Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on May 13, 2012 0:32:58 GMT -8
Until now, this lifelong fan on the Left Coast has had little to report since Ian Hunter and the Rant Band last appeared here 16 months ago. He's played 19 dates back east since then, and Ian and the Rant Band have scheduled another tour in the U.K. next October, one of my busiest times at work. Well, I don't have a passport anyway, so I've just been enjoying his last studio album from 2009. But recently, I stumbled upon this new German import CD at Amoeba that captures a television show in April 1980: I was so lucky to see Ian and Mick Ronson five times here in 1979, and I've been blessed with a wealth of official and bootleg live CD's and DVD's from that era that have dribbled out over the ensuing three decades. The Rockpalast clips started showing up on You Tube three years ago -- this remains my favorite:
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Jul 1, 2012 0:26:25 GMT -8
Last month provided more proof when none was needed that Ian Hunter is a rock and roll god.
He turned 73 on June 3, then announced tours of Europe and parts of the U.S. (unfortunately bypassing California) all through September and October. The best news was posted last Tuesday -- Ian is releasing an album with 11 new songs, "When I'm President," on September 4:
"The songs seem to be more upbeat this time round," Hunter notes. "The last two albums were pretty political, just because I thought the Bush years were horrible, and thankfully that's passed. But I don't go looking for songs; I have to wait for them to come to me. I had a spurt there in the summer of 2011, and that grew into this album. I'd get up every day with something ringing in my head, so I'd try to catch it and get it down. Songwriting's always been a mystery to me in that way. Now and again you're nearer the sun, and you have to be ready to capture it."
Two years ago and two pages back in this thread, I embedded a You Tube video that was later removed because of copyright infringement. But recently, another kind soul posted this clip from Jools Holland's television show in the U.K. -- Ian Hunter and the Rant Band performing "Flowers," his anti-war masterpiece from their most recent album, followed by "Once Bitten Twice Shy" from Ian's first solo album, a fresh and fabulous version of his most covered song. Enjoy them again, while you can:
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Aug 19, 2012 1:52:11 GMT -8
The ten-minute promo for "The Ballad of Mott the Hoople," a feature length documentary.
After screening at the London Film Festival in 2010 and the New York Film Festival in 2011, the DVD came out in November. I finally bought it at Amoeba last weekend.
Why did I wait so long? It's perfect. Everybody (except for Overend Watts) tells the band's story, while key helpers like American tour manager and glam rock legend Leee Black Childers and fan club president Kris Needs convey what made Mott the Hoople great -- their music, individual personalities and remarkable affinity with their fans. How their initial lack of success prepared them to achieve immortality.
Between the beautifully aging talking heads, we see many precious photos but not much rare live performance footage. That's fine with me, because I've already got just about everything available on bootleg DVD's, CD's, cassettes, LP's and singles collected over 39 years. "The Ballad of Mott the Hoople" renders the post-Beatles music scene in its 110 minutes even better than "The Beatles Anthology" did for its subject over many hours. The bonus material, including three complete songs from the band's 2009 reunion concerts, proves why Mott the Hoople matters in two centuries. So far.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Sept 2, 2012 0:52:03 GMT -8
Mick Ronson died on my birthday in 1993. I've never gotten over it. His long-time collaborator Ian Hunter was absent from the U.S. market for the next eight years. I started having trouble finding new music because I stuck with cassettes, so I missed something that would have cheered me up in 1999 -- the posthumous release of an album that Mick recorded with a new band in late 1976, after he'd been with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and his management had prevented him from continuing to work with Ian.
I've been wallowing enjoyably in Mick's music since that Rockpalast show from 1980 came out on CD and DVD last April, playing his three solo albums along with his contributions to those by David Bowie, Ian Hunter and other fellow geniuses. Then I went online, wondering if I was lacking anything, and found "Just Like This," an out of print two-CD set available from Amazon's vendors at prices from $18 to $94.
It took 23 years to come out and another 13 to reach my ears, but I'm in heaven. "Just Like This" might be Mick Ronson's finest effort. Back in 1993, Ian said that Mick didn't just play guitar solos, he played "songs within songs." For proof, check out that fan video of "I'd Give Anything to See You" embedded above.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Sept 10, 2012 23:00:56 GMT -8
Life as I have known it for the past four decades began when KMET played "All the Way from Memphis" one autumn day in 1973. I still remember where I was -- and exactly how I felt -- the first time I heard Ian Hunter. Luckily, I worked at a record store, so I quickly caught up with Mott the Hoople. I was there the day that Ian's first solo album with Mick Ronson was released. I almost missed my name being called at my high school graduation -- I had stayed too long in my car because Ian was giving a live interview on KROQ. I also vividly recall driving around listening to "All American Alien Boy" on 8-track and "You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic" on an auto reverse cassette deck, over and over. Those albums are still in my rotation. I might be getting old, but Ian Hunter and most of his songs have not. It will take another 30 years to be sure, but the three albums Ian put out in the first decade of this century could be his best: "Rant," "Shrunken Heads" and "Man Overboard." Each one was harder to find in a record store than the last. As soon as the Sept. 4th release of "When I'm President" was announced, I preordered it from Amazon and paid extra for same day delivery. I have yet to receive the CD. Anni downloaded the album from iTunes and burned a copy. She loves Ian and, obviously, me too. We have caved in to digital, as only Ian could make us. To get an idea of what all the fuss is about, here's a webpage with a free mp3 of the title song -- scroll down and click on the yellow buttons to stream or download: mp3.com/free-mp3/ian-hunter-when-im-president/I will be back with a review after I pry myself off of the ceiling.
