"When I was thirty I was over the hill/Fifty years later I still kill," lan Hunter sings on This Is What I'm Here For. The fact that the last track on Ian Hunter's new album is a rock- hard mission statement says a lot about Ian Hunter. Defiance Pt 1 (great name) may be Hunter's eighteenth or so album (not counting his records with Mott The Hoople), but in its speed, its swing, its songs and its attitude it's more like a debut.
Even the presence of a line-up of ridiculously famous star names, normally a bad sign (superstar contributors tend to act like a dead weight on albums, rather than a lift) doesn't detract from the sheer Ian Hunter-ness of Defiance. Celebrity pals including Ringo Starr, Todd Rundgren, Slash and the late Taylor Hawkins all lend their talents, but none of them overwhelm the songs or come anywhere near to standing in Hunter's light.
