“All the Way from Memphis” by Mott the Hoople (1973)
In the early 1970s as a music-obsessed young teenager, my preferences began to radically diverge from the music that my peer group was listening to. In fact I remember in 8th grade, this seemingly cool girl told me her favorite band was Three Dog Night and she immediately went down several notches in my esteem. No Styx, Led Zeppelin or Lynyrd Skynyrd for me!
The thing that made me different was reading rock magazines. In those days, there was Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and the UK publications NME and Melody Maker. These magazines featured interesting-looking bands that could not be heard on the radio. So I set about saving money and buying records like “Here Come the Warm Jets” by Eno, “Kimono My House” by Sparks, the New York Dolls first one and my favorite, “Mott” by Mott the Hoople.
The opening song of the Mott album was a song called “All the Way from Memphis” – a piano-based rock’n’roller with smart lyrics and singer Ian Hunter’s Dylanish vocals. The thing that caught my ear was the intro where the drummer Buffin plays this little drum roll on the snare which I listened to over and over until my record was scratched and skipped over that part! You can hear it at :23 on the track.
Years later, I’d learned to do that little roll, you just loosen your grip on the drum stick and let it bounce on the snare drum, then pick it back up. So simple, but I was mesmerized by that 1 second of recording.
The style of all these bands was different: satin pants, platforms, sequined jackets, glitter everywhere and the music, based on British Invasion sounds infused with melody and smart lyrics. The love of this music held me and my new friends together.
TOMORROW ON FIVE SONG PROJECT...the godmother of punk
Related Post: “Whizz Kid” by Mott the Hoople https://wp.me/p9fYo3-d8