Album review: IAN HUNTER – Overnight Angels

Rock Candy Records [release date: 07.10.22]

Ahhh… the sweet smell of excess. In 1977, Ian Hunter’s third solo effort came off the back of two albums that were critical successes, but commercial failures.

Clearly built on strong foundations, Overnight Angels had a lot going for it : Earl Slick on guitar and cowrites; Roy Thomas Baker engineering and producing, and various members of Chicken Shack and Foreigner in the studio band.

The studio sound: It’s as if Baker and Hunter had recruited a bunch of musicians, let them choose their own instruments, given them a quick run through of each song, turned everything up to 11, then recorded the album in one take.
And so a lot of it doesn’t work. But amazingly, a good chunk of it does. Such was the strength of Hunter’s robust songs, and thanks to the professionalism and heavy duty firepower of the studio band, several tracks here truly aspire to be something extraordinary.

The electrifying, breathless opener ‘Golden Opportunity’ launches after a pub rock piano intro, blazing through four and half minutes of popified rock, gathering momentum bar by bar.

Hunter dons his highly entertaining diamond geezer persona for another standout, ‘Justice Of The Peace’, then switches roles and styles for ‘Miss Silver Dime’. It’s a moving piece of composition, unexpectedly elegiac, written with Earl Slick, and is arguably the album’s most memorable track.

The bonus track ‘England Rocks’ might be one of the best songs Hunter has written. Originally a B side, then resurrected as ‘Cleveland Rocks’ for a subsequent album, it has since deservedly elbowed its way into the Ian Hunter Canon.

Elsewhere, at best it’s uneven. But the good stuff, as indicated, is outstanding. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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