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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople/Ian Hunter CD: "The Golden Age 1969-1997"

Sleeve and track listing

Raven Records RVCD-295 (5 stars!)

  1. Rock And Roll Queen
  2. Walkin' With a Mountain
  3. Death May Be Your Santa Claus
  4. All The Young Dudes
  5. One of the Boys
  6. Honaloochie Boogie
  7. All The Way From Memphis
  8. Ballad of Mott The Hoople
  9. Roll Away The Stone
  10. The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll
  11. Saturday Gigs
  12. Once Bitten Twice Shy
  13. You Nearly Did Me In
  14. Just Another Night
  15. Cleveland Rocks
  16. Central Park 'n' West
  17. The Loner
  18. Michael Picasso

Review

Another year, another compilation. It seems we get about one a year now. Surely the definitive "best of" has been released already? But hang on - this one's a bit different. Here, on just a single CD, is a "best of" not just of Mott The Hoople but solo Ian Hunter as well. And that makes this disc worthy of consideration.

We get three choice Island-era tracks, followed by the CBS-era hits. There's the US single version of One Of The Boys, and the UK single versions of All The Way From Memphis and Roll Away The Stone. The people behind this compilation clearly knew what they were doing.

Add to that choice Ian Hunter cuts like Once Bitten Twice Shy, Cleveland Rocks and Just Another Night and you've got one tasty compilation to tempt the casual fan. The sleeve notes are decent as well.

OK, so this disc "only" goes up to 1997 and so omits Ian's more recent work (Rant and Shrunken Heads), but the ballad of Ian Hunter is still being written and the compilers had to stop somewhere. For the casual fan, I can think of no better place to start.