Ian Hunter’s new disc, his twelfth since breaking ranks with Mott The Hoople more than three decades ago, is, simply put, a collection of rich, effusive, exuberant songs characterized by over-sized hooks and pointed melodies. Which is we’ve come to expect from a musician who’s asserted himself as one of Rock’s most passionate players. With able backing from a musical cast that includes Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, John Mellencamp guitar foil Andy York, pop maestro James Mastro, Joe Jackson’s longtime bassist Graham Maby and one-time Wings drummer Steve Holley, he’s enlisted ample help in crafting the glossy sheen that surrounds these riff-reliant tunes, although it’s his biting, sandpapery vocals that ensure an instant connection. To put it even more succinctly, Shrunken Heads is an album that strikes directly on impact, with the one-two salvo of “Words (Big Mouth)” and “Fuss About Nothing” sinking their hooks in like a lion pouncing on its prey. The rest of the set follows suit, tossing out crisp, sturdy dynamos like “Stretch” and “Brainwashed,” and the grandly inflated ballads “When The World Was Round,” “Guiding Light” and the Mott-like “Shrunken Heads,” any of which would provide ideal radio fodder if the airwaves were still open to veteran artists of his ilk. He mixes things up slightly with a down home ramble on the telling “I Am What I Hated When I Was Young,” the latest in a long line of self-deprecating rants; “Soul Of America,” an anthem of sorts decrying the selling of the American spirit; and the pointed “How’s your House?,” a gritty indictment of the government’s pitiful response to Hurricane Katrina. As always, he exits on an emotional high note, in this case the tellingly-titled “Read ‘Em ‘n; Weep,” a stark piano ballad detailing the heartbreak of broken love. It’s another example of Hunter’s ability to shoot from the gut and somehow always end up on target. A big, brilliant album, Shrunken Heads, is one of his best yet.
--Lee Zimmerman
Buy Album from CD Universe
