Mott the Hoople

I am not quite sure where I first heard Mott. Maybe I heard "All the Young Dudes" on the radio at some point. It is possible (even probable) that I bought my first Mott LP ("Greatest Hits") simply because I liked Bad Company and wanted to hear Mick Ralphs' old band. But from the first listen I was hooked. I soon owned all the Ian Hunter-era Mott albums. I wondered why Ralph's would leave such a great band. I kept my "Greatest Hits" LP even after buying all the rest because it had a few tracks that were singles only like "Saturday Gigs" (a taste of what Mott might have become had Hunter and new guitarist Mick Ronson stayed with the band) as well as the single version of "Roll Away the Stone" which had the far superior lead guitar work of Mick Ralphs rather than Ariel Bender's album version.

I picked this clip of "All the Young Dudes", even though it is a lip sync, because it features the original lineup of Hunter, Ralphs, Overend Watts (bass), Verden Allen (organ)and Buffin (drums).

The second clip is from a 2004 solo show by Ian Hunter. he does "Rest in Peace", which was the b-side of one of the later Mott singles..."The Golden Age of Rock and Roll" I think. "Rest in Peace" is a fantastic song. The song was written by Hunter with Overend Watts and Dale Griffin (aka Buffin). The guitarist standing to Hunter's left is his old bandmate Mick Ralphs.