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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

British Lions CD: "Live at The Old Waldorf, San Francisco 1978"

Sleeve and track listing

Angel Air SJPCD328. (4 stars!)

  1. One More Chance To Run (3:29)1
  2. Fork Talkin' Man (4:47)1
  3. Break This Fool (5:18)1
  4. Come On (3:18)1
  5. International Heroes (5:26)1
  6. My Life In Your Hands (5:33)1
  7. Love Now (8:00)1
  8. Wild In The Streets (3:56)1
  9. Booster (6:06)1
  10. So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star/It's Only Rock 'n' Roll/Pretty Vacant (8:06)1
  11. Eat The Rich (4:57)1
  12. One More Chance To Run (demo) (4:02)
  13. Wild In The Streets (demo) (2:52)
  14. Booster (demo) (4:20)

Running time: 70m 16s

1 recorded Old Waldorf, San Francisco CA 1st/2nd September 1978

Review

Ah, the British Lions. Formed from the ashes of MOTT and Medicine Head they should have been huge. But this was the late 70's, when punk was all the rage and hard rock bands couldn't get a look in. Their first album (British Lions) was competent enough, and the band soon hit the road in the UK and USA, supporting the likes of Status Quo, AC/DC, Blue Oyster Cult and UFO.

This show was recorded (for radio broadcast) towards the end of their USA jaunt and shows just what a good, hard-rocking band they were. As if to underline the fact this is a new band, the old songs have been discarded (save for Love Now - Overend refers to that band as The Concrete Parachute!)), but they play like the seasoned pros that they are. A healthy mix of self-penned material (One More Chance To Run, Booster, etc) rub shoulders with covers (Berry's Come On, the Stones' It's Only Rock 'n' Roll etc), allowing the band to acknowledge their musical roots. The whole fits together perfectly. From the opening bars of One More Chance To Run the pace doesn't let up for an hour. Be in no doubt - this is good stuff.

Sound quality is excellent, and the balance between the instruments is very good. The guitars, although high in the mix never dominate - Morgan Fisher acknowledges this in the sleeve-notes where he says you can even hear his keyboards. It's good to hear a professional recording of this great band in such good quality (even if it was only intended for radio broadcast).

Sleeve notes (written by Jeff Perkins - no relation) are (as always) good and include informative comments from John Fiddler and Morgan Fisher. I'm always a fan of live albums, and I especially like this one. I suspect I'll be playing it rather a lot. Yes, it's that good.