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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople/Ian Hunter CD: "The Journey"

Sleeve and track listing

Sony/BMG 82876 890022. (5 stars!)

Disc 1

  1. Road To Birmingham (3:29)
  2. Backsliding Fearlessly (3:45)
  3. Walking With a Mountain (3:49)
  4. Angel of Eighth Avenue (4:32)
  5. Waterlow (3:02)
  6. The Debt (4:17)
  7. One of the Boys (4:11)
  8. The Journey (9:47)
  9. The Moon Upstairs (5:02)
  10. All The Young Dudes (3:33)
  11. Momma's Little Jewel (4:26)
  12. Jerkin' Crocus (4:01)
  13. Sea Diver (2:55)
  14. Honaloochie Boogie (2:44)
  15. The Ballad of Mott The Hoople (5:25)
  16. Hymn For The Dudes (5:25)
  17. Whizz Kid (3:25)
  18. I Wish I Was Your Mother (4:50)

Disc 2

  1. All The Way From Memphis (5:05)
  2. Violence (4:51)
  3. Roll Away The Stone (3:16)
  4. The Golden Age of Rock n Roll (3:26)
  5. Marionette (5:05)
  6. Crash Street Kidds (4:31)
  7. Foxy Foxy (3:32)
  8. Saturday Gigs (4:20)
  9. Once Bitten Twice Shy (4:45)
  10. Who Do You Love? (3:52)
  11. Lounge Lizzard (4:31)
  12. 3000 Miles From Here (2:48)
  13. The Truth, The Whole Truth, Nuthin' But The Truth (6:14)
  14. It Ain't Easy When You Fall/Shades Off (5:45)
  15. Letter To Britannia From The Union Jack (3:50)
  16. Irene Wilde (3:44)
  17. You Nearly Did Me In (5:47)
  18. Justice Of The Peace (2:59)

Disc 3

  1. Cleveland Rocks (3:50)
  2. Standin' In My Light (4:35)
  3. Bastard (6:36)
  4. The Outsider (5:59)
  5. Gun Control (3:13)
  6. All Of The Good Ones Are Taken (3:43)
  7. Speechless (3:51)
  8. Ill Wind (3:23)
  9. The Loner (4:48)
  10. 23a Swan Hill (4:51)
  11. Michael Picasso (5:44)
  12. I'm In Awe (4:39)
  13. Avalanche (5:00)
  14. Morons (alternate version) (5:32)
  15. Wash Us Away (3:58)
  16. Knees of My Heart (3:37)
  17. Dead Man Walking (6:19)

Review

There have been Mott The Hoople compilations, and there have been Ian Hunter compilations. Some have been reasonable, some have been very good. Few have covered all angles (eg both the Island and CBS years, or Ian's entire solo career), and even fewer have covered both Mott and Ian. Here at last is a compilation that does just that - take tracks from (nearly) every album from the very beginning in 1969 right up to the present day (well OK, 2001 - Ian's last studio album).

It is impossible to do justice to 30 years worth of work on a single CD, even two but three CDs seems about right. It's impossible to pick out highlights - all of the tracks are good. There's also three previously-unissued tracks, just to keep the regular fans happy as well (let's face it, if there was no new stuff on here, we'd be complaining).

There's also a 36 page booklet with a good overview of Mott's and Ian's career, together with many colour photographs.

As a retrospective of Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter, I don't think it can be bettered.