Luther Grosvenor finally
made it back into the studio to record
his first album in nearly twenty years,
in 1996 at Steve Winwood's studio. Once
there the creativity stacked up over the
years all came tumbling out. In two weeks
ten tracks were completed and ready for
release. Luther surrounded himself with
old mates including ex Spooky Tooth Mike
Kellie (who as well as playing sturdy
drums wrote ‘Fullness Of Time’
for the album); Dave Moore took the keyboard
position; while Steve Dolan has the time
of his life supplying the bass notes.
Jess Roden makes two guest appearances
on the two cover songs, a storming version
of Joe Tex' ‘I Wanna Be Free’,
and a roaring slab of Bob Seger's ‘Fire
Down Below’.
But it is obvious, Luther Grosvenor is
the star. Ariel Bender leaps out at you
during the rockers and nails the solos
to the mast. The solo on 'Best Years Of
My Life comes out and knocks your boots
off. If there was any doubt that Luther
Grosvenor had lost his chops, that doubt
is gone in seconds. Just listen to the
opening song, the autobiographical ‘Evesham
Boy’.
Luther Grosvenor co-wrote six of the
songs with long time buddy from Blues
92 days John Ledsom. Mixed into the album
are some wonderful blues numbers where
Luther really lets rip, along with a very
moving instrumental ‘Cathy’,
dedicated to Luther wife. The music was
arranged by Dave Moore, but Luther’s
playing is outstanding, you really have
to love some very much to get that sort
of emotion out of a guitar. The title
song is played twice, once electrically
and again at the end of the album acoustically.
‘Floodgates’ is without doubt
one of the great albums of the nineties.
With the great critical success of ‘Floodgates’,
the idea was put out to re-form the original
Spooky Tooth, feeling that there was some
unfinished business there. The band convened
to Germany to start recording, but Gary
Wright had to send apologies as his recording
commitments in America did not permit
him to join the others. So the other four,
Mike Harrison, Greg Ridley, Mike Kellie,
and Luther Grosvenor, went ahead with
recording with out him.
It was a mistake. It just isn't Spooky
Tooth without Gary Wright. Obviously the
playing is staggeringly good, and they
get to re-record an old Spooky Classic
‘That Was Only Yesterday’,
and one from the days of Art, ‘Love
Is Rea’. Luther Grosvenor plays
some lovely guitar, but in general the
album lacked that necessary spark. It
was finally released titled ‘Cross
Purposes’ to an indifferent public
in 1999.
Luther Grosvenor did allow Ariel Bender
out of the cupboard one more time though.
In April of 1999 Ariel Bender joined the
Ian Hunter band for the encores at the
first annual Mott the Hoople Convention.
The band stormed into ‘Walkin' with
A Mountain’ and Ariel Bender was
so busy throwing shapes that he didn't
even notice his guitar was not plugged
in (a little too much Dutch courage).
But Ariel Bender still performed the gig
of his life.
Those wonderful people at Angel Air have
re-released ‘Floodgates’ as
an Anthology with an in-depth biography
including some rare photos. They added
on the two tracks from the Peter Green
tribute album 'Rattlesnake Guitar'; the
best of the tracks from the Spooky Tooth
reunion album; the first single from Deep
Feeling, ‘Pretty Colours’,
from way back in 1966; and as a special
treat tacked onto the end is a live version
of ‘Here Comes the Queen’
from 1974, Ariel Bender playing with Mott
the Hoople in Santa Monica. Ariel Bender
always seemed to get the last word.
A second solo album was planned in 2000,
but in a dramatic turn around, Luther
Grosvenor decided enough was enough and
announced his complete retirement from
the music business. This time it seems
like the retirement is final. A man who
can produce an album of the quality of
‘Floodgates’ will be sorely
missed.
"Floodgates they can open or they
close,
Floodgates can open many broken roads,
Life is like a Prayer that never seems
to end,
A never-ending Story, a never-ending Friend."
Floodgates by Luther Grosvnor. (1996)
A doff off the hat from Mott the Dog
and a curtsy from Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
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