All the way to Memphis

by Philip Cato
S.T. Publishing. £9.99 (UK) ISBN 1 898927 60 X

At long last! A book about Mott the Hoople and only Mott the Hoople. At last, we will get the inner thoughts and with-hindsight reactions to the events that shaped the career and history of our heroes.

Well, almost. To be fair, this book doesn't set out to be a literary giant or to offer analysis of its own as to the whys and wherefores and the magic that was Mott the Hoople.

At best it is a lightweight and entertaining glimpse behind the curtains, at worst it is a clumsy collection of other peoples interviews.

And I suppose it is this that gets up my nose the most. At no time while reading this do you get the impression that Philip Cato actually talked face-to-face or phone-to-phone with anyone he writes about. Most of Hunters quotes that give you insight into the band are from his own copy of "Diary of a Rock n Roll Star" and the inner cover lists all the other sources. I also personally had some trouble with his clumsy style of writing. For example, there are times when I had to double-take a few paragraphs because the following ones didn't tie-up (the production and engineering of 'The Hoople' in particular), and Cato's version of how Buffin got to have such a moniker is at odds with my own understanding via other reliable sources.

The photos, by and large, a from late '74 and even of '75 vintage (so Mott not Mott the Hoople) and we therefore get full page pictures of Nigel Benjamin and Ray Majors, and one of these is captioned as being Terence "Verden" Allen!

However, having said all that, there are some facts and pieces of info that were new to me and it would make a reasonable 'coffee table' book. And for most of us, it is the only source for a lot of the quotes and recollections included. And to be fair, I found it almost - but not quite - compulsive reading.

At the time of writing it is still the only book available that deals with the subject, it does includes a full list of every Mott gig and it does succeed in being able to "...jog a few memories and gets you out there amongst the record racks."

Worldwide Availability

S.T. Publishing offer an excellent worldwide mail order service. They can be contacted at:

S.T.Publishing
P O Box 12
Lockerbie
Dumfriesshire
DG11 3BW
Scotland

Please tell them who sent you!