|
|
anni
Administrator
Administrating Designer
Posts: 1,608
|
Post by anni on Nov 14, 2012 10:56:21 GMT -8
And while Brian's prying himself off of the ceiling, here's a wonderful interview from NPR's World Cafe with host, David Dye and Ian Hunter. The Rant Band, also in the studio, plays three songs from the new (nearly perfect) album: www.npr.org/2012/11/08/164683592/ian-hunter-on-world-cafe
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Nov 18, 2012 0:51:42 GMT -8
Thanks to Ticketmaster, I learned late Wednesday night that Ian Hunter has been booked at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills on January 31. Usually such good news comes from Justin at ianhunter.com via an e-mail blast. As I post this, there's still no mention of the date on Ian's website. No doubt, he will soon announce a West Coast tour, hopefully with the Rant Band. Here is Ticketmaster's Ian Hunter page: www.ticketmaster.com/Ian-Hunter-tickets/artist/735312?tm_link=tm_homeA_artist2I can't tell you how great their new album is, I just can't, not yet. I'm not worthy. To follow up on my previous post about the commerce, I finally received the CD after calling Amazon, which refunded all shipping charges, and was blown away by how much better it sounds than the mp3 from iTunes. In Neil Young's new autobiography, he rants about how dumbed down we've become as consumers listening to digital media. Even a CD is a poor representation of an analog record. But Apple's file of "When I'm President" comes across as one of those tinny transistor radios we had in the 1960's compared to the CD. I cannot get enough of the title track. Ian's new label Slimstyle Records posted a video on You Tube last month of a live performance in his Connecticut home with all of the Rant Band except Andy Burton. Who is that guy on keyboards? This song should have been a big hit this election season. Anyway, it's timeless:
|
|
anni
Administrator
Administrating Designer
Posts: 1,608
|
Post by anni on Nov 23, 2012 14:25:02 GMT -8
What could possibly add to the delightful post above? The announcement posted on www.ianhunter.com today: Ian Hunter and the Rant Band will play four dates in California in the new year. The Coach House, San Juan Capistrano CA (30 Jan 2013); Canyon Club, Agoura Hills CA (31 Jan 2013); The Fillmore, San Francisco CA (1 Feb 2013); and the El Rey, Los Angeles CA (2 Feb 2013).We bought our tickets to the Canyon Club last week. The El Rey concert is not listed yet on the venue's website, but we anitcipate that tickets will go on sale next week.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Dec 16, 2012 2:03:42 GMT -8
How many copies of "You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic" does one man need? Maybe someday, I'll root around the house and count my copies of the album in every format. Yes, including 8-track. I got yet another CD in the mail today, part of a new four-disc package released only in the U.K., "From the Knees of My Heart: The Chrysalis Years (1979-1981)." I wrote nearly 1000 words about the 30th anniversary edition of "Schizophrenic" on page 2 of this thread, calling it "one of the finest achievements of human civilization." But apparently Chrysalis did not clean out its vaults three years ago. This new package includes another version of "Just Another Night," a different take of "The Outsider" and a never before heard outtake, "Alibi," all prominently featuring guitarist and collaborator Mick Ronson. For those tracks alone, I would have paid the bargain price of $22. I've been able to restrain myself to four copies of the live album, "Welcome to the Club," recorded during one of the best weeks of my life when Ian and Mick played the Roxy for five nights. If you own the U.K. edition, you have everything on this set. Nothing new here -- let's move on. Disc 3 contains "Short Back N' Sides," his weakest album, along with the bonus material that was part of a 1994 reissue that went out of print before I bought a CD player. I'll get to that later. The biggest draw for me was the fourth disc, the audio from Chrysalis' "Ian Hunter Rocks" performance with a new band at the Dr Pepper Festival in New York in 1981. The videotape came out when I didn't even own a TV, let alone a VHS machine, and it soon went out of print. Here's "Irene Wilde," the encore:
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
Member is Online
|
Post by Brian on Dec 24, 2012 1:34:33 GMT -8
Another clip from the 1981 Chrysalis videotape: Ian Hunter performs his song, "Gun Control."
I wonder if Ian will resurrect that one when he and the Rant Band rock Southern California next month. It wasn't the first of his topical songs or one of his best, but "Gun Control" seems more timely than ever after listening to the NRA's Wayne LaPierre last Friday. "We'll make a lot of money if we stick to the guns."
|
|