Ian Hunter
and the Rant Band - When I’m President (Proper Records)
To many long-time rock fans Ian
Hunter has seemed like the perfect combination of Bob Dylan and the Rolling
Stones – where lyrical
singer-songwriter meets full on rock ‘n’ roll band. Despite the recent reunion
shows Hunter has left the Bowie Dust-sprinkled suits and platform boots of Mott
far behind, and his recent work has been characterised by a period of
pronounced maturity. Now in his 74th year on the planet ‘When I’m President’, third
instalment in a trilogy which began with 2007’s estimable ‘Shrunken Heads’, shows
no sign of him letting his foot off the pedal.
While there are no ballads here to
compare with the earlier collection’s ‘When the World Was Round’ or ‘Read ‘em
and Weep’ (the outstanding ‘Ta Shunka Witco’
notwithstanding, as it’s a different animal altogether) the resurgence of
Hunter’s inner-rocker more than compensates. While the opening section of ‘Fatally
Flawed’ wouldn’t seem out of place on any of Dylan’s new century albums, once the
chords come crashing in even this reverts to the albums default setting: a deep rumble and an audible flexing of
muscle followed by a nuclear blast of energy and commitment. In fairness, many
of Hunter’s solo albums (like Richard Thompson’s) suffer regular
inconsistencies; immense songs often sit side by side with fairly pedestrian ones.
In that respect this new set makes for a more consistent collection than any other
Hunter album I can bring to mind, and it’s difficult to find a weak link in a
chain that features ‘When I’m President’, ‘What For’, ‘Black Tears’, ‘Saint’
and ‘Just the Way You Look Tonight’ – classics in waiting all – as its
mid-section.
Like other recent releases there’s
a distinct awareness of an outside world that’s going to hell in a bucket, but
a key difference here is that he alludes to it rather than writing about it
directly, and the songs are more convincing for it. In all, this is a record
that both excites and delivers and may be the finest achievement of the artist’s
long career. With Mitt Romney chillingly resurgent in the latest polls we might
prefer ‘When I’m President’ to be as much prophesy as mere album title; but if
we find ourselves drawn further into a place where only the bad guys win then
music of this quality may be one of the things we need to help us get through.
Neil B.
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