Shouting And Pointing, Mott, CD

Digitally remastered edition of this album from the British band made up of former members of Mott the Hoople. Having gone from a struggling club band to wider international success, it came as something of a shock when leader Ian Hunter pulled the band apart by quitting in late 1974, taking flamboyant guitarist Mick Ronson with him to peruse a solo career. Few would have gambled on the remaining band members rising up, dusting themselves down and getting back in the ring ready to fight another day. Re-tooled under the newly abbreviated moniker of Mott, the band recruited guitarist Ray Major and super talented yet unknown vocalist Nigel Benjamin, releasing Drive On, one of the most impressive albums of 1975. Finding support at all levels, the band reconvened for the follow up album Shouting And Pointing, issued in 1976, a far more panoramic record which took the original Mott the Hoople blue-print, using it to their advantage, increasing the energy level and constructing songs that utilized ambitious arrangements. Nigel Benjamin was a real find, a man seemingly without any vocal ceiling who was also a great frontman. Produced by studio veteran Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin) at the Manor studios in Oxfordshire and mixed by the equally esteemed Bill Price (Sex Pistols, Guns 'N Roses) the material is both challenging and commercially addictive. Songs such as 'Collision Course,' 'Storm' and 'Hold on You're Crazy' rock the house but it's Career (No Such Thing As Rock And Roll) and the title track that construct a vivid picture of the band's grandiose ambitions.