Columbia CD32007 (UK); Columbia/Legacy CK61575 (US). (3 stars!)

  1. All the Way From Memphis
  2. Honaloochie Boogie
  3. Hymn For The Dudes
  4. Born Late 58
  5. All the Young Dudes
  6. Roll Away the Stone
  7. Ballad of Mott
  8. Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll
  9. Foxy Foxy
  10. Saturday Gigs
  11. Sweet Jane1
  12. One Of The Boys1

1Bonus track on the US CD.

Sleeve variations

Original vinyl

Original (UK) CD

Review

This album came out in mid-1976, presumably an attempt by CBS to cash in on Mott's name after there break-up. The track selection is quite good, being the singles and a few album tracks, and for once we get the single version of Roll Away The Stone (almost every compilation since has used the album version).

The sound quality of the original vinyl was variable, however. I think this must be the only vinyl in my collection suffering from print-through, suggesting this album was compiled from poor-quality masters. The original (UK) CD was better, although sound quality was a notch down on what it could be. The US CD offers much better sound quality, and includes Sweet Jane and One Of The Boys, both of which were singles in the US (although not in the UK).

The original vinyl came with good sleeve notes. The UK CD was woefully lacking in this regard; thankfully, the US CD also comes with excellent sleeve notes, written by Ben Edmonds (of Creem magazine, if my memory serves...).

Comments

The quality of the US CD sleeve is much better than the UK CD, although the cartoon images at the bottom and right hand side have been cropped. The original (UK) vinyl had the band name in gold lettering, as does the US CD - this became white lettering for the UK CD. The vinyl also had the tracks listed on the front - this has been removed for both the UK and US CDs.

Technical

Original (UK) CD

Reissued (US) CD

Comments

Analysis of both CDs shows little evidence of compression. Sound levels have, however, been boosted by some 3db to maximise the dynamic range available on CD and double overall perceived loudness.