Mott the Hoople (album)


Mott the Hoople is the self-titled debut studio album by the band of the same name. It was produced by Guy Stevens and released in 1969 by Island Records in the UK, and in 1970 by Atlantic Records in the US. It was re-issued by Angel Air in 2003.

Background

Stevens, the group's initial mentor and guide, wanted to create an album that would suggest Bob Dylan singing with the Rolling Stones. This was partially achieved, with the album including several Dylanesque cover versions along with aggressive rock originals. Years later, vocalist Ian Hunter - who had only just joined the band prior to Mott the Hoople's recording and had yet to play live with them - would insinuate, in an August 1980 Trouser Press magazine interview, that the Stones' 1971 track "Bitch" bore more than a passing resemblance to this album's "Rock and Roll Queen."
An instrumental version of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" introduces the album, though a vocal version was recorded and is available on Mott's compilation release Two Miles From Heaven. Doug Sahm's "At the Crossroads" and Sonny Bono's "Laugh at Me" are suitably reminiscent of Bob Dylan, as is Hunter's "Backsliding Fearlessly."
Initial copies of the UK album were wrongly pressed with the song "The Road to Birmingham," at the end of side one, with "Backsliding Fearlessly" replacing "Rock and Roll Queen" at the start of side two.
The album's cover is a colorized reproduction of M. C. Escher's lithograph "Reptiles." In an interesting coincidence considering Guy Stevens' desire for Mott to sound like the Rolling Stones, in early 1969 Mick Jagger had approached Escher wanting to commission a painting for the cover of the Stones' upcoming album Let It Bleed; Escher declined the request.

Critical reception

of AllMusic, gives the album four stars out of five and states:
Robert Christgau however rates the album "C+" and states:

Track listing

Side one

  1. "You Really Got Me" – 2.55
  2. "At the Crossroads" – 5.33
  3. "Laugh At Me" – 6.32
  4. "Backsliding Fearlessly" – 3.47

    Side two

  5. "Rock and Roll Queen" – 5.10
  6. "Rabbit Foot and Toby Time" – 2.04
  7. "Half Moon Bay" – 10.38
  8. "Wrath and Wroll" – 1.49

    2003 CD bonus tracks

  10. "Ohio" – 4.26
  11. "Find Your Way" – 3.30

    Personnel

Mott the Hoople

Album

YearChartPositionWeeks on chart
1970Billboard 2001852
1970Official Charts 661