Ian Hunter: Shrunken Heads - 2007
This is a little mentioned album in the canon of Ian Hunter’s work, but it is a really good one, and puts several earlier ones to shame, particularly All Of The Good Ones Are Taken (admittedly that one was from nearly twenty-five years previous).
Fuss About Nothin' rocks in a riffy Tom Petty style and When The World Was Round is an appealing slower song with one of those programmed "contemporary" backings to it. Brainwashed is a somewhat raucous, punky rocker. Hunter has always had the ability to pen a hard-hitting, cynical but attractive ballad and he certainly does this here on the lengthy Shrunken Heads, putting his heart and soul into it, as well as some typical piano-pounding near the end, sounding like Mott The Hoople circa 1971.
Soul Of America is another great later-era Hunter rocker, with pounding drums and infectious harmonica together with lyrics on one of his favourite subjects - the history of America. This really is a corker of a track. Hunter at his best. How’s Your House is a big, clunky heavy piece of granite-hard rock.
Guiding Light is another of those typical Hunter slow rock numbers while Stretch rocks solidly, as also does the country-ish fun of I Am What I Hated When I Was Young. The album ends with the plaintive evocative Read ‘Em And Weep. Hunter does sad songs like this so well.
