The best Ian Hunter post ever

For the most part, Ian Hunter WAS Mott the Hoople, as much as I hate to admit that.....his overwhelming personality trumped all, Mott albums such as "All the Young Dudes" and "Mott" would have been TOTALLY forgotten relics had it not been for Hunter's genius......his solo career also had sparks of brilliance, (Mott the Hoople's post-Ian Hunter efforts, "Drive On" and "Pointing and Shouting", are two of perhaps the worst recorded albums in the history of music)

Hunter's first post-Mott solo LP is damn near a classic, a simply classic rock n roll album, with the fantastic "Once Bitten Twice Shy" which was later covered by some ridiculous hair metal band in a suck-shit version, the great "Who Do You Love", and the mind-dissolving slide guitar classic "The Truth, The Whole Truth, Nothing But the Truth" which is, I don't know, one of maybe the underappreciated tracks in rock history? Brilliant "solo" debut, but there was yet more to come....."All American Alien Boy" is a fine effort as well, there are some great tunes here ("Rape", "You Nearly Did Me In", "Apathy 83"(sample lyric: "There ain't no rock n roll no more, just music of the rich"), and especially, "God (Take 1)" (lyrically a very odd conversation between Ian and the Lord, lyrically there are some VERY clever moments, opening line: "Oh, God said to me, gonna kick your ass")....Hunter had some great songs still in his cranium, this is nearly as fine an album as his solo debut.

Next came "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic", which is a fine album as well, an unusual circumstance for a rocker "striking out on his own" after leaving "his" band......but this album is an amazing triumph as well, "Just Another Night" and "Cleveland Rocks" are great, "Standin In My Light" ("they take my pictures off the walls, I still won't trade with the pay of the New York Dolls") and "Wild East" are good, and "Ships" (in the GUESS WHAT?) was covered by (wait for it) Barry Manilow for which Hunter more money than he made in his entire career with Mott as well as his solo career........life can be so ironic at times......ANYWAY.....

Hunter has released several albums since "Schizophrenic", none of them have really impressed me a lot, I am including "Overnight Angels" simply because I happen to have a copy (it ain't much), but he did release a pretty good live LP."Welcome to the Club", which is a fair-to-good three sided live effort, including some  great Mott material ("All the Young Dudes", "All the Way from Memphis" for example), as well as some of Ian's solo work.....it is a fine album, actually, and the fourth side includes some new Hunter studio material including two fine new rockers("We Gotta Get Out of Here","Man O War")

Gotta coupla boots here, don't get too excited, the sound quality is something "less than stellar"...."Drunk on Wine and Wisdom" is not dated and is credited to the "Hunter/Ronson Band", while not great it does include some rare tracks such as "England Rocks" and "Traitor".

We have a 1975 Hunter boot from Detroit, which is frankly fairly awful, if you are a Mott/Hunter fanatic have at it.....and a 1989 Hunter/Ronson Band BBC Boot from 1989, which is not bad and contains some material not available on the previous releases.

Hunter has released other albums since "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic"....other than the lame "Overnight Angels" I don't think I've ever heard any of them,(I think I may have heard "Short Back and Sides" and, if I recall, pretty much considered it the "write him off" moment of a fine and brilliant career) nor do I want to, especially......memo to Ian Hunter: "It's a mighty long way down rock n roll, and as your name gets hot then your heart grows cold".........hey, Ian.....THEN your name gets cold. In the 1970's/early 80's he was as bad-ass as they come though, BOTH fronting one of the best bands of an era AS WELL AS turning in a VERY VERY good few solo albums before the final turn towards suckville. Without question one of the finest and most important artists of that most crucial (and best) of rock n roll decades, those fantastic 1970's.........

IAN HUNTER-01 Once Bitten Twice Shy/02 Who Do you Love/03 Lounge Lizard/04 Boy/05 3000 Miles From Here/06 The Truth, the Whole Truth, Nothing But the Truth/07 It Ain't Easy When You Fall/08 Shades Off/09 I Get So Excited

ALL AMERICAN ALIEN BOY-01 Letter to Britannia From the Union Jack/02 All American Alien Boy/03 Irene Wilde/04 Rape/05 You Nearly Did Me In/06 Apathy 83/18 God (take 1)/19 Restless Youth

YOU'RE NEVER ALONE WITH A SCHIZOPHRENIC-01 Just Another Night/02 Wild East/03 Cleveland Rocks/04 Ships/05 When the Daylight Comes/06 Life After Death/07 Standin' In My Light/08 Bastard/09 The Outsider

WELCOME TO THE CLUB-01 FBI/02 Once Bitten Twice SHy/03 Angeline/04 Laugh At Me/05 All The Way From Memphis/06 I Wish I Was Your Mother/07 Irene Wilde/08 Just Another Night/09 Cleveland Rocks/10 Standin' In My Light/11 Bastard/12 Walkin With a Mountain/Rock N Roll Queen/13 All The Young Dudes/14 Slaughter on Tenth Avenue/15 We Gotta Get Out Of Here/16 Silver Needles/17 Man O War/18 Sons and Daughters

OVERNIGHT ANGELS-01 Golden Opportunities/02 Shallow Crystals/03 Overnight Angels/04 Broadway/05 Justice of the Peace/06 (Miss) Silver Dime/07 Wild N Free/08 The Ballad of Little Star/09 To Love a Woman

DRUNK ON WINE AND WISDOM-01 Intro/02 FBI/03 Once Bitten Twice Shy//04 Life After Death/05 Laugh at Me/06 Letter to Britannia From the Union Jack/07 Just Another Night/08 Angeline/09 Standin' In My Light/10 Bastard/11 Cleveland Rocks/12 England Rocks (rare A-Side)/13 I'm the Teacher (soundtrack)/14 All American Alien Boy (Single Version)/15 Traitor (B Side)/16 Great Expectations (soundtrack)

DETROIT 1975-01 The Truth The Whole Truth Nothin' But the Truth/02 Lounge Lizard/03 Unknown/04 Who Do You Love/05 White Light/White Heat/06 Boy/07 Unknown/08 Once Bitten Twice Shy/09 Roll Away the Stone/10 Unknown/11 All the Way From Memphis/12 All the Young Dudes/13 Encore

HUNTER/RONSON BBC 2/15/89-01 Once Bitten Twice Shy/02 How Much More Can I Take/03 Big N Little Love/04 Following In Your Footsteps/05 Just Another Night/06 Sweet Dreamer/07 (Give Me Back My) Wings/08 Standin' In My Light/09 Bastard/10 The Loner/11 You're Never Too Small to Hit the Big Time/12 All the Way From Memphis/13 Irene Wilde

Links will be up when they are up, zippy has gone back to its previous, inconsistent self...... oh well, it was a great week!

Be whisking away to the magical land of Strat-O-Matic baseball here in an hour or so, perfect plan would be I cet the remaining two discs to upload (ITunes seems to be having reading a couple of these CD's, they are REALLY old), but should I succeed, I will get them all started in Zippy, who will do me right and have everything uploaded after I go kick some Strat O Matic ass, I'll return and post the links before midnight.........hopefully that's how it goes.

Dunno WHAT I'll put up tomorrow, but you know it will be something GREAT.......by the way the ultimate in congratulations to my son Grant Miller for being named Most Valuable Player of his High School JV Team as a freshman (he also got PLENTY of varsity playing time).....making it MORE impressive is the fact that he missed seven games with a bad leg injury, but in my highly prejudiced opinion, it was still a sound and logical selection. I hope to see him win three more of them, then maybe one or 2 in college? World's proudest Daddy, give me a LITTLE latitude for a minute!