Best Mott the Hunter Live Album Or Ian Hunter Live Album

This article includes a readers poll where you can vote for the best live album recorded by Mott the Hoople or Ian Hunter and see the results of the votes so far.

Background

Mott The Hoople are best known for their cover of the David Bowie song, All The Young Dudes and other excellent singles that were linked to British glam rock.

Their origins were more humble. The band originated from the English county of Herefordshire and were called The Doc Thomas Group, then The Shakedown Sound and later, as Silence. Guy Stevens of Island Records liked the group but didn’t like the lead singer. Out went Stan Tippins and in came Ian Hunter.

Whilst in prison, Stevens read the Willard Manus novel Mott the Hoople and proposed that as their name.

The group operated as a hard rock band and released four studio albums Mott the Hoople (1969), Mad Shadows (1970), Wildlife (1971) and Brain Capers (1971) to limited success.

They band were thinking about breaking up and David Bowie, who’d been impressed by the group offered them a song. They rejected Suffragette City but liked All the Young Dudes. It became a #3 single in the UK charts and gave them the confidence to record some excellent albums:

  • All the Young Dudes (1972)
  • Mott (1973)
  • The Hoople (1974)

Success seemed to unsettle the band and a number of band changes were made. Mick Ralphs left in August 1973 to form Bad Company and was replaced by Ariel Bender (aka Luther Grosvenor From Spooky Tooth) but he left the following year and Mick Ronson was brought in. That didn’t last long and Hunter and Ronson split away. The other members carried on as Mott for several years.

All five original members reformed the band for a few concerts in 2009.

Live Albums By Mott the Hoople

The live album released by Mott while they were still together was called Mott the Hoople Live from concerts in 1973 and 74. There have been archive releases and new live recordings since then.

What then is the best live album by Mott The Hoople? There is a wide choice:

  • Fairfield Halls, Live 1970
  • Live At The Fillmore West (1970/71)
  • Live In Sweden 1971
  • All The Way From Stockholm to Philadelphia: Live 71/72
  • Walkin’ With The Hoople (1971 to 74)
  • Hoopling – Best of Live (1971 to 74)
  • Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus Live 1972 at Wolverhampton
  • Live 1973/4
  • Live Over Here and Over There 1975-1976
  • Live At the Hammersmith Apollo 2009
  • Live 2013
  • Live At The BBC
  • Essential Young Dudes: Live

Ian Hunter After He Left Mott the Hoople

Hunter collaborated a number of times with Mick Ronson, most notably on his first and fourth studio albums, Ian Hunter (1975) and You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic (1979.

On All American Alien Boy (1976) he softened the sound, only to toughen up again on Overnight Angels (1977) when he worked with another ex-David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick.

Hunter and Ronson toured America in 1979 and Europe in 1980. On his 1980 tour of America, Todd Rungren guested as guitarist.

Hunter has carried on recording new studio albums and releasing live albums.

The Ian Hunter Live Albums

Once again we have a wide choice:

  • Welcome To The Club 1979
  • Live At Rockpalast 1980
  • BBC Live in Concert 1980
  • Live In London 2004
  • Strings Attached (Oslo 2002)
  • Live In The UK 2010
  • The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nuthin But The Truth
  • Missing In Action

What Is The Best Mott The Hoople Or Ian Hunter Live Album?

Please vote in the poll for your favourite albums or, if you haven’t heard many, the albums you’d recommend to other readers.

What Are the THREE Best Mott The Hoople And Ian Hunter Live Albums?

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What Are The Best Live Albums Of All Time?

As well as having live album polls for the artists, I also have them by genre and I think the best classic rock live albums and hard rock live albums will be interesting to you.

You can see the complete list of readers polls at Live Album Polls.

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