What
an album! The perfect party album, every
track takes off like a locomotive with
the brakes off and the wheels rolling
freely as it takes you on an express ride
around the frantic world of Rock ‘n’ Roll
and the minds of the people that create
this medium.
This album started out as a fun venture
in Abbey Road Studios when Norwegian keyboard
player and long time friend of Ian Hunter’s
(ex Mott the Hoople) Casino Steel was
going in to record a few numbers with
some of his friends going under the name
of Gringo Starr’s All Stars (cheeky little
name if ever I have heard one), knowing
that Ian Hunter was at a loose end after
just tragically losing his off sider,
main collaborator, and all round good
guy Mick Ronson to the dreaded cancer
the previous year (1993), after completing
the Mick Ronson memorial Concerts at London’s
Hammersmith Odeon. (The building that
used to be the Hammersmith Odeon may be
called many different things due to commercial
reasons over the last few years, but it
will always be the Hammersmith Odeon to
me, and one of the finest venues ever
to go and see your favorite band.) All
the artists on this album in some way
or another took part in this concert.
Of course in true Rock ‘n’ Roll style
when all the musicians were called together
at Abbey Road, a very embarrassed Casino
Steel had to admit he did not actually
have any songs to record, but with a band
like this put together and fourteen days
booked in the studio, something had to
be done. The band in the studio was Casino
Steel, well respected solo artist from
his Norwegian homeland; Ian Hunter (ex
Mott the Hoople); Honest Plain John of
the Boys and the Crybabies; Darrell Bath
of U.K Subs; Dog’s D’Amour, and The Godfathers;
Vom of Doctor and The Medics, surely one
of the most underrated drummers of his
era.
The infamous Blue Weaver took turns on
keyboards with Casino Steel, and holding
down the bass guitar responsibilities
was a certain Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols
and Rich Kids fame.
In fourteen days eighteen songs were
completed, twelve of which appeared on
this fine collection, three of which are
Hunter songs, four of which are Hunter
collaborations, and the other five are
shared by the rest of the band. Subsequently
the record company asked for a name change
and Gringo Starr’s All-Star’s was dropped
for the more original and more amusing
“Ian Hunter’s Dirty Laundry”.
What you get is a hybrid of Rock ‘n’
Roll songs that sound as if they were
written in the sixties and recorded in
the nineties by a band that had been together
for three decades not three days.
First song is ‘Dancing on the Moon’ and
its title reflects how the band felt being
in this position, total freedom. So let’s
just go out and enjoy ourselves, written
in the studio (which is often the best
way to keeping it spontaneous), done in
the studio in one take and the band didn’t
know what they were doing at all. Vom
just sort of keeps time, because he didn’t
know where to roll as Hunter kept on changing
the song as it was going along. It isn’t
a song as such, just something that happened
in the studio whilst fortunately the tapes
were rolling. What you are left with is
a great slab of party time Rock ‘n’ Roll
that is as fresh as a daisy.
After this we get another rocker in the
amusing ‘Another Fine Mess’, with lyrics
from Hunter about the old touring days
of the Hunter/Ronson band.
“Well you say I’m kicking up too much
of a fuss.
But twenty-four hours on the bus.
The band’s all moaning, the driver’s slow.
There’s not enough people, too many shows.
Down in the dumps, with the birthday blues.
Another fine mess you’ve gotten me into.”
Then, showing that life is not all laughs
and frivolity, we get the somber ‘Scars’,
showing that in all personnel relationships
we have to get through the troughs as
well as the peaks. Hunter’s singing of
his own lyrics has never been more poignant.
Of course as soon as this little ode
finishes, boys will always immediately
revert to being boys and we get the first
non-Hunter song in the fabulous romp through
Darrell Bath’s ‘Never Trust a Blonde’
with delightful sexy lyrics (not sexist,
could be a bloke dying his barnet), a
booming drum beat, raucous backing vocals,
tinkling piano, screaming guitar solos,
and a knowing wink to life on the wild
side.
To show this really was meant as a band
effort, we then get a jaunt through Honest
Plain John’s ‘Psycho Girl’ with it’s jangly
guitar refrain and hypnotic chorus.
The centrepiece of the album is a rolling
take on what could be the follow up to
Mott the Hoople’s final single ‘Saturday
Gigs’, which was a look back at the six
years of the life of a band, their achievements
and failures. ‘My Revolution’ looks back
at the proceeding twenty years, how things
have not really changed that much apart
from the slow aging process we all go
through, and how we all think we have
become smarter. But that I leave for you
to decide.
‘My Revolution’ does have the knowing
lyrics “No one told our wrinkles what
to wear”. The song is brought to a rousing
conclusion very much in “All you need
is Love” Beatles style with Ian Hunter
adlibbing lyrics over the top of the fading
chorus. ‘Good Girls’, another Honest Plain
John song, could be “The Kinks” from their
sixties heyday.
‘Red Letter Day’ is a great Hunter song
that he had held onto for years without
ever getting a decent occasion to get
it down on tape. Well, this seemed the
perfect time and was a beautiful ballad
about returning home to your loved ones
after time spent apart whilst going through
rough times, and the determination to
try and make up for lost time. It also
includes a stunning emotional guitar solo
from Darrell Bath.
The band then romp through three road
songs that most people would die for to
have in their repertoire, each single
one would get people leaping about on
the dance floor at a college hop.
Hidden away as last song on this collection
is one of Ian Hunter’s most honest soul
bearing laments, ‘The Other Man’, a song
about taking your partner back after an
affair with your best friend and how someone
may take the partner back and never forget,
but possibly forgive. But not the Other
Man, who should have known better than
to mess with your lady. ‘The Other Man’
has to be one of the best songs that Ian
Hunter ever recorded. It is a shame that
it did not get much exposure on its release,
as it sure would of tugged on a few heartstrings
and perhaps twanged a few guilt strings
in other directions.
“Ian Hunter’s Dirty Laundry” suffered
from very little fanfare when it came
out (although great critical acclaim including
one British journalist, who wrote “In
a perfect world we would hear more from
pros like Hunter and less from too many
younger lesser talents with too little
to say”), and was very badly distributed
by record company NorskPlatproduksjon.
They probably never had such a high quality
product on their roster before, and only
let the rights go begrudgingly to different
countries over the next two years. It
has only been available on general release
for the last couple of years. But if you
are a lover of good, old fashion, honest,
basic Rock ‘n’ Roll, “Ian Hunter’s Dirty
Laundry” is something you should pick
up and take home.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
