Mott The Hoople: The Hoople CD Track Listing

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Mott The Hoople The Hoople (1974)
Originally Released March 1974\nCD Edition Released March 20, 1990 or April 1990\nUK Sony Rewind CD Edition Released December 14, 2004\nUK Remastered + Expanded CD Edition Released March 27, 2006\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: by Stephen Thomas Erlewine \nMott was so good that the sequel, appropriately named The Hoople, has been unfairly dismissed as not living up to the group's promise. No, it doesn't compare to its predecessor, but most records don't. The bigger problem is that Mick Ralphs chose to leave during the supporting tour for Mott, leaving Ian Hunter as the undisputed leader of the group and subtly changing the character of the band's sound. Even with Hunter as the band's main songwriter, Ralphs helped shape their musical direction, so without a collaborator in hand, Hunter was left without a center. It isn't surprising that the record seems a little uneven, both in terms of songwriting and sound, but it's hardly without merit. "Roll Away the Stone," a leftover from Mott, is first-rate; "Crash Street Kidds" rocks viciously; "The Golden Age of Rock & Roll" is a pleasant spin on Bowie-esque nostalgia (think "Drive-In Saturday"); and Overend Pete Watts follows through on that theme with "Born Late '58," a perfectly credible rocker. This all makes The Hoople an entertaining listen, even if it doesn't compare to Mott's earlier masterpieces. \n \n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nMott's Best Album, March 23, 2006 \nBy K. Cooper\nAfter losing key member Mick Ralphs to Bad Company, you would think this would be a dropoff from previous efforts but just the opposite is true. Maybe they felt challenged and inspired. Maybe Ian Hunter just had a great batch of songs. \n\nThere's 4 real gems here : "The Golden Age of Rock and Roll" "Alice" "Pearl & Roy" and the closer "Roll Away the Stone". The other 5 cuts are also good but the above 4 stand above the pack. "Born Late 58" might appeal to some but I was born early 58 and can't relate to this one. \n\nMott disbanded after this. The preceding 2 Mott albums are also very good but I think they saved the best for last. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nIt's the golden age of rock'n'roll..., March 2, 2006 \nBy Keef (Gaffney, SC USA)\nOK, you could say this is a notch below "Mott." Still, that is high praise indeed, as "Mott" is one of the greatest rock'n'roll albums ever. With "The Hoople," we get more of the same, but on a slightly different wavelength. With the departure of Mick Ralphs, the guitar situation was somewhat confused, leaving more room for Ian Hunter's keyboards in the mix. That isn't to say that "The Hoople" doesn't rock - it does, and like a madman. "The Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll," "Born Late '58" (with Overend Watts on vocals), and "Crash Street Kidds" are first rate proto-punk rockers with Hunter's pounding piano adding to the wonderful noise. "Roll Away the Stone" simply soars, and the psychodrama of "Marionette" is funny and frightening. Two highlights are "Alice" and "Pearl'n'Roy (England)" - loping music hall numbers driven by Hunter's pseudo-barrelhouse piano and gutter poetry. Yeah, this may be a notch below "Mott," but that just means that "Mott" rates a 10 and "The Hoople" is a 9.9 - still sheer brilliance in my book. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\n"Hymn For The Dudes" should've been on THIS album, December 23, 2004 \nBy ByAlterationEnhances "Brent" (up nawth)\n\nYeah....well, that being said, still: "The Hoople" is a MOST worthy sequel to its predecessor, "Mott." Indeed, prior to the sessions that produced "The Hoople," the absolutely irreplaceable Mick Ralphs bailed out to form Bad Company with Paul Rodgers. And he was "replaced" by ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist, Luther Grosvenor, who, according to the unreliable liner notes to the 30th Anniversary "MTH Live," had to accept the name "Ariel Bender" as a prerequsite for the gig, and (sic) "Mick Ralphs doesn't bend ariels anymore." Oh, and the twinkily-mustachioed Morgan Fisher had also come on board to replace Organist Verden Allen (who'd quit an album previously, Ralphs having been a MOST admirable replacement on "Mott"). Although Ariel Bender was a ball of fire live, he...just...wasn't...in...Ralphs' league as a guitarist. Ian