Day 20: Countdown No. 4, All the Young Dudes (1972)

"Ride on -- until you fail." -- Sea Diver (1971)

Obviously this was the watershed album for Mott the Hoople. But down which side does the water flow?

Compare this record with Brain Capers. Do you prefer the slicker production of ATYD, or the raw power of its predecessor? It's one of the core questions of Mott the Hoople fandom.

For today, I'm going with Brain Capers. Ask me again tomorrow, and it could be different. The key is that ATYD wasn't a quantum leap ahead in terms of song quality, just in image and production values.

None of that, obviously, diminishes ATYD.

The cover of "Sweet Jane" is excellent, even though Ian Hunter supposedly didn't like the song, or at least didn't like Lou Reed. IH must hold the song in some regard, as it's still sometimes on his setlist.

The hidden gem on the album is "Jerkin' Crocus." At one point it was in such high esteem that it opened MTH shows; nowadays even MTH hardcores rarely mention it. I think it's the best rocker on the album, better than the other contenders, "Sucker," "Momma's Little Jewel" and "One of the Boys."

I thought the chorus of "Sea Diver" was touching when I first heard it, and a generation later I feel the same. It continued a tradition of introspective IH songs that's maintained even today.

Two downers. The first is "Soft Ground." It's painful to listen to, and it might be the worst track on any of the seven MTH albums. This is why the group was so reluctant to record Verden Allen's songs. And, while "Ready for Love" is a fine song, you can't help thinking how much better it sounded three years later with Paul Rodgers doing the singing. And both those tracks are illustrative of why MTH Mark I broke up.

That brings us to the title track. Its importance and significance have been well-documented, and I won't belabor the point. But I must say this. It has always been an Achilles heel of MTH that their most well-known track was written by someone else. No denying that. But if you listen to this cut and to the track on 1974's David Live, which I believe was David Bowie's first recording of the song he wrote, the superiority of the MTH version is obvious. Mick Ralphs' intro and Hunter's chorus rap were vital to the song's appeal.

This record was a veer toward pop music. It kept MTH alive, so for that we're grateful. But the visceral appeal of Brain Capers was put firmly in the past, and that was something of a loss.

SONG RATINGS (OUT OF 5)

Sweet Jane (4)
Momma's Little Jewel (4)
All the Young Dudes (5)
Sucker (3.5)
Jerkin Crocus (4.5)
One of the Boys (4)
Soft Ground (0.5)
Ready for Love/After Lights (2)
Sea Diver (3)