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Ian Hunter after Mott the Hoople Hunter tells the rest of the band what
they can do during the It was Ian's collapse and hospitalisation due to exhaustion in New York on the eve of the bands UK tour in the autumn of 1974 that precipitated the final split, although at the time, the press were announcing that November dates were to be rearranged. It is now clear that for Hunter the time was right to call it a day and with Mick Ronson at his side, he proceeded to carve out a solo career. The first fruit was the 1975 'Ian Hunter', a stonking album that put the 'The Hoople' well and truly in the shade. It produced a top twenty hit 'Once Bitten Twice Shy' and received much critical acclaim. Hunter wrote it, Ronson produced it and the band were all relative unknowns. The Hunter-Ronson pairing didn't last; Mick went off on the Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder Tour and Ian carried on. The next offering was quite different to the debut solo disc, but just as credible. The 1976 'All American Alien Boy' had in its title track one of my personal Hunter masterpieces in 'Letter to Britannia from the Union Jack'. The band comprised respected US session-men from the jazzier end of the rock spectrum; Jaco Pastorious and David Sanbourn, as well as Aynsley Dunbar. The next album and band followed in 1977 and were both called 'Overnight Angels'. It again received critical acclaim, but commercial success was now deserting Hunter although some of the punk vanguard paid him due respect as Generation X assigned him their producer. In 1979 he resurfaced with the brilliant Chrysalis lp 'You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic' backed, by and large, by Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band and one Mick Ronson. They had a go at touring, but it all came to naught. Shame, because this offering was ironically a lot stronger than Springsteen's own highly successful 'Born in the USA' of similar vintage. 1980 saw the Chrysalis years continue with the live double album 'Welcome to the Club'. In the UK it was becoming increasingly difficult to know about his work. If you saw in the record shop then that was the first you knew about it. Clearly the glory days had gone. One of my brothers bought this one as his token Hunter/Mott record. Chrysalis had one more attempt with Hunter and 1981's 'Short Back and Sides', the cover featuring a suitably shorn Ian Hunter. Curiously, it was CBS/Columbia that put out the disappointing 'All of the Good Ones are Taken' in 1983. Can anyone tell me why they came back into the fray? Or have I got my dates wrong? And then Mercury pitched in with the 1989 'YUI Orta' disc for the USA. This, again, was a Hunter-Ronson effort and import copies have been seen in the UK. Hunter was seen on stage with Mick Ronson and David Bowie (plus Joe Elliot and Phil Collen of Def Leppard) joining Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute bash at Wembley in 1992, for a rousing rendition of 'All the young dudes'. A performance that demonstrated that the old dog hadn't lost a trick over the years. The aforementioned Joe Elliot is, it appears, a big Ian Hunter fan, and so it was that our hero plays some fine piano on the Defs 'Retro-Active' CD and Q Magazine reported that Hunter was putting material together in Scandinavia for a new album. Having visited other sites and having received several mails, 1995 saw some Hunter activity: 'Dirty Laundry' (a US only collection seen on import in HMV). In the UK, Windsong have released the BBC In-Concert performance of the Hunter-Ronson band from 1989. The classic book 'Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star' has been republished by Independent Music Press after 15 years of being out of print. Hunter jotted down notes whilst on a US tour promoting 'All The Young Dudes', so the band line-up is the original quintet and David Bowie is still flavour of the month along with his and Motts then manager Tony deFries. A last studio album 'The Artful Dodger' was recorded during 1996 and has been released by Polydor in Scandinavia and Germany. Citadel released the album in the UK on 21st April 1997. To mark the occasion, Ian Hunter signed copies of the record - and anything else people brought along - at one of Londons Virgin Megastores. US readers can get the album via CD-NOW. To promote the record, Hunter toured the UK and Europe in spring and early summer and his since lined up another extensive UK tour for the autumn. 2000 saw plenty of Hunter activity: 2-CD compilation "Once Bitten Twice Shy", live set via "Missing in Action", UK and US dates to promote and the launch of the official Ian Hunter web site.
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Last update 18th January 2008 ©2008 Half Moon Bay
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