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A band, "Silence" comprising
of Stan Tippins (vocals), Mick Ralphs (guitar), Verden Aleen (organ),
Overend Watts (bass) and Dale(Buffin)Griffin (drums) were performing
in clubs, covering songs and generally going nowhere fast. Ralphs had
had enough and went to London, stormed into the A&R office of Island
Records and demanded to be heard. Guy Stevens the A&R man was so suprised at
this that he listened to the demo. He loved the demo and signed up the band.
Stevens suggested a different vocalist-enter-Ian hunter.
Hunter was already a veteran of the music industry having played bass and
sang backing vocals on demos for other bands. After a few weeks of rehursals
the bands first album with this new line up "Mott The Hoople"
was cut with the track "Rock & roll Queen"which
got the media's attention. The bands first English concert in 1969 was at the
Abervale Youth Club and they repidly became well known for their fantastic live performances.
In 1970 they toured extensively with bands such as Free, Traffic and
Jethro Tull.
Their next album "Mad Shadows" was an
imposing piece of work and became hard to digest. Even Hunter
admits it was not one of their best. However the fans on the whole
loved it but the band needed something special to elevate them to the heights
we all know they reached. "Wildlife"
was a more gentle album containing what Ralph describes "as some nice songs".
This was indeed light relief after "Mad Shadows" but still contained
a raw track "Keep A Rockin" a 10min manic version
of the Little Richard classic. Mott The hoople were devastating on stage, fans went
wild even to the point of jumping up on stage with the band.
The "Wildlife" album did not sell well and
stretched relations with Island Records. The next album
"Brain capers" dedicated to James Dean went back
to basic rock and roll and was barley a controlled chaos. On March 26th 1972
things were about to change. The band split and Overend phoned Bowie for a job.
Bowie wanted to save the band and offered them "Suffragette City".
Hunter knew that this song was not strong enough and that the band needed
something mega for them to survive. Bowie and his manager Tony Defries
met the band and Bowie, guitar in hand played a song "All The Young Dudes".
Mott were stunned and knew straight away that this was the song
for them. They enlisted Defries as their manager and Bowie produced
their next album of the same name. Bowie taught the band how to use the
full extent of the recording studio and to maximise their talents.
At last the band had a big hit. "All The Young Dudes"
was huge around the globe. With Bowie's backing vocals,
Hunters hard voice and rap and the band camping it up, Mott had joined Glam Rock.
Bowie had written a superb song and produced a great album. Soon after Verdan
Allen left and Hunter took on the responsibility of the band. They took to the road
again touring America through 1972. Splitting from Bowie and Defries they went
into the studio in 1973 and created the wonderful
"Honaloochie Boogie"featuring Roxy music's Andy Machay on sax.
Roxy Music were using a studio next to them at the famous Air Studios
and inspired the band to manage themselves with a little help from engineer
Bill Price.
The band were thrashing out some great tracks for the new project
"Mott","Ballad of Mott The Hoople"
and"Hymn For The Dudes"were both powerful balads
and ofcourse "All The Way From Memphis"
(a huge hit single) were all on the album. This piece of work
became their first top 40 hit in the States and some say their finest.
In 1973 Ralphs left the band and formed the successful "Bad Company".
Ariel Bender the extrovert from "Stealers Wheel" stepped in and completing
the new line up, Morgan Fisher of x"Love Affair".
"The Hoople" was their next album and produced two more very strong hits,
"The Golden Age Of Rock & Roll" and
"Roll Away The Stones". Another track "Crash Street Kids"
anticipated the punk movement and Overend's
"Born Late 58", offered a sneak preview of Mott in the post Hunter era.
This album was even more popular in the States and they became the first band
to play Broadway in May 1974 at the Uris theatre, a week long engagement.
The next single"Foxy Foxy"was a salute to the Phil Spector
sound and although successful, Hunter was begining to hate the sole responsibilty
of the band. When Mick Ronson became available, Hunter snapped him up but
unfortunately Luther had to go. Now that Ronson shared the responsibility
of the band friction became apparent almost straight away.
"Saturday Gigs" was to be Mott's last single. The band split
but all members became successful either in other bands or as solo artists.
Who knows what would have happened had they remained together.
Their music lives on and there contribution to the music industry
has proved essential. You can buy all ther work on greatest hit albums
and all the music above is still available.
For more information go to the links page
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