Newly released Midnight Special episode from 1973 boasts Mott the Hoople doing “Drivin’ Sister”

By Steve Newton

Seeing as it’s guitar legend Rory Gallagher‘s birthday, it seems like a good time to share something about one of my other all-time favourite rock acts from the ’70s.

A friend of mine on Facebook, M.G., sent me a link to a video posted on YouTube yesterday that features an hour-long episode of the concert show The Midnight Special from December 7, 1973. He mentioned in the message that it included a couple of Mott the Hoople songs, knowing full well that, considering my Ian Hunter obsession, I would have no choice but to watch the clip.

I was fully expecting that the band would perform a couple of its better-known songs, like the previous year’s hit “All the Young Dudes” or maybe “All the Way from Memphis”, which had been released as a single from its monumental 1973 album Mott 13 weeks before the Midnight Special taping.

But for some reason the group chose to play that album’s rollicking “Drivin’ Sister”, which you can hear at the 8:57 mark, and the ballad “Hymn for the Dudes”, which appears at 41:10.

That Mott album of ’73 had a huge effect on me as a teenager; it’s probably in my Top 10 albums of all time, if not in the Top 5. And “Drivin’ Sister” was one of the standout tracks for me. I loved the way Buffin’s drum intro slowly built up in volume and was joined by the sound of a car starting up and driving away before Hunter’s slashing rhythm-guitar chords kick in, followed by the throbbing bass of Overend Watts (what a great name!) and the soaring, tasty-AF lead licks of Mick Ralphs.

I always think of the opening lyrics–“Eight-track machine playing ‘Half Moon Bay’, drivin’ in my Volks down on Hamstead Way”–when I’m drivin’ in my RAV up to Powell River and the signs for the small community of Halfmoon Bay pop up along Highway 101. That four-minute boogie tune includes a section with accelerating car sounds and makes you want to drive fast, kinda like “Hot Rod Lincoln”.

The Midnight Special performance doesn’t feature Mick Ralphs on lead guitar, though, as he’d left the band four months earlier to form Bad Company with singer Paul Rodgers. He was replaced in Hoople by former Spooky Tooth guitarist Ariel Bender, who apparently felt like he had to come up with the only name cooler than Overend Watts.

Even if you aren’t a big fan of Mott the Hoople, there’s still lots to like about this episode, including seven tunes by hosts the Four Tops, three by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, two by Todd Rundgren (check out the butterfly eye-makeup), and one each by John Mayall and Shawn Phillips.

Thanks for the tip, M.G. Saturdays were made for seventies.

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