Sony
1974
Mott The Hoople Live
About This Album
By 1974, Mott the Hoople was quite possibly the greatest concert band in the world, a blur of high-energy rock, high content poetics, and high camp costuming -- Ian Hunter the tough guy in leather and shades; Ariel Bender the street kid, all satin hat flash; Overend Watts, the freakoid in skyscraper thigh boots; and a live show which out-dressed the lot of them. If any band deserved a live album, it was Mott. And if any live album failed to deliver, it was this one. Today, the album's deficiencies seem less severe. Though the band's Bender era remains considerably less well-documented than the earlier Mick Ralphs period, still live material has poured out from a variety of sources, from the Shades of Ian Hunter compilation to the All the Young Dudes box set, and onto the spring 2001 reissue of Bender's own Floodgates solo album (an excellent version of "Here Comes the Queen"). There's even a quasi-legal fan club release for the 1974 King Biscuit broadcast which remains the highpoint of the band's live career. Live, however, remains the only official document of the glory, and the problems commence on the back cover -- a great shot of the band performing "Marionette" on a stage hung with puppets, when the song itself is nowhere in sight.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,6 and 8)

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