Mott The Hoople’s Legendary 1974 Live Set Presented As A Unique Double Album “Very Flash - Very Rude - Very Much ‘74 Rock ‘N’ Roll!” ‘Live on Broadway 1974’ is the original recorded in-concert finale from Mott the Hoople. Touring the USA to promote their new hit records ‘The Golden Age of Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and The Hoople - and parading the classics ‘All the Young Dudes’, ‘All the Way from Memphis’ and ‘Roll Away the Stone’ - the group was soaring.
In May ‘74, Mott the Hoople became the first rock band to sell out a week of concerts in New York’s theatreland, when they stormed The Uris on Broadway. Recorded for live audio, but sadly not captured on film, five Broadway songs would be edited and merged with Mott’s 1973 Hammersmith Odeon tapes to create a truncated LP - ‘Mott the Hoople Live’ - their last CBS album release. Journalist Ben Edmonds enthusiastically described Mott’s shows at The Uris, where, “the ghost of Broadway tradition exchanged its top hat and tails for a pair of shades and a week-long electric seizure.” The Brits rocking residency created several spectacular U.S. headlines including: ‘HOOPLA HITS BROADWAY’ (Record World), ‘Rock Invades the Great White Way’ (Performance), ‘What Rock ‘n’ Roll is all About’ (Scene) and ‘Hoople Whoop De Do on Broadway’ (Circus). The New York Times wrote: “Mott the Hoople arrived on Broadway Tuesday night for the first of six shows, the first hard rock group ever to appear there, and the Uris Theatre will probably never be the same again. Apart from the cigarette burns in the rugs and spilled drinks stains on the floor, the overwhelming volume of the music must somehow stick in the theatre’s walls, deafening mere unamplified speech and song forever.”
Released following Mott’s acclaimed 2019 reunion concerts, including their first live American appearances for forty-five years, this 2LP gatefold set captures the fire and flash of the band’s Broadway extravaganza, including sparkling renditions of ‘Roll Away the Stone’, ‘Hymn for the Dudes’ and Ian Hunter’s memorable mini-opera ‘Marionette’ - a percipient precursor to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
The passion, the power, and the glory - it’s all here on Mott the Hoople, ‘Live on Broadway 1974’, presented in a gatefold sleeve and released on Madfish.
