The Linear Canvas

I was thinking about Mott the Hoople the other day after I was discussing Bad Company. Lead guitarist Mick Ralphs, left Mott the Hoople and formed Bad Company in the mid 1970’s. Some say it was because Ian Hunter couldn’t sing as well as Paul Rodgers. I heard it was because Ian wouldn’t or couldn’t sing Can’t Get Enough which was Bad Company’s first hit. Hunter was the main guy in Mott anyway and Mick needed some elbow room. It was a real Spinal Tap situation (when Nigel quit) for awhile. Ian was really mad that he left. I have a Mott the Hoople music book that was put out about that time and fails to mention Ralphs, except in a couple of song credits. It almost seemed like Ian was trying to scrub Mick from Mott the Hoople history. I also read at the time, there were some bad feelings. It must have been resolved because I have heard live concerts they did together much later. Ian also made a pretty good living after Mick left. So that probably didn’t hurt either.

One of the Boys

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/One of the Boys 20110710_1613mcd.mp3]

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As a big Mott the Hoople fan, I was very disappointed. Mick Ralphs was replaced by guitarist Ariel Bender who had gone by Luther Grosvenor, his real name, in the band Spooky Tooth previously. I wasn’t very excited about Mick leaving at all. The last Mott the Hoople guitarist was Mick Ronson. Ronson was famous as the guitar player from David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars.  I saw Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson together in 1979 after the official Mott the Hoople split up. The rest of the band made some albums as just “Mott”, then came back as The British Lions.

I also thought about the recording I made of One of the Boys. It was always one of my favorites from Mott the Hoople’s All The Young Dudes album. It’s a very basic power rocker and it is fun to play. The song was co-written by Ralphs and Hunter. I had recorded it a few years back. I was still recording on my Fostex 16 track at the time. I had some issues with that mix and wanted to take the time to re-mix it someday. The original mix just had a lot of things wrong with it and needed some work including a better stereo image.

I also have recorded Ready For Love, a song recorded by both Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. I may re-mix it too.

One of the Boys was written by Ian Hunter and Mick Ralphs. I sing and play all the instruments on this track. I am playing a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar and Ludwig drums. It was recorded on a Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track. It was processed with Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9.