Hunter, vocalist/rhythm guitarist/pianist/and now producer, certainly must have been cognizant of that fact. The "lead guitar" solo Bender takes on "The Golden Age Of Rock And Roll" is, with the exception of Dr. Hook's "On The Cover Of Rolling Stone," probably the most abominable, simply atrocious "lead guitar" on record up to that point. That really, REALLY bugged me until I realized that producer Ian was making a not-so-subtle acknowledgement that all the (then) current "lead guitarists" - AND YEAH, I'M ESPECIALLY REFERRING TO JIMMY PAGE - were, in a word, masturbatory, real "wee-wee-diddly" stuff, as Keef Riffhard then noticed. And the more I listen to the song - whether in its original incarnation, or the "MTH Live" incarnation, or on Ian Hunter's "Welcome To The Club - I realize that Ian and Ariel were, um, "making a statement." The other "Hoople" songs? Well, "Alice" has a nice, "phased" bass guitar intro, but the song is kind of...dumb. Bassist Overend "Pete" Watts makes his compositional/vocal debut on the song "Born Late '58," giving us a glimpse into the future as to what MTH would sound like less than a year after "The Hoople" was released. But I absolutely treasure the little "give and take" sort of exchange that Ian and Lyndsey DePaul (I know I mispelt that - sorry) do toward the end of "Foxy Foxy," which is already a keeper because of Ian's Phil Spector-esque production. But then Ian and Lyndsey start babbling, "There's a rockabilly party on Saturday night/Are you gonna be there/OOoohh, I got my invite," and when Ian asks the Lady, "gonna bring your records?" and she replies, "Will Do!" Ian's lecherous sort of chuckle is unmatched on record - well, maybe, except for when Levon Helm sang "Up On Cripple Creek." "The Hoople" ain't a perfect record, but, given the year in which it was released, 1974, it's vastly, VASTLY superior to much of anything else at the time. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\n"It's a long way to Broadway from a Forty Second Street lay", September 24, 2002 \nBy KSG "ksgnyc" (New York, NY United States)\n\n"Or is it just a couple of blocks away?"\nIan Hunter's lyrics are clever and sarcastic in this total Little Richard rave-up production. The sound quality is fantastic and Hunter's piano playing and vocals are super confident and thrilling. It's an exciting recording, at moments it teeters on the edge of self-parody, but I think that was Hunter's intention. My favorite cut is Alice. It tells the tale of a 42nd Street hooker who "climbs into a truck to make a buck" and ends up on the marquee of The Palace. With this last studio album, Mott the Hoople certainly left in a blaze of glory! \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Great Album By a Great Band, February 2, 2002 \nBy David Colwill (Toronto, ON Canada)\n\nThis album was the follow up to the classic Mott album and whilst not quite scaling the heights of it's predecessor is still an excellent artifact of the glam rock era.\nRef Robert Dumas's review below - the reference to "96 decibel freaks" in The Golden Age of Rock N'Roll is not a tribute to Mott's fans. Ian Hunter was actually having a knock at UK local government who at the time were making waves about sound volumes at rock concerts and were talking about imposing a limit of 96 decibels. Hence the other references in the song to "Don't wanna fight but if you turn us down, we'll turn you around, don't mess with the sound".\n\nAny half decent rock collection should have some Mott The Hoople in it so if you don't own any Mott do yourself a favour and buy some !! \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSequel to a classic, January 3, 2002 \nBy Robert Dumas (Sherman Oaks, CA USA)\nMott the Hoople's "The Hoople" was the 1974 follow-up to the band's all-time classic, 1973's "Mott." "The Hoople" is a classic in its own right, but had unfortunate timing in being release in the wake of such ground-breaking album as "Mott."\nWithout Mick Ralphs (guitar) and Vernon Allen (keyboards) in the band, Ian Hunter (vocals, piano, guitar) is firmly at the helm (a role perhaps a bit too taxing for him in light of his subsequent nervous breakdown and breakup of the band).\n\nHowever, Hunter was in the midst of a creative epiphany during this period and his songwriting (packed full of wry, cynical observations) was unimpeachable.