Mott the Hoople
Ella Crew
With
the release of ‘Spooky Two’ at the beginning of 1969, Luther
Grosvenor and his band mates found themselves propelled into the major
leagues. The album crashed into the American Billboard Charts and raced
up the British Top Thirty. The whole album just reeks with class.
‘Waitin’ For The Wind’ is the perfect opening
song, kicking off with Mike Kellie battering the beat off his drum kit
before being joined by the robust Hammond organ of Gary Wright and the
magnificently harsh vocals of Mike Harrison, singing the first verse.
Then Mike breaks onto his own keyboards to support even further the
rumbling heavy Spooky Tooth rock sound. On the second verse the
monumental bass notes of Greg Ridley’s guitar sledgehammer their way
into the chorus line, anchoring the sound and allowing Luther Grosvenor
to swoop in with his guitar licks to bring proceedings to a dramatic
conclusion. It’s as if each individual within the band is saying
“Hello”.
The album is jammed packed with the songs that Spooky
Tooth will always be remembered by. ‘That Was Only Yesterday’,
‘Better By You, Better by Me’, and the gospel anthem ‘I’ve Got
Enough Heartaches’, which goes to prove that although Mike Harrison
and Gary Wright were the used lead vocalists in the band, in any other
band any of the quintet could have been lead vocalist in the band. In
fact, in one way or another all of them were in later bands.
Luther Grosvenor only had a hand in writing the
opening song, but his guitar playing throughout set new standards in
defining Heavy Rock, and is nothing short of jaw dropping. His guitar
solo when jousting for three minutes with the organ play of Gary Wright
to bring the only cover song on the album, ‘Evil Woman’ by L. Weiss,
to a musical orgasm of notes, was one of the spectacular highlights of
the live show.
Oh, the high’s and low’s of rock ‘n’ roll!
After successfully touring the United States of America and Europe, with
‘Spooky Two’ still selling well, somebody at Island Records had the
idea of putting Spooky Tooth back in the studio with French performance
artist Pierre Henry to collaborate on an album. Spooky Tooth entered the
studio first and laid down some backtracks. Then, when the band had left
the studio, Pierre Henry came in and did what he did, and laid it over
the top of Spooky Tooth’s music. The resulting album ‘Ceremony, An
Electronic Mass’ was released to the public in 1970 to the horror of
the band, the press, and the record buying public. The album was
unbearable to listen to and all the songs were credited to Pierre
Henry/G. Wright. If it was supposed to be an experiment in ‘Avant
Garde’, it was more like ‘Haven’t Got A Clue’. The press reviews
were unanimous in panning everything about the record, even the cover
came in for stick.
Poor Luther Grosvenor’s squeaks and squawks from
his guitar are annoying. When he does get to solo, it’s all over the
place, being taken up and down in the mix. Fans of the band, who bought
the album in expectation of similar music to Spooky Two, were left in
dismay. The conflict that the release of ‘Ceremony’ caused within
the band was terminal. Gary Wright, shouldering too much of the blame
for co-writing credits, sloped off to America to start his solo career
before returning to reform Spooky Tooth after the dust had settled. Greg
Ridley took his bass guitar over to Humble Pie, where he did very
nicely, thank you. The remaining trio was invited back into the studio
to try to make a record to clear the good name of Spooky Tooth. With the
addition of three ex members of the Grease Band, Alan Spenner on bass
guitar, Henry McCulloch on guitar, and musical director and filling the
keyboard duties was Chris Stainton, later to take a similar role with
Eric Clapton.
Despite the new lineup, the album was a stunning
success. The aptly titled ‘The Last Puff’ was released at the back
end of 1970. The album opens with a heavy cover of John Lennon’s
classic ‘I Am The Walrus’, one of the few covers of a Beatles’
song that matches the original in brilliance. They also showed great
taste in covering David Ackle’s ‘Down River’, which showcased Mike
Harrison’s vocals perfectly.
With the keyboards now further down in the mix, there
was plenty of room for Luther’s solos. Each solo was nailed down with
the enthusiasm of a youth knowing he is the master of his craft. The
solo in ‘I Am The Walrus’ will strip the wallpaper from your walls.
With the good name of Spooky Tooth cleared, the band quickly split up.
There were lots of rumors that the split was not
permanent; the members of Spooky Tooth were merely taking time to
recuperate. This, of course, proved to be true, when the trio of Wright,
Harrison, and Kellie reformed Spooky Tooth in 1972. Luther declined the
offer to re-join, thinking it a regressive step and was replaced by Mick
Jones, who, after the final demise of Spooky Tooth, went on to form the
hugely successful Foreigner. Mike Kellie at the time said that the idea
of reforming the band came to them in the jobcentre! Spooky Tooth
soldiered on for two more years, but could never recapture former
glories. However, they succeeded in releasing an album with my favorite
title ‘You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw’. Great title!
Terrible album.
Meanwhile, Luther Grosvenor retreated to Spain
(during this time Mick and Keith of the Stones made enquiries about
Luther’s availability to join them, but nothing ever came of it) to,
as the saying went at the time, “get it together”. On his return the
results of his sabbatical were laid down for Luther Grosvenor’s first
solo album.
‘Under Open Skies’ came out in 1971, recorded
with friends old and new including Jim Capaldi, Mick Ralphs (a bit
prophetic), Trevor Burton, and former Spooky Toother Mike Kellie. It’s
a lovely album that reflects the relaxed mood of its creator. The single
from the album, ‘Here Comes The Queen’, got plenty of air play, and
the guitar playing was as ever mesmerizing, but commercially the project
was not a great success.
When Gerry Rafferty left Stealers Wheel it seemed an
obvious move for Luther to take his place and join the band. But after
six months and a couple of singles - ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’,
a Gerry Rafferty song, became an enormous hit - Gerry Rafferty came back
and Luther was out.
Whilst working out his next move, the phone rings
long distance from America with a request from a certain Mr. Ian
Hunter...
Ah! Rock ‘n’ roll has some strange twists and
turns. Next week the arrival of Ariel Bender.
Can
you make a good “publication” better? Yes you can, and this, the
updated and upgraded ‘e-book’ CD from Yves Masure, previously called
the Thailand Lexicon of Cultural History, but now re-titled as Thailand
Digital Travel Guide and Lexicon, is better than before. For starters, the
CD now gives you a choice of three languages - English, Dutch and French,
as well as being more ‘user friendly’ with its internal links.
Mott’s CD review: From Luther Grosvenor to Ariel Bender and Beyond