Mott the Hoople - Two Miles From Live Heaven (updated)

I'm trying something new here - revisiting an old review - this one from 16 years ago! - since I just listened to this set again and I wondered what I had to say about it.

At the time, I think I was so happy to see any new MTH releases that I would have recommended almost anything and while I still think that this is worthwhile, I'm not sure that I would say it was "highly" recommended.

Again, I'm much more of a Mick Ralphs fan than an Ariel Bender/Luther Grosvenor fan, but each have their moments here. 

CD 1 is a bit of a mish-mash with tracks 1-5 being the original band running through "No Wheels to Ride", "Whiskey Women", "Walkin' With a Mountain", "It'll Be Me" (the 50's tune, learned from Jerry Lee Lewis) and "Angel of Fifth Avenue". Pretty great sound and playing throughout these numbers, although Ian berates the audience for not getting "heavy" enough, although he eventually relents. Then the Ariel/ Morgan Fisher lineup does a pretty great job of "Drivin' Sister", "All the Young Dudes", "All the Way From Memphis" and Sweet Angeline". I was truly impressed by these renditions, as I hadn't cared for Ariel's tone of his playing on some other recordings, but these are top-notch! The CD closes wih a few demos from the original band - not outstanding, but fun for fans to hear.

CD 2 though is a bit of a mess, unfortunately. The mix is pretty atrocious, Ariel is far too loud and his tone is fairly awful and Ian's voice is completely shot, to the point of breaking pretty regularly throughout the entire set. While most of the song selection is pretty stellar, there are a few clunkers - mostly Ian's ballads like "Rest in Peace" and "Hymn For the Dudes" - and the performances just don't flow. I think by this time they were realizing that Luther didn't really fit in the band and that combined with Ian's voice and the mix, means this is not a CD that you will listen to repeatedly.

In any case, it's still great that there has been so many MTH CD releases and I'll take - and buy! - whatever comes out. This is one strictly for fans, though!

Here's my original review from 2998: 

I’ve been a huge Mott fan since they first hit with “All the Young Dudes” and the fantastic album of that same title. When I discovered their earlier works, while Hunter led them through some Dylan-esque folky territory, I found out that they were also one of the heaviest and noisiest bands around! Brain Capers and Mad Shadows in particular have some incredible moments.

So, I have been grateful for the previously unreleased material that has been uncovered in the CD generation. There have been a number of eye-opening live recordings of very good quality popping up lately and this is another great one! I never got the chance to see them – which I will eternally regret – but by all accounts they were a boggling live act.

This release covers a number of years and tours and is accompanied by a terrific booklet with plenty of info and some fantastic photos that I had never seen before. These cats had a wild r’n’r image and some phenomenal clothes!

This 2 CD set concentrates on live shows with Ariel Bender/Luther Grosvenor, Mick Ralphs replacement, but while I far prefer the studio albums with Ralphs, these live cuts are all quite strong.

There are songs covering their entire career here, and some previously unreleased tunes, all of which are terrific! Not the place to start for novices to the band, but for fans, this is highly recommended!