Mott The Hoople – Wildlife

Uniquely pastorale MTH album with some outstanding song writing. Yet another album spoiled by the live travk to close the album.

On the vinyl runout, my copy has ST-A-712146 PR-1A followed by what looks like a small p. This is the same on both sides.

Wildlife
released February 1971 on Island Records (Atlantic in the US)
**** recommended

While Mott the Hoople might primarily be remembered as a glam-rock outfit, they’d established themselves as a band long before Bowie and glitter helped give them a second chance.

Although this third set could be seen as an extension of the conclusion of Mad Shadows from just five months earlier, this mostly stands in contrast to that album and everything else from this band. Instead of urban energy, this focuses on rural melancholy, in some ways foreshadowing a part of Ian Hunter’s solo work and even Ralph’s more reflective contributions to Bad Company, but really this is its own bag. When this set gets too rural, it’s easy to see why some panned this album, but when the band brings the rural sounds into the melancholy of the inner city--a bit like L.A. outfits from this era--this set offers some of Mott the Hoople’s most endearing material.

This album saw a departure from original producer Guy Steven and clearly shows a departure from Mad Shadows, but like that previous album, this comes from Ralphs and Hunter, the cuts alternating between the two songwriters, somewhat similar but really quite different, each helping balance or ground the other. While Ralphs remains an integral part of this band, like with some moments on Mad Shadows, this third album shows Hunter coming into his own.

Like their 1969 debut, this set offers some covers, the first side concluding with a pretty faithful version of Melanie’s “Lay Down,” which clearly connects this album with the 60s; then they give us a taste of an early 70s’ Mott the Hoople show and let us know they weren’t done with the rock ‘n roll when they close this set with a live rendering of Little Richard’s “Keep a’Knockin’,” giving us a hint of where they’d head with their next album, and clearly showing where a good part of this band’s sound came from--the 1950s.

It’s easy to see why some didn’t like this album, and it’s even easier to see why others love it. It is clearly one of their best.

-- winch