Brian
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Post by Brian on Jun 4, 2011 23:35:30 GMT -8
I'm watching the DVD of the final reunion show again and feeling so grateful to Martine and her brother.
Because of the success of Ian Hunter's DVD's in the middle of the last decade with a string orchestra in Oslo and another solo concert in London including Mick Ralphs, I assumed that the October 2009 Mott the Hoople reunion dates were filmed and recorded commercially for well off middle aged fans like me. After 20 months, this DVD will more than suffice. The sound's good and almost the entire show was captured by somebody who loves these guys at least as much as I do. They have become the future of history.
Some of the camerawork from the bootleg DVD provided by Martine's brother is incorporated here:
This guy melded various audience videos of the concert openers, "Hymn for the Dudes" and "Rock and Roll Queen," and posted it four months ago on You Tube. The editing is well done, and although he gets a little too artsy toward the end, his effort is certainly worth more than the 141 views it had when I found it.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jun 18, 2011 23:45:16 GMT -8
Years before some guy posted this clip from French television on You Tube, Martine mailed me a bootleg DVD, one of her greatest gifts ever because it probably contains every foot of film that was ever shot of Mott the Hoople. Despite the announcer yammering in the middle, this is an incredible document of their bond onstage before they broke up in Zurich and David Bowie came along to rescue them. With this song from the "Brain Capers" album, they presaged punk rock in Great Britain by five years.
I feel neglected, feel rejected/Living in the wrong time
Ian Hunter was older than anyone in the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and even his own group. His primary rock and roll influence wasn't Elvis Presley -- it was Jerry Lee Lewis. A family man in his 30's, Ian not only commented on music as an avocation in Mott the Hoople's songs, he wrote a book in 1972. He constantly challenged himself and his mates -- and in "The Moon Upstairs," a world that largely wasn't listening. Yet. (We ain't bleeding you, we're feeding you/But you're too fucking slow.) The song was a personal and professional drunken revelation that spewed its seeds of genius way into the future.
"The Moon Upstairs" turned out to be as pivotal to the band's fate as it was to history of British rock -- surpassing almost everything it inspired -- so the song's inclusion in the 40th anniversary reunion setlist should have been no surprise. They nailed it. Drummer Dale Griffin was too frail to play most of the show -- from the Oct. 3, 2009 gig, here's his stand in, Martin Chambers of the Pretenders laying the foundation.
To those of you who always laugh/Let this be your epitaph
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jul 3, 2011 0:36:12 GMT -8
It's Saturday night on a holiday weekend, so I'm going to behave like I did when I was 16 -- drink beer, dance around the house, burp a lot -- and jot down my feelings about Mott the Hoople: - After 37 years, I'm still sure that there was no greater rock and roll band from 1969-74. Mott the Hoople recorded their first album the same month that the Beatles made their last. That five year period was dominated by singer-songwriters and solo refugees like John, Paul, George and Ringo. Mott's closest competitor was the Rolling Stones, who released "Let it Bleed," "Sticky Fingers" and "Exile on Main St." in that time. But Mott put out "Brain Capers," "All the Young Dudes" and "Mott." They fell short with experimental albums like "Mad Shadows" and "Wildlife," but at least they stretched, while the Stones succumbed to the likes of "Goats Head Soup" and "It's Only Rock 'n Roll."
- Baby, if you just say you care/I'll follow you most anywhere/Roll away the stone/Roll away the stone
- As the DVD from Martine's brother proves, no band has maintained such an adoring, accessible yet respectful relationship with its fans for so long. You can hear it on the live bootlegs I have from the 1970's. I also have many Stones shows from 1969 and 1972 on cassette, and as amazing as they were, the band only interacts with their audience as rock and roll gods onstage to this day. I can't imagine Keith Richards and Charlie Watts drinking in a London pub with their fans like Ian Hunter and Verden Allen did a few years ago during one of Ian's many solo tours there.
- Well I know I lost just a little bit on the journey/When my mind's been split by little things that didn't fit on the way...Everybody's got a journey
[/i]I love Mick Ralphs' guitar playing so much that I've even put up with Bad Company. [/li][li]Traffic's immortal "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" was inspired by the sight of Overend Watts in his platform shoes at Island Studios in 1971. Great song, but only Overend is still around. [/li][li] I play that 2009 reunion DVD every other weekend, so I don't get too spoiled. Thank you, Martine. [/li][/ul] I'll get off my Mott the Hoople kick soon. Liam Finn just released another well regarded solo album while his parents Neil and Sharon Finn were back east touring in their new group, the Pajama Club. Indeed, Martine is in Chicago now after seeing them. They'll be at the Roxy next month, and Anni and I will be there.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Aug 28, 2011 0:25:04 GMT -8
This CD was not in Martine's booty bag -- there's one more treasure she put there, something so special, which I will write about here in the near future. Instead, I wanted to ask her about Neil Finn: When I went to Amoeba last March, I'd never seen that disc before yet somehow failed to buy it. Luckily, there were two copies when I went back earlier this month. It's an 17-minute edit of Neil's interview on KCRW in March 2002 split into three segments -- with Nic Harcourt's questions omitted, which is cool -- and sandwiched between in studio performances of "Driving Me Mad" and "Turn and Run" with Lisa Germano and two album tracks. I'd heard about the show at the time but didn't realize it had been made into a promo. I still think "One All" is one of the best albums of the last decade, especially if you consider it alongside "One Nil," which was released earlier in New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Coincidentally, I ran across a 2009 interview online today in which Neil couldn't remember why he re-recorded some of the songs he cut with Sheryl Crow with Lisa's voice and replaced two "One Nil" songs with new ones for the North American version. So this CD is a valuable document. (Anni and I saw him and Lisa at the Wiltern around the time KRCW broadcast the interview, and it was one of our favorite concerts ever.) Anyway, Martine, do you have this in your collection?
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Post by martine on Aug 28, 2011 15:13:20 GMT -8
not sure if i have it or not, Brian. It may be ye olde archives somewhere.
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