The Santas, They Are a Changin'

Loathe though we might normally be to recommend anything in any way associated with Rolling Stone (is there a sadder story arc in the world of music than starting out as the voice of the fan and ending up as the voice of the industry?), one particular teaser that crossed our desk recently was just too amusing to pass up. Let's face it -- they had us at "Bob Dylan in a Santa hat..."

April Feature: Mott The Hoople & Ian Hunter

Hundreds of bands have tried to cop that Rolling Stones sneer, and hundreds more songwriters have tried to model the earthy poetic flow and hard-won wisdom of Bob Dylan. Mott The Hoople and its frontman Ian Hunter are perhaps the only ones ever to accomplish both at the same time, making music that explores emotional hills and valleys with penetrating insight, while delivering the whole package with a healthy dose of Mick Jagger swagger.

The saga of Mott The Hoople as a band could fill pages (and has); suffice it say, the five-man troupe of British rockers seemed star-crossed from their first gigs in 1969 through their semi-final implosion in 1974. From their debut through two years of storming live shows and meager record sales, Hunter and guitarist Mick Ralphs, keyboardist Verden Allen and rhythm section Pete (Overend) Watts and Dale (Buffin) Griffin built a reputation as one of the great live bands of their day -- and also as a band that could never quite put together an album that lived up to the promise of those memorable live shows. Just when oblivion beckoned, none other than David Bowie stepped in to help them record their most successful LP (1972’s All The Young Dudes), keeping them in the game for two more tumultuous years as the band flirted with glam-rock and first Allen, then Ralphs and finally Hunter departed.

Launching out of Mott as a solo artist in 1975, Hunter built a solo career marked by both very human missteps and moments of utter brilliance, a magnificently gifted songwriter who has typically been at his best when well-partnered musically, which he most notably was several times with ex-Bowie (and briefly Mott) guitarist Mick Ronson. After a relatively fallow period in the 1980s and 90s, Hunter re-emerged in the 21st century -- by which time he had reached his 60s -- with a pair of the best albums of his or anyone’s career in Rant (2001) and Shrunken Heads (2007).

Collectively, Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter have had a major influence on acts from Queen (who opened for them in 1973) to The Clash, whose lead guitarist Mick Jones idolized Mott and eagerly signed on to co-produce Hunter’s 1981 solo disc Short Back ’n’ Sides. With their place in rock and roll’s pantheon of historic and influential characters assured -- and a set of first-time-in-35-years reunion gigs lined up for this October -- Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter were a natural choice for The Daily Vault’s April 2009 Artist Of The Month.

Enjoy!

Friday roundup: Pretenders, Kid Rock, Kingston Trio

Plenty of tidbits to consider this Friday...

• We're not quite sure how an article ostensibly about the new country-flavored album from The Pretenders came to be titled "Chrissie Hynde has never heard of Sarah Palin," but this piece from MSNBC is still worth checking out.
  
  
• Word from the New York Times is Kid Rock has finally joined the 21st century and made his music available online via Rhapsody (lucky them). Now if AC/DC would just end their holdout...
  
  
• Nick Reynolds, a founding member of folk-rock pioneers The Kingston Trio, has died. The group's focus on guitars and harmonies inspired Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and the Beatles, among others. R.I.P.
  

Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs streams on NPR

As of midnight last night, NPR Music is exclusively streaming the new and much-anticipated Bob Dylan collection Tell Tale Signs, one week ahead of the album’s release on October 7. The entire two-2-CD, 27-song set is available to hear on-demand at NPR Music for the week leading up to its official release.

Tell Tale Signs is the 8th installment in Dylan’s “Bootleg Series,” and features previously unreleased recordings, live performances and alternate versions of songs recorded during sessions for some of his most acclaimed albums, Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind among them. Also included on the album are Dylan’s recordings for the soundtracks of the films Lucky You, Gods & Generals and North Country, and “32-20 Blues,” his first ever release of a Robert Johnson song.

Bob Dylan offers Tell Tale Signs, plus tour news from The Who

This just in from a pair of musical giants...

Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs -- the eighth installment in the best-selling Bootleg Series launched in 1991 - will be released by Columbia Records on Tuesday, October 7. Available in multiple formats, Tell Tale Signs will feature previously unreleased recordings and alternate versions of tracks from sessions which generated some of Bob Dylan’s most acclaimed and commercially successful albums from the last two decades, including Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft, Modern Times and Oh Mercy. (Full track listing is here.) For a limited time, bobdylan.com will feature a free download of “Dreamin’ Of You,” a fully-produced recording from Dylan’s 1997 sessions with producer Daniel Lanois, which spawned Time Out Of Mind. Today (July 29) also marks the launch of a completely redesigned bobdylan.com.

Meanwhile over at TheWho.com, the boys are gearing up for their upcoming U.S. dates with exclusive weekly pre-sales and VIP packages to fan club members. Set to kick off on October 21st at The Palace Of Auburn Hills in Detroit, the tour is currently booked with ten dates, including stops in Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Washington DC and ending with two gigs at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on November 8 & 9. Ticket pre-sales are exclusively offered to ‘Official Wholigans’ fan club members; anyone can sign up now on TheWho.com to get access to pre-sales and other fan club benefits.

Prince vs. Springsteen vs. Neil Young: Who's got the best backing band?

Nice job by Marc Hirsh of MSNBC today rating the best backing bands in the business. The J.B.'s (James Brown), The Attractions (Elvis Costello), the E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen), Crazy Horse (Neil Young) and The Revolution (Prince) are all worthy of consideration for the title. What's truly bizarre is how Hirsh managed to exclude two others who definitely belong in this category. No Heartbreakers (Tom Petty)? And sacrilege of sacrileges, he left out the only backing unit ever to have the nerve to call themselves simply The Band (Bob Dylan, and they lived up to the name)? Can't give this column more than a B with those two glaring exclusions...