\n\n"The Hoople" kicks of track 1 with "The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll," -- a great piano rocker in the vein of "All the Way to Memphis" that pays tribute to Mott's crazed fans ("You 96 decibel freaks!"). It's an anthem in every sense of the word and you'll want to sing out loud with one fist pumping in the air.\n\n"Marionette," is probably Mott the Hoople's most innovative and daring piece of work -- a mini rock opera if you will -- and packed full of special effects and time signature changes. It has layers of sounds and yet the labor-intensive production doesn't hinder the song. Like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," this song is supposed to be over-the-top... and it does so with a gleeful wink. Just a very cool tune.\n\n"Crash Street Kids," is quintessential Mott the Hoople, as Hunter sings once again of life on London's mean streets. This song features Ariel Bender's (Mick Ralphs' replacement, who, as the liner notes point out, appeared to be in Bad Company!)end-of-world guitar licks that seem to be chaotic and yet somehow find a fuzzy groove.\n\nOther standouts include "Alice" with Overend Watt's funky bass signature leading the way, and the joyful pop hommage to Saturday night partying: "Roll Away the Stone."\n\nIt's not a perfect album (though I must say, it's predecessor flirted with perfection). For example, the acoustic ballad "Trudi's Song," is a bit maudlin and, worse, uninteresting. And "Through the Looking Glass" seems to meander aimlessly never escaping its flaccid tempo.\n\nStill, Mott the Hoople on a bad day was better than most bands on their best. It was a true travelling rock 'n' roll circus. There was and has never been anyone like them -- combining the glitz and showmanship of glitter rock with the sonic assault of punk rock and the lyrical integrity and wordsmanship of songwriters like Dylan and Joni Mitchell.\n\n"The Hoople" is the last true shining example of the brillence of Ian Hunter and his bandmates. (Hunter went on to have a reasonably succesful solo career where he continues to right insightfully powerful songs.) \n\nAnd the incredible thing is, much of Mott the Hoople's music (including this album) still holds up very well today. If you like rock music that puts an emphasis on songwriting and arranging -- Hoople could be it. If you like off-beat singers, Ian Hunter's Dylan meets Bowie cockney growl could be right up your alley.\n\nThere was a lot more to Mott the Hoople than "All the Young Dudes," (which they didn't even write!) and albums such as "The Hoople" certainly prove it. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGood follow up to classic Mott, February 20, 1999 \nBy My Science Fiction Twin "If at first the idea... (My Little Blue Window, USA)\nTurmoil. The band that finally broke through nearly broke up prior to recording this album. Without founding member Mick Ralphs, Ian Hunter shoulders most of the creative responsibility here. While he did quite well, it's clear the album was recorded under a great deal of stress.\nOf the best songs here, "Roll away the stone" was originally recorded during the MOTT sessions. "Golden age of rock 'n' roll" and the symphonic "Through the looking glass" are two of the other highlights. It was clear that Ian needed a foil and didn't have one since the departure of Ralphs.\n\nWhile not the band's best album (the honor would be split between MOTT and BRIAN CAPERS), it has a number of fine songs, and for me, fine memories. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Masterpiece, June 5, 2007 \nBy Richard Martin "Rock Czar" (Tampa, Florida)\nOf all of the rock acts of the 1970's, Mott The Hoople was the band that experienced the most versitile creative changes of it's day. "The Hoople" is Mott's third and final release, completing the cycle that began with "All The Young Dude's" and continued with "MOTT." \n\nCritics hated this album upon it's release in 1974 but for me this album is their defining moment. No disrespect to guitarist Mick Ralphs who left before this recording to form "Bad Company" but Ariel Bender (Luther Grovesnor formerly of Spooky Tooth) added the missing element from the Hoople's sound on all of their previous releases. His licks on this record remind me of the sound of other bands of this time including Queen and Sparks. Morgan Fisher who replaced original keyboardist Verdi Allen proved to be a superior musician and not nearly the head case that the explosive Allen could be. \n\nIan Hunter's songwriting, progresses on this recording in leaps and bounds. "Marionette," " Through the Looking Glass" and "The Golden Age of Rock N Roll" are just a few of the great songs that give us a peek into what would later become an outstanding solo career for Ian. \n\nIf you are a "Hoople" fan from the the 1970's as I am, then you probably already have a copy of this. However if you are a younger fan of bands like "The Darkness" or "Keane" then you might want to get back to the roots with this all-time classic release. