Mott the Hoople. Good old Mott. “Oh yea, aren’t they the band that...” Almost everybody, it seems, has their own “oh yea” for Mott the Hoople. A convenient tag, a cozy little spot on a dusty shelf where they could be filed away and forgotten until their next go-round. They’re finally being greeted by a sea of open arms this time around, but that’s not what’s to be told here. We’re talking about the fact that this band kept coming back. You can all take part in the triumph, but this story is about survival.

The very first time out the door, they met with jibes from all the selfappointed Dylanologists, who marveled snidely at the great debt that this band surely owed Blonde on Blonde. The band never denied this inspiration, except to suggest that perhaps there was a little bit more to it than common theft. Which of course there was.