Mott The Hoople Two Miles From Live Heaven CD

 Two Cheers for Two Miles
When the original release of Two Miles From Heaven was announced back in 1980 I geeted it with great expectations. Previously unreleased pre-Bowie Mott the Hoople! This was too good to be true! Unfortunately, in many ways it was too good to be true. Most of the material included- which was predominated by mild-sounding Mick Ralphs composition along the lines of his contributions to the Wildlife album- was either unfinished or simply inferior to the songs that made it onto the original albums. In addition, in putting the collection together drummer/producer Dale Griffin made the questionable decision to add some polish to some of the more unfinished tracks, including overdubs not only by himself and Overend Watts but latter-day Mott men Morgan Fisher and Ray Major. Most of these contributions are confined to the background, but Fisher's overdubbed piano solo on the studio version of Keep A'Knockin' is badly out of place. Two tracks on the album are outstanding: Road to Birmingham, a socially-conscious tune by Ian Hunter at his most Dylaneque, was the b-side to their first single and the equal of anything on the first album. An alternatere version of Thunderbuck Ram, the powerful opener for the second album, has the disadvantage of a little overdubbed Morgan Fisher, but the advantage of placing Verden Allen's marvellous hammond organ higher in the mix. Aside from that, the two best tracks are Ride On The Sun, an early demo of what eventually became Sea Divers, and a particularly pretty Ralphs tune called Until I'm Gone. The remainder or the material, while enjoyable, sounds too much like it could have been done by any old band. Road to Birmingham appears on the Rhino compilation Backsliding Fearlessly (the best collection for any soul so benighted as to only want one Mott the Hoople album in their collection). Ride On the Sun and Until I'm Gone are included in the boxed set All the Young Dudes. The CD reissue of Two Miles from Heaven adds two bous tracks, both of which had also previously appeared in the boxed set. The liner notes by Dale Griffin are charming and informative. Unfortunately, as is frequently the case with liner notes on the Angel Air label, proofreading would have been welcome. The notes are unsigned (you figure out whonwrote them by reading them), refer to six Mott the Hoople studio albums (which of the seven do you suppose he disowns?), and contain many spelling and punctuation errors, the most commonly recurring being the neglect to close quotes. Mott the Hoople in the days before David Bowie was a great band that released some great records. This, sadly, is not one of them. I'm happy to have this material (and am still hopeful that more may continue to leak out),and for anyone as enthusiastic and obsessive as myself has got to have it. The sound is great, a vast improvement over its vinyl predecessor (too good, in some spots- the improved sound on Thunderbuck Ram demonstrates the drawbacks of the recording quality on Mick Ralphs' vocals- there's hiss on the sibilants). But for Mott the Hoople of this period, this is the last CD you want.
Submitted by gordon (Durham, NC, USA)
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