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nMott Over the Top, October 8, 2004 \nBy P. Morand "PJM" (Knoxville, TN United States)\n"The Hoople" was unabashed, throw the kitchen sink in for good measure excess. It was, however, majestic excess. Ian Hunter turned this into an all out production experience, and indulged himself to the fullest. Fortunately for Mott fans, Ian's indulgence was magnificent in scope...and it worked! "Marionette"'s instrumental breaks can still send a shiver up my spine; "The Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll" is both great and sad, while "Roll Away the Stone" is the perfect, pre-added track send off from Mott the Hoople's great, final gasp. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\n3 1/2 Stars on this fine reissue with bonus tracks, October 11, 2000 \nBy My Science Fiction Twin "If at first the idea... (My Little Blue Window, USA)\nWagner goes glam. In many respects The Hoople is Hunter and the band's implosion of everything glam. It takes all the cliches and pushes them to the extreme. I wouldn't be surprised to find Wagner's The Ring Cycle buried somewhere in the production. The bombastic production works to the album's advantage and nearly makes up for the lesser material.\n\nI had forgotten how much I hated this album when it first came out hot on the heels of the band's finest Columbia album (Mott). Time has allowed The Hoople to age gracefully and what seemed shrill then seems fun now. The sound quality is a major step up over the domestic version of this album on CD. The booklet also tries to be as faithful to the original cover art as possible (that wasn't the case with the first CD). I would have liked to see this reissued like the Roxy Music remasters in an LP style sleeve with mimiciking the original album but I suppose that would be too much to ask for. \n\nThe opening and closing tracks bracket this CD with two great late period MTH songs. The bonus tracks have been available before (on the Greatest Hits CD, Mott the Hoople Anthology and All the Young Dudes Anthology)so they aren't rare. It would have been nice to have the alternate version of Through the Looking Glass and Saturday Gigs on here as well (and maybe some unreleased bits of studio chatter as well). \n\nStill, all in all, this is more than I could have asked for with it's stellar sound and great booklet. Wagner would have been proud if he liked rock 'n' roll. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe Definitive 'Hoople', July 18, 2000 \nBy Steven Bove (Naugatuck, CT USA)\nSony Rewind in the UK has the art of reissues down to a science! The sound of this 1974 classic is of epic proportions. Ian Hunter finally sounds up-front in the mix instead of buried in the thunderous sound of his band. For those of you who may not know the origins of this album I'll give you a brief outline. After the brilliantly historic album 'Mott', The band lost its founding guitarist and was in big trouble. With little time left to them, a hasty replacement was found and the group immediately felt that a serious mistake had been made. Despite their feelings, and general bad karma during the recording sessions, 'The Hoople' is first-rate Mott The Hoople. Listen close and you'll hear Ian Hunter's prediction of youthful unrest that would result in the Punk Movement a few years later. What the group didn't know was that the wacky guitar style of Arial Bender was just what the USA wanted to hear and that was one of the main reasons for the albums success there! 'The Hoople' isn't the great follow-up that everyone hoped for but it showed that Ian was growing as a song writer and would follow his muse with or without the band! Sony Rewind deserves special thanks for the inclusion of 3 bonus tracks. But why omit the bands final single, 'Saturday Gigs'? Let's hope that Sony Rewind allows Dale Griffen to next remaster 'Mott The Hoople Live' as he intended it to be. \n\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nMott The Hoople: Ian Hunter, Ariel Bender, Dale Griffin, Morgan Fisher, Overend Watts.