745 Mott the Hoople - Mott (1973)

 745 Mott the Hoople - Mott (1973)

Studio Album - Glam Rock



About the Act:

Mott the Hoople were an English Glam Rock/Hard Rock band. They existed from 1969 to 1980 and have had some brief reunions since 2000. After three years of mediocre performance, they nearly split up, but David Bowie heard about the possibility, and being a fan, stepped in, giving them the song "All the Young Dudes" and produced the album of the same name. This song and album brought them huge success.

About the Album:

This was their sixth studio album, and their follow-up to the successful "All The Young Dudes". It did moderately well.

My History with this Album:

None, I know the opening track All The Way from Memphis

Review:

Mott the Hoople, I know a few of their hits. I did actually review another of their albums a while ago but I had forgotten it.

What I expected was typical Glam Rock, full of Pop and nonsense, not necessarily in a bad way, but my knowledge of Glam is mostly from hits in the 70s. I was pleasantly surprised.

The music is kind of medium rock, pretty decent stuff, and I would enjoy it for its own sake. This is what you might expect of 1973, but not as dated as that statement might imply. The production is strong, clear and warm. There is strong variety from slower ballads to more up-beat stonks. There is a fair piano focus, but some interesting additions, nice to hear mandolin, violin, saxophone and so on. There are some really nice instrumental sections, and I particularly liked the acoustic guitar on track 8.

My pleasant surprise was that the songs are not just footling fluff. It's actually a really thoughtful album, with songs about being in a band, success and the craziness of the Rock World, a historical song, some slightly leftfield songs about girls, and the satirical "Violence". There are occasional sound clips which tend to go down well with me. It's a balanced album, well-composed. The blend and flow of ideas is good as is the blend and flow of music, so it has a feel of more than a somewhat random collection of songs, not a concept or even a themed album, just definitely having some craft in the thinking about how a listening experience is put together.

I listened twice, I really enjoyed it. It's going on my list for getting a permanent copy.

8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3ApRy4edE6ZYi081aFpq4s

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz6cAheObZcjOgkrYwYw7ZMOXe0JI8_2Q

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mott_(album)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990)

Image
 840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990) Compilation (double) - Girl Group (Soul/Bobby Soxer/Do-Wop) About the Album: This is a highly acclaimed compilation in 2CDs by Rhino Records. It's the sort of thing that in this country you might expect to see at 3.99 in a Garden Centre. My History with this Album: None Review: There are not many multi-artist compilations in this series for reviewing. There is not information about it on Wikipedia, but the reception seems to have been positive. It is choc-full of hits with a smattering of lesser-known songs, and it's hard not to imagine Grease or similar situations - girls with cardigans and white socks, listening to the juke box while sipping milkshakes in the drug store. On one level it's a fun collection of songs that you could use to feel nostalgic, or as the music for a themed party. On another level it's kind of like a cultural artefact. I feel honour-bound to describe it, even though if I drop
Read more

944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001)

Image
 944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001) Studio Album - World Music About the Act: Manu Chao is a French-Spanish musician of Spanish descent who grew up on the outskirts of Paris. In the mid-80s he was in a Spanish/English rockabilly group called Hot Pants. In 1987, with his brother and cousin he founded the band Mano Negra, combining punk and world music influences and playing on the Paris Metro. This band took off and had 4 studio albums. In 1995 Manu "went solo", forming the band Radio Bemba Sound System to be his backing band. The punk elements were less prominent, but he started to make music that "replicates the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures". He has been really popular in parts of Europe.  About the Album: This album was Manu Chao's second studio album as a "solo" artist. In Spanish, the name means "Next Station: Hope", after a real station on the Madrid Metro. The album reached top 10 slots
Read more

591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952)

Image
 591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952) Compilation Album - Americana About the Act: Harry Smith is not the performer here, he is the collector. He was a film-maker, occultist, and eccentric. About the Album: Harry Smith had a collection of early 78rpm records of various "folk" styles dated from 1927 when such things first started to be commercially available to 1932 when the Great Depression put a stop to the sales of folk records. In 1947 he approached a label, Folkway Records, about releasing a collection of them transferred onto LPs. This they did in 1952, without seeking copyright permission, making this technically a bootleg. It was released as three double-LP boxed sets, and sold very poorly. In the first year it sold 50 copies, 47 to libraries and colleges. It was reissued later, and gained traction and sold better. It now has a reputation for being one of the most influential compilations in the history of Americana, and is cited as being a ma
Read more