All the young dudes must click this link and go back to the main Mott the Hoople page Mott Lee Crew Overall Album Score: 7.7 out of 10 ...apple sauuuuuuuuuuuuce... Well, David Bowie wasn't going to sniff around Mott the Hoople forever! He's gone, and Mott the Hoople were then left to fend for themselves ... and *dang it* do they ever get weird! Bowie went to the trouble of showing them the way to Glamdom glory and gay anthems, and they almost entirely ignore it! First of all, there's no more gayness in the lyrics. (Although, I guess that's not a bad thing ... no more does this straight dude from Kansas need to have uncomfortable unrest when listening to this band.) Second of all, the Glam is hardly there! Easily what's the greatest song from the album, "All the Way From Memphis," is boogie-rock! "The Hymn For the Dudes" is, as the title suggests, a slow 'hymn' of sorts. "The Ballad of Mott the Hoople" is also as the title suggests ... a ballad! "I Wish I Was Your Mother," the album's second greatest tune, has bluegrass tendencies. "Violence" and "I'm a Cadillac" are utterly unclassifiable. The remaining three songs are Glam! (And "I Wish I Was Your Mother" is a Glam song, too ... with bluegrass tendencies.) So, I guess that means that four songs out of nine are Glam! I guess it was predictable that Ian Hunter would attempt to bring the band away from Glam ... he wasn't totally in control of the band when they made All the Young Dudes. And, when Mott the Hoople was unleashed onto the world without the accompaniment of David Bowie, maybe they wanted to do other stuff. Alright, so they did "other stuff" ... but what a strange and diverse set this is! Unfortunately, while Ian Hunter is a decent songwriter, he apparently doesn't have enough songwriting talent to make too many of these songs utterly memorable. With the wonderful exception of "All the Way From Memphis," there isn't a melody on here that sticks out. ...All in all, these melodies are rather feeble compared with All the Young Dudes. This isn't really an album that's worth purchasing ... but it might be interesting to some. Read the track reviews and see if they pique your brain. Overall Album Score: 7.7 out of 10 (A bit of a disappointment after All the Young Dudes. Where's the catchy Glam tunes? There aren't too many here!) Average Song Score: 8.1 (This is an overall decent set of tunes with a lot of entertaining and creative-enough-to-be-fun tracks in it. There's really only one song in here that you'll likely want to take home with you, however, and that is "All the Way From Memphis.") Album Tilt: 7.5 (Ohhhh... a lot of these songs are fun to listen through the first time around, but you might not be too apt to listen to this one repetitively.) Artist Rating: 7.5 (Ian Hunter and company were really trying to branch out and get their creative juices flowing. Unfortunately, none of these "creative" tracks were ever a success, so the whole thing seems a bit feeble to me.) Track Reviews All the Way From Memphis 10/10 Why does everybody say that "All the Young Dudes" is the only song worth remembering from Mott the Hoople? "All the Way From Memphis" is just as good, although, I don't think it was quite as much of a hit. ...It should have been. It's one of those songs that develops plenty of promise from that kicking riff alone, but it keeps the energy flowing throughout with a catchy tune and an energetic (and intentionally stifled) saxophone performance. This is a boogie-rock classic! ... And Mott the Hoople didn't have too many of *those*. Whizz Kid 8.5/10 Mott the Poople have returned back to the way that I used to know and love them ... down with the boogie-oogie and up with the GLAAAAAM. Alright, "All the Way From Memphis" would be a hard ditty to top, and "Whiz Kid" doesn't do that. It's slowly-paced, but the melody is strong enough to carry the song on its shoulders. Bits of the rather strangely chosen instrumentation are entertaining as well. Hymn For the Dudes 7/10 Ohhhhhhh ... this is creative! ... A little bit ... I can't really say that I've heard too many Glam bands trying to write actual hymns. Well ... by its actual definition, it's not really a hymn ... it might be an anti-hymn, actually. But it was an interesting idea anyway. The only thing that's keeping this track from scoring a bit higher is the melody. The melody is good enough to keep my attention on this 'hymn' with some content, but I'm not really enjoying it. Honaloochie Boogie 8/10 Well, after that marginally boring "Hymn For the Dudes," we get this more quickly-paced Glam song. (I don't think this is really a "boogie.") I think this one is a little bit of a mess. The arranging sounds very unfocused and conflicted. However, it has an enjoyable vibe to it, so ... it's not bad. The melody's pretty good, too, I suppose. Violence 7/10 Like "Hymn For the Dudes," this song is quite interesting. Usually, this is a loud, trashy-sounding, sort of angry song ... and then every once in a while, it goes into another section where Ian Hunter is singing "Violence, violence" amidst a strange violin. However, also like "Hymn For the Dudes," this isn't incredibly entertaining. The melody leaves much to desire. But it's interesting. I can't deny that. Drivin' Sister 8.5/10 Oh! It's freaking about time before we got to a regular Mott the Hoople the way Mother Nature intended them to be. Glammy and catchy! This one's a simple little tune that's ... Glammy and catchy ... Wow! This must be Mott the Hoople the way Mother Nature intended them to be! There's a slow bit in the middle of this one that piddles a little, but it ain't too bad. There's also some nice automobile sound-effects incorporated into here ... I guess ... Ballad of Mott the Hoople (March 26, 1972) 8.5/10 WHAT? A BALLAD? I WANT GLAM, MOMMA! ... Oh well ... actually this song is pretty good, anyway. It's really slow and really not-Glam, but it's a pretty good ballad, I suppose. I like the melody. It's one of the better-written tunes on the album. But it's not Glam! Where's the Glam? Where'd that Ziggy Startrucker feller run off to? I'm a Cadillac/ El Camino Dolo Roso 6/10 You know ... the only song on here that Ian Hunter didn't have songwriting credits is over seven minutes long ... There's something wrong with the system! Although, I won't claim that this one isn't slightly entertaining. The tune isn't the greatest invention known to mankind ... in fact it gets danged annoying after awhile! Fortunately, this tune isn't repeated throughout the song's entire duration. From the middle on, we get this rather cumbersome-to-have-to-sit-through instrumental involving a Spanish guitar. ...All in all, though, it wasn't such a horrible effort. I Wish I Was Your Mother 9/10 Now, *that* is the strangest thing that I think anybody has ever said to me! 'You Wish You Were My Mother?' Freaking lunatic. Boy ... this song is just missing a minor piece of "umph" that would have made this into as much as a deserved classic as "All the Way From Memphis" is. As it stands, this Glam song with some bluegrass tendencies is merely a minor delight. All the way from Memphis, I would check my e-mail to see if you have mailed your ideas here.

All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. E.T. phone home.