Mott the Hoople: Rose

Live 1973. One of their signature, serious bombasmo-glam power ballads, the genre in which they were the unsurpassed masters at the time.

Another live version is found on their 1974 Live album, but it’s not on any of their studio albums. Absurdly, it’s the B-side of a silly little pop single from the Mott album, Honaloochie Boogie. But it seems they immediately realized the mistake.

Ian Hunter occasionally made something musically and lyrically interesting out of “ordinary” (non-prog) rock. The few instances of this in the history of ordinary rock are important.