When you don’t know what it is you can’t give it a title
My 50-odd year-old thing for Ian Hunter...
Steve writes: This is a post by my friend Phil. He’s a bit of a regular here. When we got talking about our teenage crush on Mott the Hoople, I suggested that Phil write this piece. We both loved Mott back in the day, and I knew and loved Ian Hunter’s early solo work. But I constantly move on – that’s my music thing – and so I lost touch a bit with Hunter’s life and work. He’s astonishing, though. He’s 85 years old and still playing and recording. Phil has been there all the way, so I’ll let him take up the story, because he’s totally the right person to tell it…
When you don’t know what it is, you can’t give it a title
By Philip Lee
So here’s the thing. You don’t actually know that it has happened, is actually happening or is about to happen…
I don’t actually know when it fully happened to me. I know now that it did because Steve told me it had been happening to me for years. And, to be honest, I didn’t really think about it much as I thought it was normal (I still do).
When I think about it, I can recall when it all started. It was 1973. I was 14. I know it was a Thursday evening because it was always Thursday evening on BBC1. Top of the Pops. They came on, this group of the coolest looking people I had ever seen. The singer, Ian Hunter, had long curly hair and was wearing sunglasses indoors (does it get any cooler in 1973?) and Pete ‘Overend’ Watts, the bass player, wore thigh length high heel boots and had silver hair.
I had heard the song on the radio, I may have read about them in the New Musical Express or Sounds or some other borrowed paper or magazine but this was the first time I had seen them. This was Mott the Hoople playing their song, Roll Away the Stone. And they had a group of female backing singers who called themselves The Thunderthighs (they sang ‘sha la la la push push’). It was just absolutely bloody fantastic. And NOW I know I was hooked.
Until that moment the music I listened to had been mostly dictated by my sister, who is two years older than me, and her friends who all seemed to me to be the ultimate in cool and sophistication. She owned the records in our house at the time and I was forbidden to play them unless she was there (sorry Fiona, every time you went out I snuck in and played them). Don’t get me wrong, I still love listening to Rod and T.Rex but I’d just discovered my own thing. I bought the single, my first ever record, and remember playing it over and over again.
Years later my sister came with me to see Ian Hunter. When the band started to play Roll Away The Stone she instantly recognised it as the song I played over and over and over…
That was the way back then. You heard music on the radio or Top of the Pops but had no control over what you listened to. So we had to save our pocket money, wages from paper rounds or Saturday jobs to get control of the music we wanted to hear. Swapping records with friends was also quite a thing then as well. Then you played them repeatedly and you got to know every word, nuance, and frequently, where the scratch was that made the needle skip.
Then, of course, Mott the Hoople were the first band I went to see playing live. It was at the Newcastle City Hall. It was still 1973. The support band was called Queen, who turned out ok I guess. They did Hey Big Spender as an encore! Well we soon got to know Freddie’s style didn’t we?
But I was there to see the mighty Hoople. And I wasn’t disappointed. That whole evening will stay in my memory for ever: the smoke laden atmosphere; the crowd chanting “Hoople Hoople Hoople”; the house lights dimming; the figures walking on stage in the dark; the crowd cheering; the thunderous first chord; the bass that made your chest vibrate; the spotlights picking out the guy with curly hair and sunglasses and then 90 minutes of absolute joy!
Not long after I managed to persuade my Mum to buy me the Mott the Hoople album entitled Mott and then for a Christmas present I got their follow up album, The Hoople. I still own those two original albums 50 years on and still play them. And, yes, I can sing along with every single word on every song.
I also bought a book by Ian Hunter entitled Diary of a Rock n Roll Star detailing Mott’s tour of the States in '72. That absolutely sealed the deal. It’s still regarded as one of the best books about rock music, and I read it every couple of years for some beautiful nostalgia.
So I think I can now recognise this “thing” that happened. But I still don’t know what to call it. Is it fandom, love, appreciation, hero worship, jealousy, escapism? Is it some internal vibration created by the sound waves that resonate inside me and others like me? Or is it a distant bromance with a guy with long curly hair who wears sunglasses indoors? I honestly don’t know, but perhaps because I’ve chosen those descriptors maybe it’s all of them.
It wasn’t long after The Hoople album that Mott broke up and went their separate ways. Fortunately for me Ian went on to form a partnership with Mick Ronson, AKA the “Spider with the platinum hair”. Their collaboration led to a fabulous album of Ian Hunter penned songs which they played, produced and arranged together.
You may not have come across the album – though it reached number 21 – but I bet lots of you are very familiar with the opening track, Once Bitten Twice Shy. The opening, a beautiful, rocky, repetitive guitar riff is interrupted only by Ian with one word before the singing starts. With that one word I’d like to think he was telling us, “Hey guys, Mott may be over but I’m here and I’m still writing some fucking great tunes”. But he doesn’t say that. He just says “Allo”. Make of it what you will. I know what I think.
