Brain Capers

Brain Capers
Studio album by Mott the Hoople
Released November 1971 (UK)
January 1972 (US)
Recorded Island Studios, London
August–September 1971
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 38.03
Label Island (UK), Atlantic Records (US)
Producer Guy Stevens
Mott the Hoople chronology
Wildlife
(1971)		 Brain Capers
(1971)		 All the Young Dudes
(1972)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link
Robert Christgau (B) link
Rolling Stone (favorable) link

Brain Capers is the fourth album by the band Mott the Hoople.

It was originally released in November 1971 in the UK by Island Records (catalogue number ILPS 9178) and was reissued in 2003 by Angel Air (cat. no. SJPCD160). It was released in the US on Atlantic Records (cat. no. SD 8304) in January 1972.

The album marked a return to the harder, heavier style of Mott's first two albums, with several songs recorded live in the studio. (A close listen to "The Moon Upstairs," for example, will reveal two instances where Dale Griffin's drumsticks clatter to the floor upon his losing them.) The album was not initially a commercial success, and was the only Mott the Hoople album that failed to chart in either the UK or US.

Its working title was "AC/DC" though this was abandoned in favour of either "Brain Damage" or "Bizarre Capers" before a compromise was settled on. Earlier sessions, self-produced by the band, were also abandoned when svengali Guy Stevens was called in to rescue the album but a number of these recordings have resurfaced on All the Young Dudes: The Anthology and as bonus material on Angel Air's re-issues of Mott the Hoople albums.

Contents

Track listing

Side A

  1. "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" (Ian Hunter, Verden Allen) 4.55
  2. "Your Own Backyard" (Dion DiMucci) 4.13
  3. "Darkness, Darkness" (Jesse Colin Young) 4.33
  4. "The Journey" (Hunter) 9.15

Side B

  1. "Sweet Angeline" (Hunter) 4.53
  2. "Second Love" (Allen) 3.46
  3. "The Moon Upstairs" (Hunter, Mick Ralphs) 5.07
  4. "The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception" (Hunter, Guy Stevens) 1.21

2003 CD bonus tracks

"The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception" is essentially part two of "The Journey," beginning with a fade-in at the point where "The Journey" was earlier faded out.

On original Atlantic Records U.S. pressings of Brain Capers, the running time of "The Journey" is incorrectly listed at 8.31, and "The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception" is listed at 2.07.

Personnel

Mott the Hoople
Studio albums
Mott the Hoople (1969)  • Mad Shadows (1970)  • Wildlife (1971)  • Brain Capers (1971)  • All the Young Dudes (1972)  • Mott (1973)  • The Hoople (1974)
Drive On (1975)  • Shouting and Pointing (1976)
British Lions (1977)  • Trouble with Women (1982)
Live albums
Live (1974)  • Original Mixed Up Kids - The BBC Recordings (1996)  • Rock 'n' Roll Circus Live (2000)  • Two Miles from Live Heaven (2001)  • Mott the Hoople Live - 30th Anniversary Edition (2004)  • Live Fillmore West (2006)  • Fairfields Halls, Live 1970 (2007)
Compilation albums
Rock and Roll Queen (1972/1974)  • Greatest Hits (1976)  • Shades of Ian Hunter & Mott the Hoople (1980)  • Two Miles from Heaven (1980)  • All the Way From Memphis (1981)  • The Collection: Ian Hunter & Mott the Hoople (1988)  • Walkin' With a Mountain (1990)  • Ballad of Mott the Hoople - A Retrospective (1993)  • All the Young Dudes: The Anthology (1998)  • A Tale of Two Cities (2001)  • Family Anthology (2005)
Singles
"Rock and Roll Queen"  • "Thunderbuck Ram"  • "Midnight Lady"  • "Downtown"  • "All the Young Dudes"  • "One of the Boys"  • "Sweet Jane"  • "Lay Down"  • "Honaloochie Boogie"  • "All the Way from Memphis"  • "Roll Away the Stone"  • "The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll"  • "Foxy, Foxy"  • "Saturday Gigs"
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