Mott – Shouting And Pointing

Details :

• Year of release : 1976
• Label : CBS 81289
• Review Format : LP

Replacing departed members of the pedigree of Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson and even earlier departee Mick Ralphs would never be an easy task but it was the one facing the remaining members of Mott The Hoople in the mid-70s after the big names had moved on to pastures new. With the highs of the All The Young Dudes era firmly behind them the final incarnation reduced the name simply to ‘Mott’ and released two albums of which this was the second and last. The revised line-up was hardly a who’s who of 70s rock containing Pete ‘Overend’ Watts (bass), Nigel Benjamin (vocals), Morgan Fisher (keyboards), Ray Major (lead guitar) and Dale Griffin (drums).

Hardly legendary names any of them but they took a slightly harder musical direction post ‘The Hoople’, certainly less lyrically astute as well, and side one, entitled the ‘Shouting Side’ is launched by the titled track Shouting And Pointing. Heavy guitar but with keyboards to the fore at times as well this has a distinct ‘Sweet’ flavour to it, sort of heavy Glam as it were and isn’t a bad start at all. Collision Course has more than a passing resemblance to All The Way From Memphis, especially the sound of the piano hammering away behind the lead instruments. Once again decent enough rock music that a few years earlier would have fitted the sounds of the time nicely being a good little rocker with a definite commercial appeal.

A slashing guitar riff kicks off the much more direct sound of Storm. A track that brings a Faces rocker to mind it still maintains some of the bells and whistles of the Glam Rock era but there’s a solid 12-bar blues rocker here that is certainly worth a listen. A nice piano breakdown adds a bit of a symphonic quality too before some thunderous power chords bring the song back to a heavier closing sequence. Steinman could have done something with this song I reckon. However, Career (No Such Thing As Rock ‘N’ Roll) is very different to the first three tracks being a downbeat, almost tired of the game, piano dominated ballad. A nice change to the 70s radio rock so far it builds up intensity as the the song progresses with some excellent guitar passages and whilst in no way commercial is quite impressive and certainly unexpected.

The ‘Pointing Side’ or that more conventionally referred to as side two has another Glam Rock throwback as its opener. Hold On, You’re Crazy doesn’t flow as well as the earlier material and sounds quite messy in places however. Maybe it’s trying to be a little unconventional but it doesn’t really work as well as it could for me. See You Again is a very good acoustic guitar lead ballad that features a subtle countrified styling as well and is clearly a distant relative of Once Bitten Twice Shy somewhere in it’s lineage and in fact was released just a year after that song appeared on Ian Hunter’s debut album. Clearly not as well known or as memorable though!

Too Short Arms (I Don’t Care) sees a dominant piano part again for a cracking bit of bar-room boogie that gets the foot tapping and the head nodding. Nigel Benjamin’s vocals even have a touch of the ‘Rod Stewarts’ about them raising the Faces comparisons once more. Uniquely titled Broadside Outcast is the poorest song yet and tries to be too outlandish in delivery whilst borrowing a few too many Glam Rock musical cliches as well. The big gang chorus doesn’t suit the song and the wall of noise reinforced by a high pitched keyboard sounds awfully dated these days. The generic rock ‘n’ roll of Good Times closes the album and further leaves a feeling that they ran out of inspiration on this album although I’ve heard a lot worse from 70’s Glam greats on the downward slope.

File this alongside Sweet, Faces, Slade and of course Mott The Hoople but don’t expect anything like the ride those acts provided.

Summary : I had very low expectations of this album, picking it up for very little based on the name and a fairly interesting looking cover. Savaged by Allmusic.com (1/5) it was a mistake for the band to maintain the Mott links and this may have fared better under a new identity. Indeed the band’s next release was under the ‘British Lions’ banner and opinion seems to be much better on that album. Taken on it’s own merits however this is a decent enough effort with a typical Britishness about it that just lacks a killer song or two. Solid, although unconventional in places, late Glam Rock that firmly belongs in the mid-70s.

If You Listen To One Track Listen To : Storm

Score : 2/5