MOTT THE HOOPLE - TWO MILES FROM HEAVEN: Buffin's Buffet Of Forgotten Mott
Mott The Hoople and its fans were dealt a serious blowwhen the group's drummer, Dale "Buffin" Griffin, passed away onJanuary 17, 2016. Not only was he a superb drummer and a talented producer, hewas also the band's keeper of the flame for many years. For example, he provided witty, informativeliner notes for a slew of Mott live/demo/outtake/reissue discs that werereleased on Angel Air Records in the '90s and '00s. He also blazed the trailfor such releases in 1980 when he masterminded Two Miles From Heaven, a killer collection of outtakes andalternates from Mott The Hoople's Island Records era.
Odds and sods collections were a staple of the recordbusiness by the time Two Miles FromHeaven was released. They were usually put together by labels to finish outa contract from an artist reticent to give up new material or to profit on thenew success of an artist who moved on to a different label. Two Miles From Heaven is unique becauseGriffin actually petitioned Island Records on his own to put together theproject. He was part of the team thattracked down the tapes and even had to cope with a reluctant remix engineer toget it all prepared. Island supported its creation but it gave the finishedproduct a half-hearted release.
That said, TwoMiles From Heaven still found an eager cult following in Mott The Hooplefans. The group was known for being workhorses in the studio as much as theywere on the live stage: in the process, they amassed an impressive cache ofunreleased recordings. This release provided the first opportunity for theband's fans to hear many of these songs, several of which would become stapleson subsequent Mott The Hoople reissues.
The first side, subtitled the "Dark CargoSide," focuses on recordings the group made with Guy Stevens in theproducer's chair between 1969 and 1970. The instrumental take of "You Really GotMe" that opened the band's debut album appears here with a suitablyraucous lead vocal from Mick Ralphs and an alternate mix of "ThunderbuckRam" from Mad Shadows restoresthe Verden Allen organ solo that was mixed out of the original release. Mick Ralphs is a major contributor on thisside with self-penned tunes like the soulful, swaggering "LittleChristine" and the eerie lament of "Black Hills." You also get abarnstorming studio take of Little Richard's "Keep-A Knockin'," a solidcounterpart to the memorable live version that closed Wildlife.
The second half of the album is called the "Bald AtThe Station Side" and focuses on group-produced recordings made betweenthe end of 1970 and the beginning of 1972. The key draw on this side is a set of tunes that would later be remadefor the group's first Columbia Records outing, All The Young Dudes: "Ride On The Sun" is astripped-down, subtler version of "Sea Diver" with different lyrics,"Black Scorpio" is an alternate version of "Momma's LittleJewel" with a much more aggressive tempo and an early version of "OutOf The Boys" is a rootsier affair with prominent acoustic guitar andharmonica. All are excellent takes, different enough to be interesting andwell-realized enough to hold up to repeat listens.
And that's not all on the second side: "Surfin'UK" is a fun Ralphs vehicle that mixes hooks from his past (think"Rock 'N Roll Queen") with elements of songs he'd record in his nextgroup, Bad Company, and "There's An Ill Wind Blowing" is an elegantpiano-led Ian Hunter ballad with apocalyptic lyrics. If you spring for the Angel Air CD version,it adds some extra tunes like an early take of Ralphs' Bad Company hit"Movin' On," complete with poppy sing-along vocal hooks, and anappropriately raw cover of Crazy Horse's "Downtown."
Finally, it's worth noting that Two Miles From Heaven is the rare odds-and-sods set that actuallyfeels like an album thanks to Griffin's work at the production console. The recordings utilized for this set wereoften incomplete or truncated - "Growin' Man Blues" was a fragmentthat required looping to reconstruct - so Griffin brought in bandmates Overend Wattsand Morgan Fisher (plus latter-day Mott/British Lions guitarist Ray Major) toadd overdubs. Their work is done withsurgical skill, avoiding overt attempts to modernize the recordings butfleshing out things in a consistent manner. Better yet, Griffin carefullyremixed everything to 24-track stereo, ensuring that the sonics remainconsistent from track to track in a way that lends it a genuine "albumfeel."
In short, TwoMiles From Heaven is as worthwhile a listen as any of the official Mott TheHoople albums. As stated above, everything here has been used in subsequentreissues of the group's work but this is worth keeping for a few reasons: thesequencing of the tracks is elegant and Griffin once again provides ace linernotes that tell all you could want to know about the songs. The result is atestament to his love for his band and an easy candidate for the shortlist ofthe top posthumous studio releases by a band.