\n\nAfter 1973's MOTT, a loosely structured concept album about life in a rock & roll band, the only obvious choice for a follow-up was 1974's THE HOOPLE, a loosely structured concept album about the overall state of rock & roll in the mid-'70s. Opening with "The Golden Age of Rock and Roll," a half-serious, half-satiric look at rock & roll's past, the album continues with the darkly cynical "Marionette," and a pair of classics about teenage life, the sympathetic "Born Late '58" and the proto-punk "Crash Street Kids." The last of these makes obvious the Clash's debt to Mott the Hoople (Clash guitarist Mick Jones was an enormous Mott fan, and lobbied for the band's producer, Guy Stevens, to come out of retirement to produce their classic LONDON CALLING in 1979). THE HOOPLE is a snapshot of the mid-'70s rock & roll scene that foreshadows the impending rise of punk.\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nHas success spoiled Ian Hunter? Last year's Mott received and deserved much acclaim. It seemed a post-glitter breakthrough, debunking superstardom and demythologizing rock: "Rock 'n' roll's a loser's game." But since then Hunter and Mott the Hoople have themselves become stars, and unfortunately they appear to have lost the detached perspective which distinguished Mott. Instead of self-awareness, The Hoople offers self-pity; instead of insight and irony, it purveys the cheap histrionics of Alice Cooper. Where Mott's "Violence" dramatized with wit and understanding the thuggery of frustrated street punks, The Hoople's "Crash Street Kidds" mindlessly flaunts it. Likewise, "The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll" and "Through the Looking Glass" on The Hoople vulgarize the more discerning "All the Way from Memphis" and "Hymn for the Dudes" on Mott. The earlier songs exposed rock's shabby evanescence and lack of authenticity, but they also arrived at a joyful, though tempered, affirmation of the music. The Hoople's debased replicas are less perceptive as well as more dispiriting.\n\nMott has established itself as one of the very few thinking rock bands. Their last two albums (Mott and All the Young Dudes) succeeded because of the power of Hunter's autobiographical statements and the incisiveness of his observations on music and the sociocultural scene. Hunter takes his writing seriously enough to have published his diary; and his lyrics, printed on the inner sleeve, ask to be considered with equal seriousness.\n\nThe deterioration of Mott's lyrics has been accompanied by a similar musical decline, accentuated by the departure of lead guitarist Mick Ralphs (his replacement, Ariel Bender, formerly of Spooky Tooth and, briefly, Stealers Wheel, is less powerful). Even more than the words, the tunes tend to be smudged copies of earlier songs. Mott repeats and exaggerates the stagey gimmicks which, in very small doses, worked well on the group's previous albums. Obtruding dialogue and heavy-handed sound effects clutter many of the tracks. A cutesy conversation, for instance, sullies the otherwise superb single, "Roll Away the Stone." In the past, Mott has insisted that it was a hard-rock band, not a theatrical troupe; but The Hoople strains towards melodrama, most disastrously in the pretentious and bathetic "Marionette" and "Through the Looking Glass."\n\nBecause it's so unlike the rest of the album, "Trudi's Song" is the most arresting track. A simple, guileless and lovely tribute to Hunter's wife, it echoes Dylan's "She Belongs to Me"; it rings strikingly true, without hokum. Its heartfeltness is in contrast to much else on The Hoople. Except for a silly instrumental break, "Alice," a variation and expansion of Mott's "Whizz Kidd," also stands out, both for its masterful vocal (somehow Hunter's singing seems all the more inspired the more it sounds like a cockney Dylan) and its account of fellatio on 42nd Street. The Hoople's best lyric, it evokes a Britisher's complex response, at once leering, loving, bemused and repelled, to Lou Reed's New York. Parts of "Pearl 'n' Roy (England)" -- about the political and economic collapse of Hunter's homeland -- are equally vivid.\n\nYet fine as these songs are, The Hoople cannot compare to its predecessors, Mott and All the Young Dudes. Let's hope that Mott snaps back quickly. (RS 163 -- Jun 20, 1974) -- KEN EMERSON
This rock cd contains 9 tracks and runs 38min 56sec.
Freedb: 56091e09
Buy: from Amazon.com

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