Life After Death is a bouncy and beautifully produced full tilt rocker features a staccato piano, an memorable drum run, along with a fabulous Ronson solo. Hunter could have been reflecting metaphysical questions but it may not be quite as existential as the title suggests since Hunter is sorry smoking so much and feeling the Devil's touch but wondering if he will live. Ian was writing tongue-in-cheek as on Wild East. Feeling under the weather after what sounds like too much partying he writes a clever line asking:
I hear choirs filled with Fenders say return to senderAnyone who has partied too hardily can relate to the idea that you might not live.
Hunter relates that this song just came and he did it. The piano track came with a hook and the rest came later about fun and fear.
It was a standard play list song during 1979 eliciting three live versions in that year alone.
Also recorded at My Father's Place, Roslyn NY 12th June 1979 on Missing In Action.
More info on Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
Life After Death
(Ian Hunter)
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
Do you stop take another roller coaster ride
Do I beg, steal, cheat or lie? Oh my is there life after death?
Oh I wish I'd never smoked so much
I wish I'd never felt the Devil's touch
All that passes through my eyes so fast. Oh my.
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
It's such a sad sad song
Mother Nature ain't never wrong
She always tells you when you're getting on
Oh my, is there life after death?
I can hardly wait to see my face
Will I still have one in a different place
Oh you'll forgive me if I hesitate, but oh my
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
Is it any wonder, I feel just a little bit under
I hear choirs filled with Fenders say return to sender
Jumping information, I've got hyperventilation
Will it help me if I walk the streets
I gotta get down search around feel the ground by my feet
Oh no I never knew just how long this could go
If only I could go down slow
I'm gonna shake it, shake it, shake it, is there life after death
I can't remember when I felt so sick and rough
And now they're gonna legalise the stuff
It sure tells you when you've had enough, off the cuff
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe? Oh yeah!
Is there life, is there life? Is there life after death? Do you believe,
I've run out of breath.Ian Hunter LP/CD: "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic"
Sleeve and track listing
CHRX 1214 / 50999 698134 2 9.
Sleeve variations
The US CD sleeve
The original UK sleeve
Review
Ian came back after a two-year absence in 1979 with this album. Mick Ronson was back on guitar, and Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band were the backing musicians (they had just worked on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album).
This is a brilliant album, and the yardstick by which all his other work is judged. From the opening beat of Just Another Night to the closing strains of The Outsider there isn't a bad track on here. Mixing full-tilt rockers (Cleveland Rocks, Life After Death) with sensitive ballads (Ships) the album is well-paced and leaves the listener wanting more.
This was issued on CD on Chrysalis in the UK in 1994, and on Razor & Tie in the USA in 1995. The UK release was a limited-edition "25th Anniversary" edition, in a long (blue) box, with a blue jewel-case and booklet (which was about Chrysalis generally, not Ian). Sound quality is very good. No bonus tracks.
1999 saw this CD reissued in the UK, this time on the EMI label as part of their "Classic Rock" series. It boasted new sleeve notes, and improved (remastered) sound quality.
2009 saw a 2-CD issue with a wealth of bonus tracks and a second disc of previously-unreleased live material. As a live document the second disc works very well, despite being recorded at a variety of venues.
Of the bonus material on the first disc perhaps the most interesting is the early version of Just Another Night which features radically different lyrics, showing how such a classic song can develop from the initial germ of an idea to the finished product.
| Life After Death | 3:49 | Originally released on You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, and on the compilations From The Knees Of My Heart and The Singles Collection 1975-83. |
| Life After Death (live 12th June 1979) | 4:37 | This live version (recorded at My Father's Place, Roslyn NY) was released on Missing In Action (not on the box set). |
| Life After Death (live 18th June 1979) | 4:46 | This live version (recorded at the Agora, Cleveland OH) is on the 30th Anniversary issue of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic. Not on the box set. |
| Life After Death (live 22nd November 1979) | 5:16 | This live version (recorded Hammermith Odeon, London England) is on If You Wait Long Enough For Anything, You Can Get It On Sale (box set only). |
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