The Gooseberry Sessions & Rarities [LP] in Bloomington, MN

Mott
were themselves a trifling footnote in the
Mott the Hoople
saga, so it seems yet more irrelevant to dig up
demos and rarities. That's what comprises much of this disc, however, leading off with seven songs that the newly-formed
(as opposed to
) used to get a
CBS
deal, followed by a few in which they auditioned new singer
Nigel Benjamin
and new guitarist
Ray Majors
(and one in which they auditioned a singer who was rightfully rejected,
Brian Parrish
). These were recorded in early 1975, and right from the boorish cock-rock of the opening
"Love Now,"
one regrets having unsealed the shrink wrap. It's not all cock-rock -- there are some singer/songwriterish slower tunes too -- but the songwriting is clunky, the sound pedestrian mid-'70s British mainstream rock, and the cover of
"Leave My Woman Alone"
(credited to "the Overly Brothers") really strains the vocalists on the high notes. Wrapping up the collection are five jokey Christmas tunes recorded by
Morgan Fisher
,
Overend Watts
Ray Major
, and
Dale Griffin
in 1976 as
the Paper Bags
(there is nothing in the extensive liner notes to ascertain whether these were previously unreleased). From the sound of many of these, particularly in the cheesy keyboard parts, they were blatantly doing a mock tribute to
Joe Meek
-- well, they could have been ahead of their time in that respect, perhaps. Play the a cappella Christmas carol
"Golders Green,"
with its chorus bewailing failure to find a virgin in the Golders Green district of London, if you want to impress your boorish friends. No, that's not all; there are five songs recorded under the
Paper Bags
handle, but in fact solely written and performed by
in 1979, again with keyboard lines highly reminiscent of early-'60s instrumentals by
. At this point the connection to
, or even
, gets real tenuous, but
Angel Air
seems determined to put out anything rare with a
connection, and we probably haven't seen the last of that. ~ Richie Unterberger