Once upon a time in
Rock 'n' Roll land there was a band called
Mott the Hoople – well, actually
from 1969-1974. After the loss of their
original lead guitarist Mick Ralphs to
Bad Company, they recruited Luther Grosvenor,
who was re-christened Ariel Bender on
joining the group by English singer/songwriter
Lindsay de Paul - and has lived with the
pseudonym ever since. But the boys in
the Hoople soon started to get bored with
Ariel's fancy ways, and weaving of magic
spells all over Ian Hunters songs (who
had now taken over the sole leadership
of the band after Ralphs departure). So
poor old Ariel was given the boot only
to re-appear later in his own band, the
fine Widowmaker. A rescue call was sent
out and was answered by what was thought
to be the only man for the job, the platinum
haired ‘Spider from Mars’
Mick Ronson.
Mick had already been involved with the
Hoople in helping to produce their 'All
the Young Dudes' album in 1972. Everybody
expected this to be the lighting of the
fuse for the Hoople to fire into Superstardom,
but of course life is never that straight
forward. After their one single 'Saturday
Gigs', which plotted the band’s
milestones of success and failure, was
a chart flop (but a great song), and a
few warm up gigs on the European continent,
Ian Hunter collapsed in New York on a
publicity trip and was diagnosed with
mental and physical exhaustion. Hunter
recovered, but the band never did.
Ian Hunter stayed in New York taking
with him Mick Ronson to start work on
his first solo album. Then forming the
Hunter/Ronson Band to promote said album,
plus Mick Ronson's second solo album 'Play
Don't Worry'. Very successful they were,
too.
This left the backbone of the band, Overend
Watts of the thunderous bass and the multi-coloured
hair (Overend had a year before he turned
down the position of bass guitar in the
formative Bad Company. Oh! You foolish
loyal dreamer you, Overend), and one of
the rock world's great drummer Dale (Buffin)
Griffin. Mott the Hoople's keyboard player,
Morgan Fisher, had cleared off to Japan
as soon as Mott the Hoople demised, but
second stage keyboard player, Blue Weaver,
had stuck around, and as the nucleus of
a band, they started recording demos.
This turned out to be a bit of an uphill
struggle as the only person in the burgeoning
group with any writing experience was
Overend Watts. His sole recorded ditty
had been 48 Crash released on Mott the
Hoople's last studio album. Not exactly
a long pedigree. To make matters worse,
Blue Weaver was then lured away by the
American dollar of the Bee Gees touring
band, who were on the crest of a wave
after the disco sensation 'Saturday Night
Fever'. Hey, you can't knock back a lot
of honest bucks when you have a wife and
kids to feed.
On a lick and a promise Morgan Fisher
was co-coerced back into the fold and
Ray Major, who was formerly with British
rock band 'Hackensack’, came in
to lend his great axe work to the combo.
Major had supported Mott the Hoople on
their Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour, and should
perhaps have replaced Ralphs the previous
year.
Over 200 audition vocalist tapes were
listened to, 60 of which were auditioned.
After the false start with Terry Wilson-Slessor,
who joined the band one day, and after
the welcoming party that night joined
Paul Kossoff's Back Street Crawler the
next, Mick Ralphs recommended they took
on Nigel 'The Dome' Benjamin (one look
at him will tell you how he got his nickname).
Miraculously by then, through all the
turmoil, Overend Watts had come up with
ten suitable little slabs of pure rock
'n' roll, and the band went straight into
the studio and recorded their debut album
with Ray Major’s adding a short
little instrumental. Against all odds
they came out with a little classic. Opener
'By Tonight' sets the tone with its strident
beat and ringing guitar riffs. Morgan
Fisher, very sensibly, sticks mainly to
piano all through the album, and there
is nobody else that can tinkle the ivories
quite like Morgan Fisher, who is probably
the world's most unlikely looking rock
‘n' roll star with his twirled moustache
and penchant for flat caps. The rhythm
section is obviously rock solid. Helpfully,
Nigel Benjamin's vocals are as far removed
as possible from Ian Hunter’s monotone
delivery, which further helped them to
distance themselves from their past.
The single from the album is a dance
floor classic called Monte Carlo. The
album is chocker block full of kicking
rockers and contains the stage favorite
'The Great White Wail' with its intense
riffing, heavy backbeat, and some of the
most varied vocal wailing ever put on
tape. So, with the album - aptly titled
'Drive On' - available in the shops, and
the band deciding to drop the Hoople bit
from their name, 'Mott' went shouting
and pointing out onto the road with fame
and glory. The target the World awaited.
You will have to wait till next week.
Weaved by Mott the Dog
Unraveled by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
Go to Part
2
