Filmed April 19th, 1980 in Essen, Germany for the Rockpalast TV show, this DVD presents the Ian Hunter Band with guitar legend Mick Ronson from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust period on lead guitar. By 1980, Hunter had already cast aside Mott the Hoople for a solo career, and this set is filled with Mott classics as well as his solo tunes. The band, which also features guitarist Tom Morrongiello, bassist Martin Briley, keyboard & sax player George Meyer, keyboard player Tom Mandel, and drummer Eric Parker, is red hot throughout, and the addition of Ronson's sizzling lead guitar is like icing on the cake.
With his trusty Gibson Les Paul, Ronson adds plenty of fire to classic Mott the Hoople cuts like "All The Way From Memphis" and "All the Young Dudes", and popular Hunter solo fair such as "Cleveland Rocks", "We Gotta Get Out of Here", "Once Bitten Twice Shy", and "Bastard" are pretty damn heavy thanks to the three guitar attack, as Hunter and Morrongiello lay down the crunchy rhythms leaving Ronson to contribute blistering solos. A real treat is the band doing Ronson's solo piece "Slaughter on 10th Avenue", a classic song from Ronson's 1974 debut solo album of the same name.
Hunter is in pretty good form vocally throughout this set. He's got one of those heavy British accents that you either love or hate, but when you hear it you immediately know it's him. Video on this DVD is decent, as is the sound, though not much to speak of as far as special features are concerned. All in all, another nice release in the Rockpalast DVD series from WDR and MVD.
Track Listing
1.FBI
2.Once Bitten Twice Shy
3.Angeline
4.Laugh At Me
5.Irene Wilde
6.I Wish I Was Your Mother
7.Just Another Night
8.We Gotta Get Out Of Here
9.Bastard
10.All The Way From Memphis
11.Cleveland Rocks
12.All The Young Dudes
13.Slaughter On 10th Avenue