Shouting and Pointing [Bonus Track] [PA]

Performer: Mott the Hoople
Producer: Mott The Hoople
Distributor: Infinity Entertainment Gr

Notes: Personnel: Ray Major (vocals, guitar, bass guitar, sound effects); Pete Watts (vocals, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, bass guitar, sound effects); Morgan Fisher (vocals, electric piano, keyboards, glockenspiel, percussion, sound effects, background vocals); Nigel Benjamin (vocals, sound effects, background vocals). Recording information: The Manor Studios, Oxfordshire, England (02/1976-03/1976). Photographers: Gered Mankowitz; Alan Messer. For their second (and last) album under the truncated Mott moniker, this British institution rides into glam rock's twilight loudly and proudly (as the album's title suggests). Released in 1976, SHOUTING & POINTING finds Singer Nigel Benjamin and keyboardist Morgan Fisher again admirably filling in for departed legends Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson (a near Herculean task) with larger roles as songwriters and arrangers. The quintet's trademark crunchy boogie intact, songs such as the Faces-esque stomp "To Short Arms (I Don't Care)," the lead-off title track, and the epic ballad "Storm" echo their glory years with enough swagger to satisfy hardcore fans--although neophytes should probably stick to the original line-up's many earlier classics such as ALL THE YOUNG DUDES, MOTT THE HOOPLE, or MOTT. So this is how a great band ends -- with many of its original members but none of its visionaries; with a good idea of what made their band great, but little idea how they used to do it. At least the remnants of Mott the Hoople had the good sense to truncate their name to Mott with 1975's passable Drive On. Its sequel, 1976's Shouting and Pointing, is nothing less than an embarrassment, not just a record that made it blindingly obvious that the band could not carry on, but a record that sounds in hindsight like the roots of Spinal Tap. New lead vocalist Nigel Benjamin is a tad unbearable, particularly when he decides to escalate into a falsetto, but what sinks the record is the attempt to stay true to Mott's loud, glammy update of old-time rock & roll and Ian Hunter's wry, self-deprecating wit. When Hunter commented on the plights of a rock & roll band to a heavy Chuck Berry beat, his humor was sharp, the melancholy was deep, and the music rocked hard. Here, it all sounds like pastiche and parody, whether it's the balls-out rockers, two-part epics, or the "Ballad of Mott the Hoople" rewrite "Career (No Such Thing as Rock 'n' Roll)," which illustrates just what a foolish endeavor this whole enterprise was. Shouting and Pointing isn't necessarily unlistenable, since it's so bad that it inspires a sort of perverse fascination. With each track, you can't believe that it can get worse, but it does, culminating in a ludicrously inept reading of the Vanda/Young classic "Good Times," the only time those words and this record could reasonably be put in the same sentence. Shouting and Pointing follows the same form as one would expect from Mott the Hoople, but gets it hideously wrong, resulting in one of the true nadirs of '70s rock. [Wounded Bird's 2009 reissue included one bonus track.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine The remnants of Mott the Hoople truncated their name to Mott with 1975's Drive On, and retained the shortened moniker for Drive On's sequel, 1976's Shouting and Pointing. New lead vocalist Nigel Benjamin sometimes decides to escalate into a falsetto on the album, while the group attempts to stay true to Mott the Hoople's loud, glammy update of old-time rock & roll and Ian Hunter's wry, self-deprecating wit. When Hunter commented on the plights of a rock & roll band to a heavy Chuck Berry beat, his humor was sharp, the melancholy was deep, and the music rocked hard, and here, the band tackles balls-out rockers, two-part epics, and the "Ballad of Mott the Hoople" rewrite "Career (No Such Thing as Rock 'n' Roll)." Shouting and Pointing isn't necessarily unlistenable, and follows the same form one would expect from the band, albeit with less success. [Wounded Bird's 2009 reissue included one bonus track.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

While most rock fans remember Mott The Hoople as a thriving early-'70s glam band, they were also one of the first British bands to serve as a mouthpiece for the working class (predating both The Sex Pistols and The Clash by several years). Led by singer Ian Hunter and future Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs, Mott could rock out and pose with the best of 'em.

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