Mott - By Tonight - Live - 1975-76

Mott - By Tonight - Live - 1975-76

When Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson left Mott The Hoople at the end of 1974
the band wasted no time in recruiting guitarist Ray Major. Recruiting a new
vocalist (Nigel Benjamin) took a while longer, and with such big shoes to fill
who can blame them? Shortening their name to MOTT (note the capitalisation)
they soldiered on for two albums before calling it a day at the end of 1976.
Were they any good, tho'? These live tracks show they gave it a jolly good shot.
Yes, we've seen these tracks before, in the form of the 2-CD set Over Here
And Over There. Good though that set was (I waxed lyrical reviewing it at the time)
it suffered from a certain amount of track duplication (The Great White Wail was on
there no less than three times!), hence the need for a compilation that captures the
best bits.
We open with five tracks from a blistering performance at the legendary Friars club,
Aylesbury in June '76 (I was there, and can confirm it was a totally insane night).
Ray's guitar is brutal in disc opener Storm, while Collision Course has always been a
favourite of mine with its message of determination/defiance
("Don't let them tell you you'll never find fame - we know better!")
Just a notch down are three tracks from Leeds Polytechnic in November '76.
A great cover of I Don't Wanna Discuss It segues into All The Way From Memphis
in a manner that doesn't work for me - an up-tempo rocker that to these ears
sounds almost pedestrian in comparison.But no matter, the rest of the disc works
just fine for me. Two more shows, this time from the Forum, LA and the Agora
Ballroom, Cleveland OH in 1975 complete the disc, with a great intro by resident DJ
Chris Whitehouse in LA, Nigel delivering Sweet Jane with a youthful, enthusiastic
shriek while MOTT drives the mixing desk at the Agora into a full-blooded overload.
Highly recommended, especially if you didn't get the original 2-CD set.

01.Storm
02.The Great White Wail
03.Collision Course
04.Hold On, You're Crazy
05.She Does It
06.Career
07.By Tonight
08.Love Me Two Times
09.I Don't Wanna Discuss It/All The Way From Memphis
10.Born Late '58
11.Love Now
12.Rock 'n' Roll Queen/It Takes One To Know One/Sweet Jane