After a successful nationwide tour of the British
Isles, the boys from Mott spread their wings and journeyed over the
Atlantic Ocean to try their luck with their American brothers, who had
always given them such a fine welcome in their days when they had Hoople
tagged onto their name. As expected, musical conquest was almost
instant; although it was a little disappointing that their American
agents did not have the confidence to put them into bigger concert halls
rather than the small clubs they were asked to play. However, with
increased sales of their debut album ‘Drive On’ they were soon moved
up the pecking order by the record company and put on bigger and more
prestigious gigs, supporting the likes of Kiss, Aerosmith, and Canadian
prog rockers Rush.
Things were on the up and up, and if anybody deserved
it, this bunch of eccentric British musicians deserved every slice of
luck that was coming their way, as they had certainly paid their rock
‘n’ roll dues over the years.
So when Christmas and New Year 1975 loomed, it was
decided to return home to Blighty for the festive season for rest and
recreation, re-uniting with loved ones, and hopefully a bit of
industrious writing to record the next album in January. So far so good.
This time the onus was not solely on Overend Watts to
write all the songs as various ideas had been worked by various members
of the band whilst out on the road. Add to this the necessary recording
and road time that had been spent to let the new guys, Ray Major on lead
guitar and Nigel (the Dome) Benjamin, to feel like part of the band, and
not like the ‘new guys’. So it was with great optimism that they
returned to recording in February 1976, after further rehearsals. The
prestigious Manor Studios in Oxford was booked and the great Eddie
Kramer was moved in to do the major part of the production work.
This time the band knew what they were going to
record before they went into the studios. So when ‘Shouting and
Pointing’ was released in June that year, it was an absolute corker.
Even the artwork for the cover was of the highest standard with the band
in full stage regalia, emerging from a futuristic rubbish dump -
naturally ‘shouting and pointing’.
The album was split into the two sides of the vinyl,
side one ‘Shouting’ and side two ‘Pointing.’ The opening title
track is an all time classic rallying call for futuristic Hot Motts,
very similar in feel to the Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, only
with Benjamin’s high pitch wail beseeching you to listen, while Morgan
Fisher frantically pounds the piano as if his very soul depends upon it.
A gut ripping solo from Ray Major hammers Mott’s intention to the
mast.
Of course, after all these years the rhythm section
of Watts and Dale is never going to let you down. The whole album is a
real party album with each new track breaking out from the speakers. All
of them could be ripped up and roared out live in concert. Mott even
closed the album with the stage favorite, the old easy beats number
‘Good Times’ (after being deluged by request from fans for a
recorded version).
All this is witnessed by Angel Air’s posthumously
released ‘Mott, Live - Over Here And Over There, 75/76.’ The only
ballad on the album is a Benjamin/Fisher penned number entitled
‘Career (No Such Thing As Rock ‘n’ Roll)’, a song about the
dangers of the business side of the music business. This, coupled with
the fact that Overend Watts decided to take lead vocals on his own song
‘Hold On You’re Crazy’, was all rather prophetic.
Although another U.K. tour followed by another visit
to the States, they were moderately successful. The band felt that they
were not making any further headway. The reasons for this was firmly put
at the feet of the record company and the Dome, who was perhaps getting
a little delusional in his own role in the band, wishing to take them
off into some form of progressive rock storytelling band venture, when
the rest of them just wanted to get out and rock. The record company,
smelling a rat, backed off dramatically financially. In December it was
announced that Nigel Benjamin had left Mott. A couple of new vocalists
were tested, but without much enthusiasm. Mott was put to rest before
the end of the year.
A great shame to a band that had huge potential. Mind
you, the arrival of Punk Rock didn’t help. But it took more than that
to put these British lions down. Within six months all remaining four of
the Mott’s had regrouped around John Fiddler, ex Medicine Head, to
have another reach for the stars. However, that’s another story for
another day. Get out there and do some ‘Shouting and Pointing’.