by Mott the Dog
***** 5 Stars Rating
With seven days to record their debut album,
producer/mentor Guy Stevens deemed a song a day to keep up with his idea
of a schedule. The flaw to this, of course, was that the band didn’t
have any of their own songs to record, so they just jammed on songs they
knew. All five members of the band were huge fans of Ray Davies and the
Kinks. Their first number one single was “You Really Got Me” (a song
often credited as giving heavy metal its guitar sound). So after a brief
run through the tapes were switched on to lay a backing track down. The
original take was frenzied nonsense some ten minutes long getting faster
and faster until total chaos prevailed. If you think the Van Helen version
of this from their debut album was heavy, have a listen to this little
baby; it clearly takes the top of your head off. When vocals were
attempted Guy Stevens and equally mad studio engineer Andy John’s deemed
them totally unnecessary, chopped off the final 6 minutes of the studio
jam and used this as a stunning instrumental opening track for Mott the
Hoople’s debut opus.
Next day, day two, and they needed track two. After
much debate Doug Sahm’s “At The Crossroads” was chosen because it
had a cool title, had never been released in England, was a great song,
but mostly because the band were afraid of what Guy Stevens would do if
they didn’t come up with something by the end of the day. Surprisingly
the result was remarkable, very vibrant with the boys leaving the
indelible Mott the Hoople stamp on it.
Day three saw track three, a song Ian Hunter sung at
his first audition with the band, Sonny Bono’s “Laugh at Me”, done
much slower than the original. From the tone of Ian Hunter’s voice you
can tell that when he sings “I don’t care if you laugh at me” this
is a line he really means.
Day four and track four was needed. By this time,
obviously, the boys were full of confidence and Ian Hunter came up with an
original song called “If The World Saluted You”. It was really very
much in Bob Dylan vein, being a thinly disguised re-write of “The times
they are a-changing”. However, with the new title “Back Sliding
Fearlessly”, it gave you the sound of the band and Hunter’s lyrical
imagery blending beautifully.
That evening Stevens took Mick Ralphs aside and told
him that as lead guitarist with the band he should go home and write a
guitar driven Rock ‘n’ Roll anthem to record for day 5.
I’m not making this up. The very next day Ralphs
walked into the studio and taught the rest his new song “Rock ‘n’
Roll Queen”, which was played at every Mott the Hoople concert over the
next five years. (Anybody who has ever heard this song blasted out at
Tahitian Queen’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Happy Hour on Friday will verify this
is an all time riff laden classic).
Day six and seven were taken up with Mott the
Hoople’s first epic, opening with Ralphs lead guitar jam “Rabbit,
Foot, and Toby Time” and leading into “Half Moon Bay”, which laid
down the template for the Mott the Hoople sound; Hunter’s rasping
vocals; Ralphs soaring guitar, Allen’s atmospheric organ; and the rock
solid rhythm section of Watts and Buffin.
The album closes with “Wrath and Roll”. The final
two minutes of “You Really Got Me” jam, bringing the album to a
frantic conclusion.
For a debut album, “Mott the Hoople” ranks amongst
the best, extraordinary, considering it was recorded under such
circumstances. Sounding as fresh now as it did thirty three years ago.
Musicians
Ian Hunter - piano, lead vocals
Mick Ralphs - lead guitar, vocals
Verden Allen - organ
Overend Watts - bass guitar
Buffin - drums
Track Listing
1. You Really Got Me
2. At The Crossroads
3. Laugh At Me
4. Backsliding Fearlessly
5. Rock And Roll Queen
6. Rabbit Foot And Toby Time
7. Half Moon Bay
8. Wrath And Wroll
To contact Mott the Dog email: [email protected]
This book proclaims itself to be History, Humour, and
Hell-raising from the Hash House Harriers. Published this year (ISBN
0-957-83321-0) by Captions of Industry in Australia, Hare of the Dog was
written by Stu ‘The Colonel’ Lloyd, author of the “Hardship
Posting” series of non-heavyweight books.
I’m not a particular lover of musicals but I chose
this movie because it looked a little different from the ‘norm’.
Mott’s CD review: