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Book Review: The Ambassador’s Wife
by Lang Reid
 It
seems appropriate that a crime fiction novel be printed by a publisher
called Prime Crime Press, and that is where this week’s novel came from. The
Ambassador’s Wife, (ISBN 974-93750-8-4), written by well established fiction
writer Jake Needham, is set in Asia and features Inspector Samuel Tay of
Singapore investigating the horrific deaths of two American women, one in
Singapore and the other in Bangkok. To avoid any future “Da Vinci Code” kind
of problems, Needham in the acknowledgments at the back of the book writes,
“I am not a policeman. I have never been a policeman, anywhere, let alone in
Singapore. This is fiction. Remember folks, I make this stuff up.”
Jake Needham may have made this stuff up, as he says, but it is his
attention to detail that makes his writing so believable. Inspector Tay was
not found sitting at a coffee table, but “in front of him were a small box
of aspirin, an espresso cup, two packs of Marlboro Reds, a purple plastic
disposable lighter and an ashtray.” Immediately you have a snapshot of the
man, who is taking on an identity as you read further. Needham is a
wordsmith.
Sam Tay might appear as somewhat of a reticent plodder, but he is a man
determined to get to the bottom of the mystery (as does the reader, by this
stage). The story unfolds in Singapore, with the first corpse revealed as
being the American Ambassador’s wife. When the American Embassy, and the CIA
become involved and begin pushing the investigation in one direction,
Inspector Tay becomes even more obstinate in his handling of the case. One
can easily sense the animosity.
Then, if that is not enough to jangle some wires in the CIA, the next
corpse, which is discovered in Bangkok, turns out to be the American
Ambassador herself.
The action shifts to Pattaya, and those who are conversant with this tourist
resort will see many familiar landmarks, including the Marriott Resort and
Shenanigans. There is also a wonderful pen-sketch of those who are found
nursing bottles of beer while sitting at the ubiquitous beer bars, being
waited upon by young women.
Returning to Bangkok, there is much interaction between the various branches
of the American law enforcement agencies, known by an alphabet soup of
acronyms, some Thai police and our lonely Singaporean inspector.
More twists and turns come thick and fast as the action speeds up towards
the final few chapters. Murders, unexpected murders, the bad guys go down
but weren’t bad guys after all, the good guys go down, but they weren’t good
guys after all. And all through revelation after revelation and inspired
guesswork walks Inspector Samuel Tay, the little Singaporean law enforcement
officer who was there right to the surprise ending. Plus an American by the
name of John August, who works for you know who!
The review copy was made available by Bookazine and has an RRP of B. 495. A
classic ‘who-dunnit’ which will keep you turning pages, thirsting for the
next batch of information, and also keeps you guessing to the end. A great
read.
Mott’s CD review: Mott The Hoople
Family Anthology - 2 CD Set
 by Mott the Dog
2 Stars **
Quite what Angel Air are trying to achieve with this rather shoddy
collection I am not sure. Amongst the thirty two tracks up for your
appraisal are eight tracks from Mott the Hoople themselves. Two of which
are previously unreleased and have laid in the vaults of Island Records
since 1969 and 1970 respectively. The reason they were not released at
the time is because they were not considered to be good enough then to
put out to the record buying public. Well let me assure you that nothing
has changed in the ensuing years to change the value of these
recordings: ‘Can You Sing The Song That I Sing’ is appalling, ‘The
Chosen Road’ is worse.
Then we have two songs from Mott The Hoople’s concert at the Tower
Theatre, Philadelphia in 1972. These are recorded from a hand held
microphone in the audience and are therefore of low quality. The fact
that it is supposed to be a historic gig due to the fact that David
Bowie, then at the height of his Ziggy Stardust era fame, joins the band
on stage for a rendition of ‘All The Young Dudes’ makes no difference to
your listening enjoyment at all. In fact “All The Young Dudes’, probably
Mott The Hoople’s best known song (although a long way from being their
best song), is so badly taped as to be almost unrecognizable.
Two other live recordings are delivered up from Mott The Hoople’s tour
of the United States of America at the Santa Monica Auditorium in 1974,
and the band are firing on all six, but lead vocalist Ian Hunter is
suffering from laryngitis (you can almost hear him asking for the
Strepsils after ‘The Golden age Of Rock ‘n’ Roll’), Due to the band’s
popularity an extra show had been added in the evening so Ian Hunter had
to push his voice through two shows, rendering him almost silent, the
second show ending at roughly 2.30 a.m. A prior arrangement had been
made to record this show for American radio but perhaps not a good idea
to put it out as something for the public to judge Mott The Hoople as a
live band, especially if Angel Air want to sell any more of their Mott
The Hoople back catalogue.
The two gleaming exceptions to this are the two songs recorded in
Stockholm in 1971 for a BBC Radio One in concert. The heart rendering
version of Mott The Hoople’s cover of Sonny Bono’s ‘Laugh at Me’ is
caught in all its glory, and wisely the record company have decided to
open proceeding’s with ‘Walkin’ With A Mountain’. This is nearly seven
minutes of Mott the Hoople at their most outrageous rock ‘n’ roll best,
starting out with some great Chuck Berry riffs at breakneck speed, and
just getting faster, until Ian Hunter brings the band back down to earth
with a ripping journey through Stones land with verses of ‘Satisfaction’
and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ done Mott style, before the band roar back in
with Mick Ralph’s ripping solos out of his axe that make the air bleed.
