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All the Young Dudes by Campbell Devine
This is an exhaustive work, friendly, humorous and faithful biography. The early chapters set the scene and aquaint us with Watts, Griffin, Ralphs, Allen, Tippins and Hunter, via outfits such as the Soulents, the Shakedown Sound, Silence, the Doc Thomas Group, the Inmates, Hurricane Henry and the Shriekers, The Scenary and so on. We get the background to the recording of the albums, the early tours, days at Island, being forced to undertake the Rock n Roll Circus tour, Bowie and All the Young Dudes, de Fries, Bender, Ronson and so on. It is sometimes candid, sometimes suprising but always interesting and absorbing. I suppose it is easy for a subject you are interested in to be so, but Devine manages to let the principal players do most of the talking. Pete Watts emerges as a very entertaining guy; I found myself laughing out loud to some of his observations. I find myself able to rely on Dales recollections, and Raphs takes a very relaxed and generous view towards Mott the Hoople. You realise that they were as good as we all thought — even if they in some quarters are suprised by this — and emulated, copied and admired by their contemporaries in the business at the time. The latter chapters deal with Ian Hunters post-Mott the Hoople career in some detail and, naturally, include a good deal of Ronson information and a very well handled 'tribute' to the Spider from Mars. It is fascinating and well written but there are questions… …Was the Ray Majors to Mott the Hoople negotiations really as revealed in this book? Surely Ray wouldn't have passed-up the opportunity — and if only he had joined in 73! …Is/was Ian Hunter really Mott the Hoople? How can we ignore the torch being carried by Dale, Overend and Morgan into Mott and British Lions? Given the histories of UFO, Deep Purple and other British bands, if these guys had decided to keep the full Mott the Hoople moniker then they could still have been playing today… Still, a welcome addition to any book-shelf. Terry Burgess
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Last update 14th September 2008 ©2008 Half Moon Bay
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At
last! The long awaited and eagerly anticipated companion to the equally
eagerly awaited Sony 3 CD 