There have been so many great albums since then. Ian is a prolific writer and to my mind much underappreciated. An album that I want you to know about is the one with the best title. Mick Ronson read some graffiti on a toilet wall and after much discussion, Ian won the argument as to who should use it as an album title. You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic surely has to rate as a great one!
It was also a great album, made amazing by the playing on the record by members of Springsteen’s E Street Band. I don’t think there is a bad song on it, so it’s hard to pick just one. I’ll give you Just Another Night, a lovely, piano-rich rocker. I could have happily chosen any of the other eight tracks but this opening song sets the standard for the whole record.
The original release was in 1979 on a single disc containing nine tracks. Then in 2009, to celebrate 30 years, a special double album was released with bonus tracks added to disc 1 and live recordings from the tour that supported the original release on disc 2. I don’t think you would be disappointed by either version but the 30th year anniversary album has that great additional selection of Mott and Ian songs to savour.
Many albums, tours and music have followed and I’ve had some fantastic times seeing Ian Hunter and the Rant Band at numerous venues around the country over the years. It is so obvious that he loves playing to audiences and equally obvious that time and effort has been spent rehearsing and reshaping songs so the shows feel energetic and fresh every time.
Now, in his 80s, and still working, he has released two new albums. During and after lockdown Ian created these magnificent albums, Defiance pt 1 and Defiance pt 2, which are just so good. But don’t take my word for it. Take the word of the artists who collaborated on the albums with him. Here’s a sample of the musicians who played on the albums with him:
Jeff Beck, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen from Def Leppard; Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top; Johnny Depp, Slash & Duff McKagen, Guns and Roses; Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters; Brian May, from a little band called Queen and Morgan Fisher, from, well, Mott the Hoople…
This isn’t an exhaustive list of the people who rate Ian’s music so highly they’ll work with him and put their names on his albums. I’d particularly single out Joe Elliott who, when he has a day off from Def Leppard, leads the Down n Outz who supported the Mott reunion gigs in 2009 and who play fantastic covers of Mott and Ian Hunter tunes. In fact, Ian himself reckons Joe knows more about Mott than he does.
So I’m not alone. Me and Joe are a similar vintage, so I know I’m not the only one who got caught by this ‘thing’. As I said earlier, I didn’t know I was going to get it. I know it started in 1973 but I don’t remember know at what point it became terminal.
It was many years after 1973 that Steve pointed out that I had this thing with Mott. He is always much more likely to listen to new music and regularly points me in the direction of some bands that he has come across. I do listen to lots of other stuff and have done over the years and I appreciate his guidance on new music.
But I’ve been with Mott since the early years and I’ve been with Ian all the way through his solo career. I’ve seen him play dozens of times, though I’ve met him just once; he was charming and thanked me for being loyal to his music. And he was still wearing sunglasses, indoors at 11:30 in the evening, so I’ll follow him forever. Because it’s my ‘thing’ and I love it. And now it’s so much my ‘thing’ that I even play a Mott song, I Wish I Was Your Mother, when I do the local buskers night in Monkseaton Metro Station’s Left Luggage Room!
Note from Steve: I’ve included this version ‘cos we were there together at the Astoria during Mott the Hoople’s run of reunion gigs in 2004.
Phil’s Mott and Ian Hunter playlist
This playlist could or would be much longer but the editor has intervened (thanks a lot, Steve!).
1. Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes
I realise this is the first time in this piece that I’ve mentioned All the Young Dudes. I suppose it’s because most people will already know the song. I do love it but there is just so much more to Mott and Ian than this one Bowie penned song.
2. Mott the Hoople: Sweet Jane
I know it’s a Velvet Underground song but Mott’s version is so much better. My friend Andy N doesn’t agree but he’s quite simply wrong…1
3. Mott the Hoople: Crash Street Kids
From the Hoople album. Not typical MTH stuff, it’s a heavy piece and perhaps serves as a reminder that Punk Rock was just around the corner.
4. Ian Hunter: Overnight Angels from the album, Overnight Angels
Because I remember playing air guitar to this one.
5. Ian Hunter: Resurrection Mary
From the Artful Dodger album. I’ve always loved Ian’s way with lyrics and I like the feel of this one as the scales fall from his eyes.
6. Ian Hunter and Lucinda Williams: What Would I Do Without You
From Defiance pt 2 and demonstrating Ian’s great song writing and his generosity allowing other artists to shine like Lucinda does here.
The Velvet Underground’s version of Sweet Jane - so you can decide if you agree with Phil or Andy… see above: