#guy stevens

The giant oceanic manta ray (Manta birostris), left, can be found across global oceans, whereas the smaller reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) lives in the Indo-Pacific region.

Image credits: Guy Stevens/Project Manta; shutterstock

Free for a week in the RBP spotlight

___

Mott the Hoople - Walkin’ With A Mountain (1970)

A rocker from their second album

Mott the Hoople: Mott the Hoople (1969)

Despite sporting a nifty, colorized version of M.C. Escher's famous “Reptiles” lithograph as its cover, Mott the Hoople’s ‘69 debut doesn’t inspire much confidence by starting with an instrumental kicking of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.”

But as history (and the wonderful Ballad of Mott documentary) tells us, this and most other decisions here were made by the fledgling outfit’s mentor and producer, Guy Stevens, who was bent on molding Mott into a perfect hybrid of Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones!

The Dylan part, as it were, fell to the “elderly” Ian Hunter (already 30 by the album’s release), who brings his suitably nasal vocalizing to Doug Sahm’s “At the Crossroads,” Sonny & Cher’s “Laugh at Me,” and a self-credited rip of “The Times They Are a-Changin’” called “Backsliding Fearlessly.”

So side two is much more to my liking, as Hunter and his brand new, younger bandmates -- guitarist Mick Ralphs, keyboardist Verden Allen, bassist Pete ‘Overend’ Watts, and drummer Dale ‘Buffin’ Griffin -- indulge their Stones fantasies to the hilt on the born-a-classic “Rock and Roll Queen.” (*)

Rounding things out is a brief, instrumental groove called “Rabbit Foot and Toby Time,” followed by the ten-minute, nearly-classical drama of “Half Moon Bay,” and a closing jam snippet aptly named “Wrath and Wroll,” credited to Stevens.

And it’s fitting that we finish this blog talking about Guy, because, by the band’s own admission, there would have been no Mott the Hoople if not for Stevenson’s having the ego to think he could create a group from scratch -- in his own words:

“There are only two Phil Spectors in the world ... and I’m one of them.”

* In fact, Hunter later accused Mick and Keef of filching this song’s foundation for the timeless “Bitch” and, you know, he has a point.