Rock ‘n’ roll at its very best. But from the Mott the Hoople quota, two
out of eight is not good enough.
Out of the other twenty four tracks supposedly from the Mott The Hoople
family, there are not many pearls among the swine. The one absolute gem
is a new version of the Mott The Hoople classic ‘Roll Away The Stone’ by
the Ariel Bender Band, recorded specially for this collection, although
if they had heard the rest first they might not have bothered. Mott’s
original version of this was amazing, but this just wipes the floor with
it. Ariel Bender’s guitar has been pushed all the way to the front,
grabbing you by the throat and not letting go. Vocalist Marc Eden snarls
the lyrics at you like they were supposed to be in the first place,
whilst the rest of the band rip into the song with glee.
The Ariel Bender Band will be releasing their debut album in the very
near future and this version of ‘Roll Away The Stone’ will be on it. So
If I was you I would wait for that. I will keep you posted through Mott
The Dog.
There is also a very good cover of the Freddie King instrumental
‘Hideaway’ by Bad Company featuring Mick Ralphs. This is very good, but
there is a much better version of this song with Mick Ralphs from when
he toured with the Ian Hunter Band in 2003 on the bootleg album ‘A Night
At The Opera’.
The final positive thing about this collection is that either CD
finishes with a track from the only album ever released under the joint
Hunter: Ronson banner ‘YUIORTA’ (Say each letter out loud and you will
get the joke on an old Three Stooges joke). If the album gets people to
go out and buy this wonderful album then at least something good will
come of it.
So of the twelve tracks so far mentioned we have six that are worthy of
your attention. Let me assure you there is nothing else here that does
not make you want to reach over to push the fast forward button. Most of
it is laughable.
Mick Ralphs has put forward for inclusion the demo for Bad Company’s
breakthrough hit single ‘Can’t Get Enough’. All I can say to Mick Ralphs
is you were very lucky to have Paul Rogers to sing the song, a good
rhythm section in Boz Burrell and Simon Kirke, plus a good production
team, as the demo is hideous, and why would we want to listen to it
anyway when the finished product is available?
Neither of Mick Ralphs other two solo efforts included here are much cop
either. There are several Plod Rock tracks from Mott The Hoople spin off
bands like Mott and The British Lions. Well if you want to hear what a
band sounds like after they have lost their lead guitarist, lead singer,
and sole songwriter, here is your chance. The newly recorded tracks from
original Mott The Hoople keyboard player Verden Allen, and bass player
Overend Watts, have I hope got to be them having a laugh. The various
recordings of pre-Mott The Hoople bands are embarrassing in every way;
how some of the other people have got to put songs on this album I have
no idea nor do I want to know. But the biscuit for the absurd must be a
version of ‘The Lady Is A Tramp’ recorded by Mott The Hoople’s drummer.
He even forgets the words. Not even his best friend is going to go
rushing out to spend his hard earned money on that.
A Family Tree Album for Mott the Hoople could have been a good idea.
Concentrating perhaps on some of the lesser known tracks from the band,
and then perhaps tracks from bands Motts were in before or afterwards
such as Widowmaker, Spooky Tooth, Bad Company, Verden Allen’s solo
career, Morgan, and some of the great stuff by Mick Ronson.
If you want to know what all the fuss Mott The Hoople was about, try the
albums ‘Mad Shadows’, ‘Mott’ or ‘The Hoople’. For the live beast you can
do no better than the new 30th Anniversary edition of ‘Mott The Hoople
Live’, which gives you two concerts of the band at the height of their
powers, one from 1973 and the other from 1974. This Family Anthology
with one or two exceptions should be avoided at all costs.
Songs
Walkin’ With A Mountain: Mott The Hoople
One More Chance To Run: The British Lions
She’s Real Gone: Overend Watts*
Can’t Get Enough (Demo): Mick Ralphs
I Ain’t Got You: Les Norman and The Buddies*
She Does It (live): Mott
Morning Dew: The Rats
Barefootin’: Doc Thomas Group
St Tropez: Verden Allen*
The Lady Is A Tramp: Dale Griffin aka Cruddy Drekko*
Something Else: Robert Fisher And The Silence*
Momma’s Little Jewel: Phil Hendriks*
Can You Sing The Song That I Sing: Mott The Hoople*
All The Way From Memphis: Mott The Hoople
Roll Away The Stone: The Ariel Bender Band
American Music: Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson
Disc Two
All The Young Dudes: Mott The Hoople
Wild In The Streets: British Lions
Leave Me Be: Ray Majors
Laugh At Me: Mott The Hoople
Born Late 58: Mott
Let’s Rat: The Paper Bags
Strong Heart: John Fiddler
That’s Life: Mick Ralphs
Telephone Blues: The Rats
Just Can’t Go To Sleep: Doc Thomas Group
Good Morning: Jon Best and The Shakedown Sound*
Sweet Angeline: Mott The Hoople
The Chosen Road: Mott The Hoople*
Hideaway: Bad Company
Golden Age Of Rock ‘n’ Roll: Mott The Hoople
Son’s and Lovers: Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson
* Denotes previously unreleased
To contact Mott the
Dog email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.mott-the-dog.com
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