Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads

Middle-aged dude still carries the news

With Hunter’s or Mott The Hoople’s back pages repackaged and reissued at least half a dozen times since the man’s last studio album six years ago, we could be forgiven for thinking he’d settled into retirement. Not so, as Shrunken Heads shows him to still to be in fine voice, and writing his best material in ages.

There’s less of the shouty showman of previous records, notably on the reflective power ballad When The World Was Round, although the unreconstituted rocker of old lets loose on Brainwashed and the Hooplesque grind of How’s Your House. Long resident in the US, the Hereford boy neatly blends the Brit folk of McGuinness Flint with the sepia-toned Americana of The Band on the strutting I Am What I Hated When I Was Young, a cautionary tale of how we all turn into our parents.

The tender piano lament Read ’Em’n’Weep is a touching closer, faintly recalling the Springsteen of Darkness On The Edge Of Town, and as disarmingly honest as any of the much-loved quieter numbers that have always punctuated his work. Any future compilations should budget for plenty of space for tracks from this encouraging return to the top of his game.

Jerkin’ Crocus | cat no tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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