[…continued from last post]

Following a deceptively clattery start, “Na Na Na [Extended mix]” got down to brass tacks as a rip roaring old fashioned Rock n’ Roll song such as Jerry Lee Lewis might have ripped out. Big bleats of greasy sax helped the full-on party vibe as Hunter and band reached back to the golden age of Rock n’ Roll for inspiration here.

The rough mix of “I Need Your Love” sported an intro that cruised for eight bars instead of four, with Hunter’s vocal being an alternate take. But the biggest difference here was that the tight backing vocal arrangements were completely absent. On one hand, this gave Ian’s vocal the spotlight for our pleasure, and yet my brain was really anticipating the melodic hooks of the [it has to be said] highly prominent backing vocals on the LP version. Which version do I like better? It’s a coin toss, thought I can cede the commercial prospects of the LP version made commercial sense. It sounded like a big hit single, so every so often, that’s important for the artist to have.

“Listen To The Eight track” was an interesting songwriting exercise with Hunter taking inspiration from an old TV show like “Naked City” and composing character vignettes based ion the notion that there’s a million stories out there in New York City. And framing it like that in the song lyrics. This one had a definite vibe of The Band with the organ fairly reeking of Garth Hudson. As a six minute opus, maybe it could have used a bit of trimming. The music bed was repetitive. Usually when Ian takes six minutes he invests it with more intent than just a character study. For example, “Rain” was filled with character studies but they cohered to form an emotionally powerful whole that’s missing here.

“China” was something very different, with Mick Ronson taking lead vocal on the very near folk song with more accordion that blistering lead guitar. An interesting curio, and the flute glissandos are kind of magical as this one was as light and airy as I’ve heard in this package. “You Stepped Into My Dreams” was a textbook Ian Hunter love ballad with his bruised vulnerability and heart on his sleeve. These two songs were definitely not to be slotted into “Short Back n’ Sides.” That had shaped up to be a very different Ian Hunter album and the latter song could have been on numerous Hunter albums throughout his career.

The same thought occurred on “Venus In The Bathtub.” Wherein the “Just Another Night” tempo and vibe was used perhaps a little too closely on for comfort. Though the intro could have been trimmed down considerably, once the song got going, yes, it was certainly of a piece with “Just Another Night.” Hence it’s abandonment for this mopping up-all disc.

The “Wessex mix” of “Theatre Of The Absurd” was deceptively identical to the final mix. maybe just a bit more dub space and we were thinking “why was this track included here?’ At least that was the thought until at the one minute in point where the wacky sheet metal percussion stamped its huge imprint on the song; unbalancing the whole thing in what was still undeniably a riveting fashion.

We also got the vocal version [#5 it said] of “Detroit,” which still began in a chaotic, ramshackle fashion. Only this time we got Ian’s vocal in there to determine what the song might be about. Or we would have if his vocal hadn’t been dubbed to hell and back. Making this version actually less coherent than the purely instrumental version.

The organ running through “I Believe In You” left a heavy imprint on the not-quite finished song. As was obvious with Hunter calling out directions, it was definitely a rehearsal track that might one day sit on a Hunter album. Or it could be part of a cupboard cleaning exercise like this disc. Finally, “Old Records Never Die [version 1]” showed how much the song needed the touch of Ronson’s plaintive guitar.

“Short Back n’ Sides” was only ever issues on CD in three versions. Interestingly enough, Spain was first to the game in 1991 with the only single CD of just the album. 1994 brought Chrysalis UK to the project with a 2xCD expansion with ta second disc of unreleased tracks, demos and alternate takes from the Chrysalis era. Listening to this disc, it seemed to have tracks going back to 1978, judging from the sound. I remember seeing that version of the album on CD once, in 1995, in Time Traveler [where else?] in Akron on my earliest trips there, but that time I was buying Japanese laser discs and other, higher value goods, and I reluctantly put this CD back.

It’s remained until 30 years later that this new Chryaslis Czech Republic pressing that I finally have this great album on the silver disc. The contents of disc two have been re-sequenced and the short version of “Na Na Na” has been scrapped. While the second disc has some interesting material on it, one can see that the whole of the “Short Back n’ Sides” project had a coherence in its eclecticism that all of the unheard songs on disc two didn’t. Many of the songs could have been slotted into earlier or maybe even later Ian Hunter albums with only a little re-work necessary. That can’t be said about “Short Back n’ Sides” itself.

At the time it was highly divisive to the Ian Hunter fanbase. There were cried of “Sandinista! Part 2!!” Truth be told, there’s some truth to that conceit with these ears. It’s all too tempting to connect the dots from that messy 3xLP to this relatively svelte single disc.

• “Central Park n’ West” -> “Somebody Got Murdered”
• “Lisa Likes Rock n Roll” -> “Hitsville UK”
• “Noises” -> “The Magnificent Seven”
• “Rain” -> “Rebel Waltz”
• “Gun Control” -> “Police On My Back”
• “Theatre Of The Absurd” -> “The Crooked Beat”
• “Keep On Burning” -> “The Sound Of the Sinners”

Your mileage may vary, of course! I loved the fact that this album showed that Hunter, coming off of a solo career high with “Schizophrenic” could be bothered to swim in uncharted music waters as long as a dozen years into a career in Rock music. Instead of cranking out “You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic II” Ian ventured far out of his comfort zone to try his hand at some new vibes. Through it all, his unerring sense of songwriting never left his side. I’d not heard this album in over 40 years, but my measure of an album’s staying power is this: can I look at the song titles and recall the track in my mind? This was always an album that passed that test! With maybe only “Leave Me Alone” being less than his high standard.

It remains a sterling example of an old dog willing to try new tricks. Almost, but not quite a Faking It Files™ example of False New Wave. Obviously with Mick Jones of The Clash co-producing, the intent was legitimate… and well established: let’s see what Ian Hunter can do when he colors outside of the outlines. Having a fan like Jones add his DNA to the mix didn’t make me buy it. I was already a fan of Hunter from his previous album. In fact, I’m a bigger fan of Hunter than The Clash! I have sixteen of his releases as opposed to two from The Clash in my Record Cell. But the pity was that this faile din the marketplace. After this effort, Chrysalis dropped Hunter and he seemed to have a bad patch in the 80s with only two iffy albums to his credit, with him really regaining his songwriting footing from the 90s onward. But I enjoy the vibrancy of this album. I’m glad to finally have a copy of it to listen to on the silver disc and just wish I had popped for it 30 years ago; record store bill be damned!

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