After the successful run of Mott The Hoople, and backed with a hard run at success with his solo years, Ian Hunter has built a timeless set of songs scattered throughout a wealthy catalog. The Ian Hunter years with Mott The Hoople ended with the excellent The Hoople from 1974. Unfortunately, several of the strongest songs from those sessions never made that album, instead released as non-album tracks. In hindsight, had “Foxy Foxy”, and “(Do You Remember) The Saturday Gigs” been included on The Hoople, the album might have held a closer legendary status somewhat equal to its predecessor, the classic Mott album from 1973. Mott was the last album to feature Mick Ralphs, who went on to form Bad Company. (Note: you should hunt down the Mott The Hoople recorded version of “Ready For Love”, the song that helped to shoot Bad Company into the upper reaches of stardom.)
Ian Hunter’s solo career led him through several albums including the magnificent You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic (1979), as well as late career classic, Rant, from 2001. But it can easily be said that all of the Ian Hunter catalog are rich titles that may have made great Mott The Hoople sets.
On October 21, Varese Sarabande will reissue the second album in Hunter’s vast solo catalog, All American Alien Boy. That album was originally released in 1976 providing Ian Hunter with a charting album on the Billboard 200. It contained eight excellent tracks proving that Ian Hunter was a genuine talent.
There was a reissue of the title back in 2006 that provided six bonus tracks. While it’s still too early to know if this reissue will offer those same six tracks, as well as a current remaster of the songs, one thing is for sure, if you do not have this album, this is an excellent chance to remedy that oversight.