Artist:       MOTT

Title:         The Gooseberry Sessions & Rarities

File:          Rock/Glam

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Within weeks of the departure of vocalist Ian Hunter and guitarist Mick Ronson in late 1974 from the ranks of Mott The Hoople, remaining members drummer Dale Griffin, Morgan Fisher (keyboards) and bass guitarist Pete ‘Overend’ Watts were laying down demos at London’s Gooseberry Studio.

‘The Gooseberry Sessions & Rarities’ bridges Hoople with its successor, MOTT, and in turn its successor British Lions, kicking off with those 1975 demos along with band auditions for a new singer and a guitarist (settling here for Ray Major and Nigel Benjamin), the act  then recording 1975’s debut ‘Drive On’ and follow-up, ‘Shouting And Pointing’.

Five tracks next bring back the band, post-1976’s demise with the departure of Benjamin, in its incarnation as The Paper Bags and a humorous seasonal offering for that year’s Christmas.

MOTT’s survivors then recruited former Medicine Head guitarist John Fiddler to reform as British Lions, recording two albums before splitting in 1979.

Six further tracks from the Bags measure a more experimental take helmed largely by keyboardist Fisher after the split; they round off a perfect complement to MOTT’s CBS studio albums as well as legendary live recordings, scheduled for reissue in 2023.

TRACKS

MOTT:

  1. Love Now
  2. Love Me Always
  3. Hey! There, Annie
  4. The Bright Days
  5. !GYP! (Instrumental)
  6. Shout It All Out
  7. Leave My Woman Alone
  8. I’ll Tell You Something
  9. Did I Dream Last Night?
  10. She Does It
  11. Shout It All Out
  12. I’ll Tell You Something

THE PAPER BAGS:

  1. Krazy Kristmas Krackers
  2. Pass The Port, Gramps
  3. The Million Ton Snowflake
  4. Golders Green (Stomp)
  5. The Spook Meets The Kook
  6. Massacre
  7. Let’s Rat
  8. ‘Ave A Maria
  9. Broadstairs Beach
  10. Holmes On The Range