Music: Ian Hunter unveils title track of upcoming new album
Mott The Hoople’s Ian Hunter will release his 20th studio album When I’m President on September 4. Now you can hear an exclusive preview of the title track.
Track: Ian Hunter – When I’m President
File under: forget Obama and Romney… vote ‘Unter!
The new album’s 11 Hunter originals include such infectious, personally-charged numbers as the wry, socially conscious title track, the gently introspective Fatally Flawed, the bittersweet ballad Black Tears, the chugging rocker Wild Bunch, the swaggering I Don’t Know What You Want (which features a guest vocal by Hunter’s son, Jesse) and the vivid, haunting Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse) – all of which showcase the jagged immediacy of Hunter’s one-of-a-kind voice and the punchy authority of his longstanding all-star back-up combo, the Rant Band.
“The songs seem to be more upbeat this time round,” Hunter notes. “The last two albums were pretty political, just because I thought the Bush years were horrible, and thankfully that’s passed. But I don’t go looking for songs; I have to wait for them to come to me. I had a spurt there in the summer of 2011, and that grew into this album. I’d get up every day with something ringing in my head, so I’d try to catch it and get it down. Songwriting’s always been a mystery to me in that way. Now and again you’re nearer the sun, and you have to be ready to capture it.”
Like such recent Hunter releases as Rant (2001), Shrunken Heads (2007) and Man Overboard (2009), When I’m President – his first new recording since Mott The Hoople’s historic 2009 reunion shows at London’s Hammersmith Odeon – looks like it’s gonna rank with some of the iconic frontman’s most impassioned and insightful work.
Hunter will kick of a tour of the United States and Europe on September 1. More details will be announced shortly.
