Citu Hunter

Crimson Gold presents Ian Hunter & Mott the Hoople Gold. Led by singer-songwriter Ian of sixteen UK and us singles. CD 1 opens with the David Bowie penned 'All The Young Dudes' from 1972. Hunter, Mott the Hoople burst on to the seventies rock scene with classic tracks such as 'All The Young Dudes', 'Roll Away The Stone' and 'All The Way From Memphis'. This essential compilation features the very best of Mott the Hoople alongside classic tracks from Ian Hunter's solo albums across three CDs, plus an exclusive introduction from Mott and Hunter biographer, Campbell Devine. Gold contains a total The song shot to #3 in the UK singles chart and has been acclaimed as a timeless rock anthem. Other classic Mott the Hoople tracks on this disc include the Top Ten hits 'All The Way From Memphis' And 'Roll Away The Stone'. CC 2 features more hits including 'The Golden Age Of Rock & Roll', 'Saturday Gigs', 'Foxy, Foxy' and 'Once Bitten, Twice Shy'. CD 3 rounds off this definitive collection with fan favorite tracks from Ian Hunter's classic solo albums including 'All-American Alien Boy', 'England Rocks' and 'All Of The Good Ones Are Taken'.

It’s been almost a decade since Casey Crescenzo brought The Dear Hunter - both the band and the character of the same name - to life with his 2006 debut full-length, Act I: The Lake South, The River North. This record revealed Crescenzo’s incredibly inventive and ambitious musical flair, something which has been evolving ever since. The two albums which followed - 2007’s Act II: The Meaning Of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading and 2009’s Act III: Life And Death - cemented the artist as a maverick, idiosyncratic talent whose music, while fitting a modern aesthetic, was also from a bygone era. Act I/Act II: This is the story of a boy, from his creation to his untimely end; from the beautifully rapturous to the truly tragic. The Dear Hunter sings of something to which we can all relate: lust, deceit, greed, and hunting…

Although Alberta Hunter, who had briefly come out of retirement, gets first billing on this CD reissue, in reality she shares the spotlight with two other veterans of the 1920s: Lucille Hegamin and Victoria Spivey. Each of the singers is featured on four songs apiece while backed by such top players as clarinetist Buster Bailey, trombonist J.C. Higginbottham, and Cliff Jackson or Willie "The Lion" Smith on piano. Hunter is in superior form on such numbers as "You Gotta Reap Just What You Sow" and "I Got a Mind to Ramble," although she would soon be out of music for another 15 years, continuing her work as a nurse. Hegamin (who had not recorded since 1932) was having a brief last hurrah, despite sounding good, and Spivey, reviving her "Black Snake Blues," would soon be launching her own Spivey label. This is a historic and enjoyable set recommended to both classic jazz and blues collectors.

Orion the Hunter was a 1980s rock combo and offshoot of the popular band Boston. It featured former Boston members Barry Goudreau on guitars and Brad Delp on backing vocals, as well as future Boston lead vocalist Fran Cosmo. The band was originally known as simply "Orion", but the name was changed to "Orion the Hunter" in deference to pressure from Orion Pictures. The group's self-titled album in 1984 on Portrait/CBS Records, which yielded a hit single "So You Ran," featured the sky-high vocals which prompted Cosmo's entrance to Boston in the early 1990s. Orion the Hunter charted at #57 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart after its debut on May 9, 1984. "So You Ran" made the Top Ten on rock radio and was a mid-chart hit on mainstream pop radio. Orion the Hunter featured Bruce Smith on bass and ex-Heart drummer Michael DeRosier. The album also included Brad Delp, former lead singer of Boston, who co-wrote four songs and sang background vocals on numerous tracks. Delp's vocals are especially noticeable on the ballad "Joanne" which he co-wrote with lead singer Fran Cosmo.

In the decade that The Dear Hunter has existed, Casey Crescenzo, the mastermind behind the concept, has been nothing short of both prolific and creative. Now past the halfway point in this 6 part series, The Dear Hunter sounds more cinematic and opera-esque than ever, while still being very much a prog-rock listen at its core. At over 70 minutes and songs as long as 9 minutes, there’s a wealth of sounds here, including jazz, orchestral, dance and rock, and it isn’t uncommon for guitars to take a backseat to keys, flutes, trumpets, etc. If you’re a fan of Crescenzo’s harder moments, there’s enough here to keep you satisfied, but the classical and softer moments dominate and illuminate the album.

After being intermittently active during the mid-'80s, Ian Hunter returned full force to the world of rock & roll with this 1989 album. As usual, Mick Ronson plays an important role, making a substantial contribution to the songwriting and supplying an array of tasty guitar licks. The result is a strong outing that brings Hunter's classically styled rock up to date: the standout example of this is "American Music," a heartfelt tribute to the music that inspired "Hunter" as a child that combines power chords with a slickly harmonized chorus to create a punchy slice of pop-flavored rock & roll. YUI Orta is the slickest-sounding album in Hunter's catalog thanks to the efforts of Bernard Edwards, the producer best known for being half of the creative brain trust behind Chic and producing slick outings for the Power Station and Robert Palmer. This pairing might seem odd in concept but it results in an effective sound that rocks hard but offers enough ear candy elements to make the whole package listener friendly. For instance, Edwards adds a serpentine horn riff to "Cool" that cleverly enhances its soulfulness without taming the song's hard rock edge.