I don’t know about you but Mott the Hoople has always come across to me as the band that was clearly fighting for a piece of fame that they earned on their own.  They didn’t seem to follow the same formulas and routines that surrounded many bands trying to get a grip on the Rock n Roll mountain.  Their songs were different, they were different.  A look at the band at any period would indicate to you a splinter group of Rock and Rollers.  Even Ian Hunter recognized this in his roll call heard on “Ballad of Mott the Hoople (March 26, 1972 – Zurich)” from the magnanimous Mott album from 1973.  In that same song, not only does he name each member and their place in the band, he calls the whole business “…a loser’s game” and he feels that they have “…somehow let you down.”

You can closely match the lyrics of “Ballad of Mott the Hoople” to the biography of the band, especially if you know a bit of their history.  As a band, they have covered a lot of ground, settling down to finally record what really set them apart from the average band, and just two albums before their official demise with Ian Hunter’s departure.  Founding guitarist, Mick Ralphs left after Mott to form Bad Company.  The remaining members carried on for a bit after the departure of Ian Hunter as Mott, dropping the The Hoople moniker to keep familiarity but to reboot the band’s style.  Mott the Hoople is a band of importance to the history of Rock and Roll, more than many people realize.  But mainstream acceptance always eluded them save for their one hit they’re best known for, the Bowie-penned and produced “All the Young Dudes.”  That song gave them the hit that saved their career.

This 2-disc retrospective lightly covers the musical history of Mott the Hoople on the first CD, shining a light on their debut album, the 1969 self-titled that produced a Mott classic, “Rock and Roll Queen.”  After which, Old Records Never Die Anthology chooses great cuts from each successive album (Mad Shadows, Brain Capers, All the Young Dudes, Mott, The Hoople, but never reaching into the Mott era, which produced two albums before calling it quits as the Mott team and morphing into British Lions for two more albums.

The Mott the Hoople disc of Old Records Never Dies spends much of its time on 1973’s Mott and 1974’s The Hoople, as it should have because of their superiority in the canon of the band.  I do think that they should have dipped into Mott the Hoople Live (“Hymn for the Dudes” would have worked) to round it out a bit more completely.  But with songs like “All the Way From Memphis,” “Honaloochie Boogie,” “Violence,” and the previously mentioned masterpiece, “Ballad of Mott the Hoople…” from their Mott album, plus “Roll Away The Stone,” “Crash Street Kidds,” and “The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll” with its finalizing ‘that’s all’ uttered by Ian Hunter at the end of the song, from their lesser quality but still under-valued swansong, The Hoople, this first disc is a joy to listen to.

The second disc is a 16-track romp through the extraordinary solo career of Ian Hunter, who continued to write and record some of the more inventive songs of his time, sadly hits for others and not for Ian, whose versions are the best renditions.  Barry Manilow hit gold yet again with his Pop-washed cover of “Ships” found on Hunter’s spectacular and perfect You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic album in 1979, an album that this collection rightfully spends a lot of time with offering four cuts off of.  Great White earned some cred by recording Hunter’s “Once Bitten Twice Shy” for their rise into hit status.  In many ways, the solo career of Ian Hunter is a much harder thing to sift through and cover with so many great tunes available.  With the exception of a few importance inclusions, in any instance, a fan of Hunter’s solo releases could rightfully come up with other selections that would deserve equal billing with many of the tracks included here.  For example, I feel that as good as “Still Love Rock and Roll” is, “Morons” would have been a sound addition from his 2001 album, Rant.  Regardless, the Hunter disc is a wonderful selection of tunes.

As a collection of songs that defined not only Mott the Hoople but also the Ian Hunter solo years, Old Records Never Die – The Mott the Hoople/Ian Hunter Anthology does a fine job in representation.  Not only does it give us an respective glimpse into the band as it was, it also lets us see – via the Ian Hunter solo collection – how much stronger and evolved Mott the Hoople would have been had Hunter remained.  Regardless, Ian Hunter was the beating heart of the band, a heart that, once extricated, beat even stronger.  One can only imagine what the Mott the Hoople would have achieved with songs like “Ships,” “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” “Just Another Night,” “Cleveland Rocks,” “When the Daylight Comes,” “Morons,” and others from Hunter’s pen, had he found the strength to remain.

The 2CD collection also presents a 16-page booklet with photos of various phases of the band.  It also includes a well-written essay by Ben Edmunds (Creem/Mojo magazines) and a detailed set of credits within the two-page track-listing.  The 2 CDs are picture stamped, a nice addition.  Old Records Never Die is an excellent 2-disc Anthology of the band that is Mott the Hoople, and Mott’s lyricist and vocalist, Ian Hunter in all of their recognizable and understated glories.

Do you remember those Saturday Gigs?  We do!