Ian Hunter

I'm listening to the new Ian Hunter album Shrunken Heads (which is great) and it makes me wonder: does anybody think he deserves a Trouser Press entry beyond just noting Short Back 'n' Sides' punk connections? Admittedly, he's not particularly radical in a musical sense, but he's always seemed to me to be a real outsider in rock & roll, even more so that someone like obstensibly mainstream folks like Warren Zevon (who's not TP material, according to Ira) and Neil Young (who is). Thoughts?

Wow no takers on this?
I am a huge Mott and Ian Hunter fan. His first album ("Ian Hunter") was killer and loved "All American Alien Boy". His first album was an extension of the last version of Mott and has some of the best guitar work from Mick Ronson. I saw them together in the late 80's as Hunter Ronson (which was for a great album called "Yui Orta" which if remember got some real bad reviews). It was a great show that covered both their careers including Mott and Ziggy days.I lost interest after that until "Short...." and "Rant" which I love but my friends hate. I agree his music is not "out there", but really isn't mainstream either.
His influence on punk can't be overlooked as stated by Ira in his Ian review. I read interviews with Tony James, Billy Idol (Ian produced Gen X), Brian James, Peter Buck, Ian Astbury, and especially Mick Jones (who really pushed for Mott's producer Guy Steven's for "London Calling") who cite Mott and Ian in particular as early influences on their music styles not to mention he penned one of the definitive, and first, great rock and roll autobios.

The only criticism I have is that most of his output has about 4 good songs per CD, but they are 4 great soon-to-classic songs.
Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to get "Shrunken Heads" today!



Post Edited (04-26-07 10:13)

My vote's for Ian. I seem to remember an issue of TP circa 1980 where he did an album by album (Mott & solo) look at his career.

Don't want to speak for Ira, but I think his actual stand on Warren Zevon was more along the lines of "I don't care much for him myself, but he probably matches the criteria for inclusion as much as some of the other's included here do."

I also think Hunter/Mott deserve inclusion here and have actually been toying with the idea of taking a shot at compiling an entry on them. Dunno if I have the fortitude to try to delve into all of Morgan Fisher's post-Mott output or not, though.

did he produce any albums?