A band with such a complicated history, and such a meager recorded legacy, that only
Mott the Hoople obsessives will want to know their whole story, which would run through several pages worth of fanzine documentation to fully explain. Suffice it to explain that future
Mott the Hoople members
Pete "Overend" Watts and
Dale Griffin ("Buffin") played together in several outfits in the 1960s before
Mott was formed. One of them,
The Silence, lasted for most of the latter half of 1965, and did not record. Another, just called
Silence (no "the" included), existed in late 1968 and early 1969, and included
Watts,
Griffin, organist
Verden Allen, and guitarist
Mick Ralphs; when
Ian Hunter replaced singer
Stan Tippins,
Mott the Hoople were born. The 1965 version of
The Silence re-formed in 1990 to record enough material, in a British Invasion/R&B vein, to fill out an album, which was finally released in 1998 on a CD that also included the super-rare 1967 album by
the Doc Thomas Group (a band that also featured
Watts and
Griffin). ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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Red links represent a CD that is not currently available.