Pompeii The Secret Sessions RSD release w/ Ian Hunter, Andy Fraser, Corky Laing, Clapton, Betts...

I have never heard of this before, but really look forward to hearing it. I may have missed it being discussed on here and if so, I apologize and please delete.

Mott the Hoople and Mountain Supergroup to Release Lost Album

In 1976, Mountain drummer Corky Laing put together a supergroup called Pompeii with Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople), Andy Fraser (Free) and others, but the project stayed uncompleted until now.

The Secret Sessions, which also features contributions from Eric Clapton and Dickey Betts, will be released for this year's Record Store Day on April 21.

As Laing explained in a press release, Pompeii were created as a way of salvaging his record deal after the disintegration of Mountain and as punk was on the rise. "In this environment, my record company, Elektra/Asylum, was preparing to bail on me, but before doing so, they asked if I wanted to form a so-called 'supergroup,'" he recalled. "I had no choice, and so began the journey into The Secret Sessions."

He got together with Hunter and producer Bob Ezrin, and they were able to get Fraser, Steve Hunter (Alice Cooper) and singer and keyboardist Lee Michaels, who scored a Top 10 hit with "Do You Know What I Mean" earlier in the decade. They holed up in a studio outside New York City, but the sessions quickly fell apart, beginning with Ezrin, who left to produce The Wall for Pink Floyd.

"Then Steve Hunter got a call from Bette Midler and became the musical director for her film The Rose," Laing explained. "Andy Fraser really did go south – to continue with his solo project, and Lee Michaels went, well, wherever Lee Michaels wants to go.”

Laing and Hunter then called in reinforcements from their former respective bandmates, Felix Pappalardi and Mick Ronson. Clapton and Betts added guitar to "On My Way to Georgia," Todd Rundgren played organ and sang backup on "The Best Thing" and "The Outsider," Leslie West played guitar on three songs and John Sebastian blew harmonica on "Silent Movie." But the tracks still remained in the vault.

The LP contains 10 tracks, including covers of Randy VanWarmer's "Just When I Needed You Most" and Billy Joe Shaver's "Lowdown Freedom," and includes a digital download card with new recordings of "Easy Money," "Silent Movie" and "Growing Old With Rock N' Roll" that Laing made with his current band that includes guitarist Chris Shutters and bassist Mark Mikel, and help from Ted Nugent drummer Jason Hartless and keyboardists Craig Adams and Steve Feehan. Laing, Shutters and Mikel also worked up a new song, "Knock Me Over."

You can see the track listing below.

Pompeii, 'The Secret Sessions' Track Listing

1. "Easy Money"
2. "The Best Thing"
3. "I Ain't No Angel"
4. "I Hate Dancin'"
5. "The Outsider"
6. "Silent Movie"
7. "Growin' Old With Rock N' Roll"
8. "On My Way to Georgia"
9. "Just When I Needed You Most"
10. "Lowdown Freedom"

Bonus Tracks
1. "Easy Money" (2017 Re-Record)
2. "Silent Movie" (2017 Re-Record)
3. "Growing Old With Rock & Roll" (2017 Re-Record)
4."Knock Me Over"

 

If Laing and Hunter gave the OK for this, could their project with Ronson & Cale be far behind?
"By late 1977, Ian and Corky came together and decided to give it another go. Ian suggested bringing Mick Ronson in, and the trio began rehearsing and hanging out together. John Cale was recording in an adjacent studio one night, so Mick suggested dropping in to see him. At Cale's urging, the group decided spontaneously to record an album, so the four - Hunter, Ronson, Laing, and Cale - recorded about an hours' worth of material on Cale's dime.
Ian Hunter: 'When I worked with Cale, that was great, really great. He brings something into a room, an aura. We did an album once, a workshop album. It was with Corky Laing and Mick Ronson. It was some great stuff, all the lyrics were stream of consciousness. Apparently, I’m one of the few people who can do that, if I get excited enough. I can reel off words without writing them down. They just come. We had it going for two nights, and it was great.'"

 

Some of this has been streaming on Spotify:

The Secret Sessions

 

Added to my RSD list of try to buy lps.
Aaron

 

Repeating my post from this thread below:
Mott the Hoople/Mountain recordings coming soon-Record Store Day 4/21


>>>>>>>>>>>
Yeah, been out on CD already for about 20 years. Considering the talent on it it is pretty disappointing/forgettable. Would have been better to have stayed secret IMO. Guess this is the first release for it on vinyl though (?). Pretty funny that the press blurb above forgets to say it already was released years ago on CD.

The track running order looks shuffled around on this new release though, plus it has a couple bonus tracks (re-recordings by Corky Laing's current band available as "downloads" according to the press blurb above).

Here's a link to the CD version on Amazon that came out in 1999:



https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Sessions-Various-Artists/dp/B000006CS8