Hunter thought he worked harder on the album than anything he had done previously. He arranged it all himself and was an associate producer, he did not have a supportive collaborator and he had to be persistent and straightforwardly write strong songs.
The artwork was original with an ice-white sleeve sans shades with a contrasting picture on the rear of the release. It included a lyric sheet with Ian's poetic tribute to Guy Stevens.
Critics were mixed and there was limited press about the release but the LP failed to chart in Britain. In the US, the release peaked at #125 and spent eleven weeks on Billboard. The fast version of the title single backed by Death 'n' Glory Boys reached #25 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
No live dates were scheduled to promote the release and Hunter has mixed feelings about the release in hindsight. There were good songs but it didn't really make a splash. The label dropped it and made no effort to promote the album.
The musical wilderness following the release resulted in a self-imposed musical retreat for six years but Hunter was involved in some work and collaborations during this time. For The Payola$ he sang on I'll Find Another (Who Can Do It Right) for the 1983 LP Hammer on a Drum. With Blue Öyster Cult's Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser, he co-wrote Let Go and Goin' Through the Motions. For Michael Monroe's Hanoi Rocks he did the chorus and put together Boulevard of Broken Dreams. With Mountain Hunter appeared on Go For Your Life.
From 1984-1987 Hunter compositions were never released as he took time off: Don't Throw Your Love Away, Mad at the World, You Got What It Takes, I Can't Find You, Boys 'R' Us, Mean Streets, Read Me Like a Book, If You Need Somebody, Someone Else's Girl, Danny, It Must Be Love, Girl Shy, Perfect, Lonely Kids, Beat of My Heart, Chains, Slave, Hell, and Love Bug. These songs were done in his home studio as he avoided the drugs and corporate excesses of the 1980s. Ian liked Prince but that was in another area entirely and he avoided the corporate music business. In 1985 he got a place on the South Coast living an ordinary life with kids, near mates Miller and Fiona Anderson in Shoreham, where the Hunters had an apartment on the Worthing seafront. One of the former inhabitants of the flat was Sir Frederick Adair Roe, head of the Bow Street Runners, eventually the subject of a Hunter song Bow Street Runners. The retreat allowed Ian to spend time with his youngest son Jesse since he had missed the childhood of his first two children. Back in NYC when son Jesse was four they were on a bus and saw a guy shot in the face. Ian turned his son's head away but he still saw it.
Hunter took time off until 1986 when his son was five and he got back into the music game by playing a series of dates in Canada and American gigs with the Roy Young Band. Young would appear lyrically in the song Bed of Roses. Young had been in the same scene as the late 1950s-early 1960s Beatles absorbing all the early rock 'n' roll influences as Ian had. When Hunter and Young talked Roy told him how he was asked to join the Beatles. Not sure they would succeed he turned them down; asked how he felt about that he said every day when he got out of bed, he banged his head agains a wall, but other than that he was okay. Back in Britain, Young worked with an impressive list of artists including Nicol Williamson, whom Ian had written a song for before he joined Mott. Young introduced him to twenty-one year old Pat Kilbride, a prodigious bassist who would later join Hunter's band; and, during this period he wrote The Other Man, a song that would not appear until Ian Hunter's Dirty Laundry. As Hunter prepared for his YUI Orta release he toured North American dates in November 1987 with Young and tried out his new material before life audiences. Some of the strong songs that Ian started writing kindled Ronson's interest in playing guitar and recording again included: Look Before You Leap, Ill Wind, The Loner, and (I'm the) Teacher, Ronson's Sweet Dreamer, Little Stevens,' While You Were Looking at Me and American Music. The trio of Hunter, Ronson, Young and his band toured Ontario in June 1988.
A first ever movie composition (I'm the) Teacher was a song to order by movie people but Hunter considers it to contain one of his best lyrics. The movie producer was a fan and Ian had a lyric in mind: "The question's arisen, is this a person, some say it is, some say it isn't." And, the rest came quickly. Starting with that first strong line the remainder of the lyrics came in five minutes. With a good line you have won half the battle. Ian had the movie script and he knew the log line. There was more interaction between Hunter and the producer since originally the song was a ballad but a faster song was required. Revved up with Ronson's help, Ian got a gold record, so not much to complain about!
Hunter does appropriately demonstrate the dedication of many teachers:
If there's just one weed in this flowerless grave
If there's just one seed I can save
I'm going to reach ya
Pleased to meet ya, I'm the teacher
The song appeared in the United Artists Picture for the 1984 comedy Teachers starring Nick Nolte.
Great Expectations (You Never Know What to Expect) was written for Orion Pictures' college comedy movie Up the Creek. Hunter first recorded it with Virgin Records' heavy metal band Shooting Star. In a sense, this song is about Ian's daughter Tracie but more tongue-in-cheek. She is an independent person and Hunter works to stay in her good graces. Ian went to Pasha Music in LA but the band couldn't play the song correctly since it seems simple, but Hunter's music is more sophisticated when actually performed. Displeased with the sound Ian sent a demo that he created instead and what we hear is the result.
Hunter and Ronson covered Good Man in a Bad Time, (Tanner/Reede) written by Marc Tanner and Jon Reede. The producer and DJ Arthur Baker asked Hunter to perform the song since he liked his voice. Ian recorded this in Baker's Manhattan Studio for use in the 1985 horror movie Fright Night. The song is absolutely ideal accompanying the visual in the film. The film follows a young man who discovers that his next-door neighbor is a vampire.
Wake Up Call (Baker/Tina B/Mandel) is another song done for DJ and producer Arthur Baker. The call from Baker was a surprise for Hunter asking him to do the vocal for the 1986 independently made American action-fantasy, sci-fi film The Wraith with Charlie Sheen. It only took one day. Overall, Ian worked with Baker for a week and they got along well. A song, Professional Lover, was supposed to go to Tina Turner which sounded like a great idea but apparently Arthur did not follow up. In any case, Hunter liked the sound that Baker got and one track for a film was lucrative by putting energy into one song and you are done in two days.
Other artists recorded Hunter compositions. Karla DeVito who worked with Meatloaf recorded Hunter-Mandel's Money Can't Buy Love for Wake 'Em Up in Tokyo. Usually money can't buy love, except sometimes, but Hunter says it can buy ornamental fronts. In 1987 Scott Folsom recorded Hunter's Red Letter Day and their co-written White on White.
Also in 1987 Ian played piano on four tracks for Michael Monroe's Nights Are So Long album and more importantly he connected with John Jansen, known for the Cutting Crew hit (I Just) Died in Your Arms, especially assisting on a track called Abnormal for Hunter and American Music.
The association with Jansen proved to be fortuitous since Hunter was back and prepared for his next effort as the latter song would be recorded for YUI Orta.
Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
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