The Ballad of Mott the Hoople

[AndyM]

BBC4 doc, chooses to emphasis the early stages of the band (takes half an hour to get to 'All the Young Dudes') so in effect a de-Glammed real-men's-Mott is advanced over the Mott that made the really great records. Still a good watch, though.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... he_Hoople/

[NormanD]

Forgot to watch this, and I'd even told my older brother about it. He used to be a lathe operator at Brown Bros Engineering, Northampton, and was mates with one Ginger Patterson, who worked a machine in the next row. They used to talk rock n roll on their breaks. And then Ginge got the hump with factory work and jacked it in to play music in a group. He left, and still owes my brother a couple of quid. So what happened to him?

[Adam Blake]

The relatively recent appearance of this on YouTube has given this 52 year old guitar teacher more pleasure than perhaps is commensurate with age and dignity (to say nothing of PC awareness....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y15iusA4ylc

[AndyM]

Great track. That "Allo" gets me every time.

[kas]

The relatively recent appearance of this on YouTube has given this 52 year old guitar teacher more pleasure than perhaps is commensurate with age and dignity (to say nothing of PC awareness....

That one! Thanks, Adam. Mott were slightly too early for me, all I remember is the Dudes song. I had a cousin who was older and hipper than me (I think we all did at some point. "The Role of Older Cousins in the Musical Education of Shy Youngsters": discuss) and he used to rave about Mott The Hoople and that "Once Bitten" track. I didn't quite get the hang of them then, but they stuck in my mind.

Once again I ache about the fact that the BBC iplayer doesn't work for us overseas folks.

[Adam Blake]

I never liked Mott until Bowie got hold of them. All those early Island records just sound period bad to me.

[AndyM]

Ah, but those albums had to be lionised to fit the revisionist agenda (and the tired old madman/genius trope via Guy Stevens).

[Adam Blake]

Guy Stevens was a brilliant, visionary DJ but not a particularly good producer. Jimmy Miller was much better.

[will vine]

All those early Island records just sound period bad to me.

Fabulous covers though-
1) the cover of their 1st L.P. - That M.C. Escher thing with all the lizards.
2) their cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet's At The Crossroads.

(the youtube link I put here don't work- look it up for yourself-it's great)

[Adam Blake]

Watched it. Very enjoyable, not least for the conscious and semi-conscious Spinal Tap references. Luther Grosvenor's "serious fun" reminded me all the way of "have a good time, all the time. That's my philosophy, Marti."

[john poole]

I eventually got around to watching this a few hours before it vanished from the i-Player ( I expect it will turn up on YouTube before long) after being assured by Andy that at least the first half would feature the "madman/genius" Guy Stevens. It's a very long time since I heard any of their Island LPs, but as I remember the problem with them, rather than the production, was a lack of worthwhile material to justify releasing four albums in a couple of years, necessitating the inclusion of tracks like an instrumental version of 'You Really Got Me' and a terrible endless live version of 'Keep a-Knockin'. They were probably best heard when odd tracks like their version of 'At the Crossroads' turned up on sampler LPs.

The interviews in the documentary were fairly amusing, but their hits when we got to them haven't aged at all well as far as I'm concerned, so an hour (as long as Squeeze, who had loads of great, memorable songs had) was more than sufficient. The DVD version which has been available for some time lasts 101 minutes according to IMDb, although rather you than me.