The big question: after a successful partnership with Mick Ronson for his first solo album, why did Ian Hunter make his second post-Mott album with an entirely different band?<\/p>\n
In April 1975 Hunter moved to New York stating that it would be his home for at least a year. According to Campbell Devine\u2019s biography of Mott, the reasons were partly that he didn\u2019t like Britain\u2019s politics at the time, and partly that New York was \u201ca fast place to live\u201d and one that inspired more lyrics at a time when he felt artistically dry.<\/p>\n
Hunter-Ronson did a US tour in May, after which the band broke up. \u201cI couldn\u2019t keep the group together,\u201d said Hunter. One of the issues was the complexity of the partnership with Ronson where the band\u2019s salaries were meant to be paid half and half but in reality this did not work out.<\/p>\n
In summer 1975 the two worked together on the next album \u2013 which was meant to come out under Ronson\u2019s name because of a deal worked out with Mainman, Ronson\u2019s management company. However, Ronson\u2019s first two solo albums had not sold well (despite a big push behind his second, Play Don\u2019t Worry), and RCA, Ronson\u2019s label, wanted to cut their losses and not release a third.<\/p>\n
Why not make the next album another Ian Hunter solo album? The first one had done OK and Hunter\u2019s label, CBS, was happy with the idea. Mainman however demanded favourable terms for such a project, so that Ronson would have got more from it than Hunter. Hunter said to Ronson, according to Devine, \u201cI can\u2019t work with you any more as long as you\u2019re with Mainman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunter blamed Mainman, and especially its boss Tony Defries, for breaking up his partnership with Ronson. \u201cI lost three years when me and Mick could have been working.\u201d Defries would be the object of Hunter\u2019s ire on some later songs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The big question: after a successful partnership with Mick Ronson for his first solo album, why did Ian Hunter make his second post-Mott album with an entirely different band? In April 1975 Hunter moved to New York stating that it would be his home for at least a year. According to Campbell Devine\u2019s biography of … Continue reading Why Ian Hunter made his second solo album without Mick Ronson<\/span>