Search - Mott the Hoople :: All the Young Dudes

Great remastered sound and unusual track selection

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 04/11/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mott The Hopple was slapped together from the clay of The Silence, Ian Hunter and manager Guy Stevens' imagination (and love of Willard McManus). They created a handful of classic albums during their brief tenure in the 1970's. This terrific box set captures the band's key album and single tracks along with rarities and unreleased demos to present a fairly comprehesive picture for first time buyers and fans alike.The first disc is devoted to their years on Island Records with key singles and demos. Producers Dale Griffin (the drummer from the band) and Ray Staff have lovingly remastered the sound. Additionally, they didn't always go for the obivious choices in track selection. For example, Griffin uses the previously unreleased self produced tracks for Mott's version of what would become Brain Capers. He and Staff also went back and remixed some of their best tracks. This actually improves the overall sound and brings a new dimension to the songs.The second disc focuses on the Columbia years. Here Griffin and Staff again remix key tracks and present some of the band's key single and b side tracks. Since this is the band's most well known phase, Griffin and Staff go for the hard to find single releases of album tracks. In some cases this is the fist time these tracks are available on CD. This is the band in their prime. The third disc is a collection of rarities, demos and unreleased live tracks recorded with the band's original line up. Additionally, the third disc also features tracks from The Doc Thomas Group (where Mick Ralphs got his start), The Silence(Mott without Ian Hunter) and singles from the post-Hunter line up. The only improvement here would have been the addition of tracks from Hunter's pre-Mott The Hopple band, as well as, some of the sessions he played on as a musician for hire. Reportedly, Ian Hunter is working on his own box set for his solo career and will include some of this material on it. The enclosed booklet provides a great overview of the band's career by biographer Campbell Devine. Additionally, there is a comphrensive (and accurate) discography of everything Mott The Hopple, Mott and British Lions ever released on vinyl albums, singles and CD. Everyone involved with Mott (with the exception of the late Guy Stevens) provides comments throughout the booklet.Altogether, this is a fine compilation and supercedes the Columbia box set Ballad Of Mott The Hopple (1993). Fans may want to still purchase Ballad (or hold on to it) as this compilation is missing Henry and the H Bomb. While the Anthology is missing some key album tracks from the band's Island and Columbia years this is because it was designed to supplement the previously released albums and CD's. This collection easily surpasses the more conservative Balld Of Mott The Hopple issued by Columbia in 1993."