Mott the Hoople

Produced by David Bowie during the time when he really knew how to record guitars, All the Young Dudes features a pretty good Velvet Underground cover, the monumental title cut and some of Ian Hunter's best songs: "Momma's Little Jewel" and "Sucker." But most interesting may be Mick Ralphs' "Ready For Love" which later became a Bad Company hit.

Taking what does not belong to you is a crucial part of the process of creating rock & roll:
Exploiting proven riffs, phrases and hooks, then adding a few twists of your own--that's
how it works and that's how it's always worked. Only nobody made a big thing about it until
Mott the Hoople came along. They've never made any attempt to camouflage the sources of
their music; on the contrary, they have glorified the practice of musical thiever... More >

Those enamored of the dirty sound Guy Stevens got out of (or imposed on) this band complain that David Bowie's production is thin and antiseptic, but I always found their Atlantic albums fuzzy, and anyway, the material is powerful enough to overwhelm such quibbles. Mick Ralphs and Verden Allen make catchy. Bowie's title tune captures the spirit of a dispossessed younger (than me, Bowie, or Mott the Hoople) generation united by a style against time. The Velvet Underground cover is definitive. And Ian Hunter does more than get away with a long, slow, pretentious one at the close--"Sea Diver" is a triumph. (Grade - A-)