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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople CD: "The Essential Mott The Hoople"

Sleeve and track listing

Columbia/Legacy 8883771462. (4.5 stars!)

Disc 1

  1. You Really Got Me (2:53)
  2. Rock and Roll Queen (5:07)
  3. Thunderbuck Ram (4:49)
  4. Walkin' With A Mountain (3:49)
  5. Whisky Women (3:39)
  6. Waterlow (3:01)
  7. The Moon Upstairs (5:02)
  8. Sweet Angeline (4:52)
  9. All The Young Dudes (3:33)
  10. Momma's Little Jewel (4:29)
  11. One Of The Boys (4:21)
  12. Ready For Love/After Lights (6:47)
  13. Sucker (5:01)
  14. Sweet Jane (4:22)
  15. Violence (4:49)
  16. I Wish I Was Your Mother (4:52)
  17. Rose (3:56)

Disc 2

  1. All The Way From Memphis (5:03)
  2. Honaloochie Boogie (2:44)
  3. Whizz Kid (3:25)
  4. Hymn For The Dudes (5:23)
  5. The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll (3:25)
  6. Rest In Peace (live) (6:10)
  7. Alice (5:18)
  8. Marionette (live) (5:03)
  9. Crash Street Kidds (4:31)
  10. Roll Away The Stone (3:10)
  11. Born Late '58 (3:59)
  12. Where Do You All Come From? (3:27)
  13. Through the Looking Glass (4:35)
  14. Foxy Foxy (3:30)
  15. (Do You Remember) The Saturday Gigs (4:21)
  16. Lounge Lizard (4:19)
  17. American Pie/The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll (live) (4:18)

Review

Mott The Hoople compilations are, it seems, two a penny. There are greatest hits, the best of, the very best of, the collection (more than one!)... the list is seemingly endless. Not all are worthy of the purchaser's cash. This one, however, is.

There are choice Island-era tracks (Mott had a life before Dudes, you know), singles, b-sides, a good selection of album tracks and even a couple of (good) live tracks. The sleeve notes (penned by Rant band member James Mastro) are, for once, good too. They even manage to get Whizz Kid right (including the 'moan' and the coda).

I could quibble about a couple of things, like the LP versions of Roll Away The Stone (US compilations always do this) and All The Way From Memphis (hence me docking half a star) but these really are only minor criticisms. As an introduction to Mott the Hoople you really can't go wrong with this.