Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Two quick things that I felt like sharing:

One, I've been listening to Mott The Hoople Live, a 1974 stopgap record, the sort that Christgau refers to as a "profit-taking throwaway"...but this ragged little record kicks ass. Ian Hunter had to skip the subtlety and baroque touches that he used on the last studio album, The Hoople, and it makes the album sloppy but fun. One half was recorded in New York, and the other half in London. Ariel Bender was the guitarist, replacing Mick Ralphs, who had joined Bad Company. Bender was the type of guitarist whose reach exceeded his grasp, and what he lacked in skills he made up for with sheer howling noise...and he gets several opportunities to make noisy solos on several great songs. I bought this new back in '74 when I was 14, and I think I've always kinda overlooked it because it wasn't as sophisticated and laden with studio gimmickery as its immediate predecessors, but here 30 years later, on this evening anyway, it sounds pretty darn good.

I also want to note that the Official Hockey Team of the Johnny Bacardi Show is now the Calgary Flames. I like those guys. They play gutty and hard. Plus they have pretty cool unis, ironically enough for a team called the "Flames". As I write, they lead the Red Wings 3-2, and I hope to hell I haven't jinxed them. Go Flames!

And that is your sports mention of the week.

Update! It seems that there will be a reissue of MTH Live, a 2-disc set which promises more of the two shows represented on the vinyl and current CD version. I've been clicking around on a pretty thorough MTH site, and that's where I saw the announcement. I looked on Amazon, but found nothing...stay tuned!

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