![]() ![]() On "(God) Advice to a Friend" he does his best Bob Dylan, which makes sense to anyone who's ever heard the first Mott the Hoople album. ![]() Ian always surrounded himself with ample session men (think Steely Dan) and the list of contributors on this collection is like a veritable who's who of bona fide 70s (and 80s) session hacks. Still, there's a kind of gently rocking respectable getting-old-before-my-time grace to the best of this stuff that entitles Ian to the title of best grandfatherly Brit balladeer this side of Ray Davies. He wrote some damn good rock "ballads" like "I Wish I Was Your Mother" and "Ballad of Mott the Hoople," but by the time of stuff like "Boy" and "Shallow Crystals" he was copping an almost Elton/Neil Diamond style of E-Z listening snoozedom. ![]() It's entitled "Ballads," so this is the more subdued side of Ian. Def Leppard, who, judging by the video from "Rockit" back in '88, consider old glam-hags like Hunter to be their spiritual godfathers, join Ian here for a rendition of "All The Young Dudes," recorded in 1996, and it's actually all reet.ĭisc two's where we get into trouble. With its robotic vocals and sinewy synth, "Speechless" could almost be the Tubes, and I mean that as a compliment. "Gun Control" proves that in 1981, when it was recorded, not only Bruce Springsteen, but also faux-reggae, was in. "Bastard," meanwhile, is Cale's "Gun" only less "eeeh" and more "Oi." Kids loved it back in the day, because it was yet another song that slipped a dirty word on the air and justifiably went uncensored. "Justice of the Peace" has that Lou Reed/Bowie RCA vibe. Then he sounds like Meatloaf on "One Fine Day." He's in Lou Reed territory on "All American Alien Boy" with some percolating white-funk jive a la Lou's mid-70s, as well as some honking saxophone, streetwise lyrics and a troupe of black girls singing "doo doo doo doo." Good goddamn track. On "Colwater High" Ian does weird things with his voice on an almost Russ Mael/Sparks level. Total sneering rock-star arrogance in Hunter's voice, for the era second only to Alice Cooper. Other okay stuff: "Who Do You Love," not to be confused with the Bo Diddley song, although it's a blues shuffle all right, complete with harmonica. Ian's version, which opens the disc called "Rockers," is one of the great rock 'n' roll road songs. Judging by the title, this album is playing off Hunter's last real glimpse of fame and, I'm sure, at that time, a well-needed money-boost: "Once Bitten Twice Shy," the first cut on the first-ever Ian Hunter solo LP ('75), which later became a big hit for a bunch of turds named Great White. Ian Hunter? Sure, the old Mott stuff is among the holy tablets?particularly albums four through six?but Ian on his own is admittedly a manifestation I skipped. You're talking about someone who's never heard any Lou Reed album after The Blue Mask and not a whole side of Bowie post-Scary Monsters. Once Bitten Twice Shy Ian Hunter (Columbia/ Legacy) Ian Hunter, who had the best hairstyle in all of rock, apparently had a solo career that went on and on long after this writer had stopped paying attention. ![]()
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