mick ronson - slaugher on 10the avenue

For no good reason, today I decided to play Mick Ronson’s debut solo album Slaughter On 10^th Avenue. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s been years since I played this one, and it came as a welcome blast of glam pomp. I’d forgotten how variable this album was – there are some great moments, and some truly dreadful ones. Sadly one of the worst comes right at the start – the hideously overwrought cover of “Love Me Tender”. Avoid.

 

But the album picks up immediately with the nicely stompy “Growing Up And I’m Fine” which sounds rather like early Queen, but without Freddie’s histrionics. “Only After Dark” is a weirdly robotic slice of glam rock, and is surely the only song in history to have been covered by both Human League and Def Leppard – but oddly you can see how it suits both bands.

 

The rest of the album is generally solid, well produced 1974 rock. The band is basically Bowie’s Pin Ups band – Ronno, Trevor Bolder, Aynsley Dunbar and Mike Garson, and the overall sound is just like Pin Ups. There’s surprisingly little guitar showofferey, with the emphasis more on the songs and the excellent arrangements rather than pyrotechnics. And Ronno is a very good singer, but perhaps a little unremarkable.

 

There’s a strong parallel to be drawn with Bernard Butler’s first solo album. Both were superb guitarists who were pushed too quickly into solo careers. After Butler left Suede he quickly came up with a solid, excellently produced album, but again there’s something lacking. It’s hard to pinpoint why it doesn’t quite work, but Butler’s album is very much a poor relation to Suede's Dog Man Star, just as Ronno’s album comes off a clear second best to Aladdin Sane or Pin Ups.