Ian Hunter - Short Back 'n Sides
#386
By Robert Sliger
August 1981
Ian Hunter
Short Back ’N Sides
Genre: Pop rock
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Robert’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Highlights:
Central Park N’ West
Gun Control
Lisa Likes Rock N’ Roll
Leave Me Alone…(shit, just about the whole record, really)
TRACK LISTING
Central Park N' West
Lisa Likes Rock N' Roll
I Need Your Love
Old Records Never Die
Noises
Rain
Gun Control
Theatre Of The Absurd
Leave Me Alone
Keep On Burnin'
I am a big fan of Ian Hunter’s preceding album You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, along with his work with Mott the Hoople. So I was surprised I had never listened to his follow-up Short Back N’ Sides, as it got zero radio play when it came out. Discovering it as a newbie in The Listening Post group was a tremendous surprise. Short Back N’ Sides is one highly entertaining and dexterously written LP, with Hunter’s unequaled gift for both cynicism and sincerity in full bloom.
Hunter’s cache in British rock circles is in evidence with the excellent mix of session players and Rock Gods playing on Short Back N’ Sides. Guitar “Micks” Jones (The Clash) and Ronson (David Bowie, Mott the Hoople), drummers Topper Headon (The Clash) and Eric Parker, Keyboardists George Meyer (Meat Loaf) and Tommy Mandel, and bassist Tommy Morrongiello add tremendous support. The playing is polished and tight but loose enough to keep the record from becoming stiff and corporate.
The production team was also full of heavy-hitters: Recorded by David Tickle (Tangerine Dream), Mike Scott (Tony Bennett, Peter Frampton, Men Without Hats), and legendary engineer Bill Price (Mott the Hoople, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Who—the list goes on). Bob “trash can” Clearmountain handled the mixing duties. It’s too bad with this pedigree that the record’s mastered sound is pretty bad (at least on the 2000 remaster I heard), with lots of tape flanging and compressor pumping.
Hunter adroitly presents a wide range of emotional and thematic themes, fluctuating between cynicism (the foot-stomping rallying cry “Gun Control”) and earnestness (“Rain”), sometimes even within the same song (the faux-disco mocking and mawkish “Leave Me Alone”). A central pursuit of his writing includes ruminating on being alone, the benefits of isolation and connection, as well as the detriments. “Central Park N’ West” is a great opener. Catchy as a virus at a Trump rally, snarky and affectionate in nearly equal measure, this one’s like the rocking stepchild of Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel.”
I enjoy those sarcastic bits more, but the earnest tunes are also beautifully constructed. Take the final stanza of the album closer, “Keep on Burning”:
“Lost lovers in a moonlit night
Broken lovers in a starless night
I lay my heart down at your feet
’Cause all I want is for you
To keep on burning”
If this sounds a little heady, relax, because the music—in all its early-80’s, gaudy-gloss presentation—is a fun, catchy menage of post-punk, synth-wave, British reggae, and commercial rock. And the hooks keep coming. From rousing sing-alongs “Lisa Likes Rock N Roll” and the sadly-prescient “Gun Control” to the nostalgic “Old Records Never Die,” with its creative (or unintentional?) variation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute “Pa Pa Pa” riff, there are enough earworms here to go fishing with for the weekend.
Hunter’s voice is incredibly energized on Short Back N’ Sides, his high tenor clearly cutting through the sometimes cluttered arrangements with a full-throated delivery that often seems on the verge of spinning out of control. Whether sneering or full-throated emotional, he gives every note just the right weight and push as it’s moment requires. He also sounds like he’s having a ball.
Short Back N’ Sides is the sound of an artist in full command of his considerable gifts swinging for the fences. If he was going to break through to widespread commercial success, this jubilant party disc was the record that should have done it. Sadly for Hunter, who would continue to struggle to expand his devoted fanbase for the remainder of his career. Which is especially unfortunate considering how much he succeeded artistically here. This is a very enjoyable collection of cleverly-written pop/rock tunes, performed with gusto by that all-star lineup. This superlative addition to Ian Hunter’s prodigious catalog of work should be a classic. Very Highly Recommended.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0yA8hpeu47XQUwGuiAyyhA?si=OvxI9h_0Qne8tzxvjReWOQ
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