IAN HUNTER
Defiance Part 2: Fiction SUN
7/10 Elder statesman puts the world to rights again, in esteemed company. By Peter Watts
FEW songwriters have written as many songs about rock’n’roll as Ian Hunter. With Mott The Hoople there were “All The Way From Memphis”, “One Of The Boys”, “Ballad Of Mott The Hoople” and “Saturday Gigs”, and the habit continued when he le the band in 1974. Drop into almost any Hunter solo albums and there seems to be a song about music, from “I Get So Excited” on Ian Hunter to “Still Love Rock And Roll” on 2001’s Rant.
That’s true right up to the present day when partway through excellent new album
De ance Part 2: Fiction, Hunter, now 84, declares “This Ain’t Rock And Roll”.
The song is a whistlestop tour of musical history, set to a Bo Diddley beat, that ends with a lament more resigned than bitter. Music, or rock’n’roll, might not be quite the same, but it’s a world that has served Hunter well. De ance: Part 1 came out exactly a year ago, and the two albums are the result of a fruitful writing splurge during Covid. Hunter generally writes at home in Connecticut on piano or guitar, then hands the songs to Andy York for further development. The tracks are then pinged around the planet to Hunter’s peers: on De ance Part 2 there are contributions from Lucinda Williams, Joe Elliott, Taylor Hawkins, Je Beck, Johnny Depp and Brian May, plus members of Cheap Trick and Stone Temple Pilots.
Yet nobody overshadows Hunter. His voice might not be as powerful as it was – “This Ain’t Rock And Roll” sees him push it to the throaty limit – but it still has range, control and versatility, while his phrasing is consistently imaginative. He is at his most Dylanesque on “What Would I Do Without You”, a love song that encourages Heartbreaker Benmont Tench to play an Al Kooper-style organ part. This more laidback voice is perfect for the gentle waltz of “The Third Rail”, one of the last songs that Je Beck recorded before his death. Johnny Depp also plays guitar on the song, and painted the picture on the cover.
One reason Hunter wanted De ance Part 2: Fiction to come out so soon aer its predecessor was the presence of a few political songs on the album. With America facing an angry, potentially calamitous election, Hunter felt songs like “Fiction” and “People” needed to come out before the fact. “People”, with Joe Elliott on backing vocals and Mott’s Morgan Fisher on organ, takes aim at the power of the media – “the gospel according to whatever channel you are listening to” – while the title track similarly attacks those who present ction as fact. It’s a fabulous song, with Dylan collaborator David Manseld contributing a superb string arrangement that, not coincidentally surely, nods at the Succession theme.
Hunter is angry but generous. He does not target individuals – politicians, media moguls, voters – as much as a system that has failed. He keeps his humour intact most notably on the best of the political songs, “Weed”, a swinging shanty featuring Robert and Dean Deleo of Stone Temple Pilots. It’s a pro-marijuana anthem that argues that seeing as the odds are stacked against us, legalise it. “We’ve got all the AI we’ll ever need,” begs Hunter, “we’re fresh out of cake, but still got the seed/so let ’em smoke weed”.
Taylor Hawkins plays on four songs including the catchy “Precious”, which has great lead guitar by Brian May, and the penultimate rager “Everybody’s Crazy But Me”, which boasts a notable guitar solo from session man Waddy Wachtel. “I’m the last man standing”, sings Hunter. “No more ‘we the people’, no more Mott The Hoople”.
On “Kettle Of Fish”, Hawkins set the tone with an ominous beat. It’s the slowest, moodiest track on the album, with a lot of New Orleans swamp in the mix. Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick play guitar and bass, while Wings’ Steve Holley beats a tambourine with relish.
The Record Store Day release contains three additional songs – “Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible” and “How’d Ya Like To Meet Henry”, as well as “Needle Park” with Mott fans Chris and Rich Robinson. Otherwise, the album ends with “Hope”, a deliberately upliing closer. It’s another stellar lineup: Taylor Hawkins on drum and bass, and Benmont Tench on synth, while Lucinda Williams and Billy Bob Thornton take backing vocals – but Hunter remains the heart and soul, six decades of experience and wisdom as the spirit of rock’n’roll.