Mott The Hoople – Roll Away The Stone

“Roll Away the Stone” – Single by Mott the Hoople from the album The Hoople
B-side: “Where Do You All Come From?”
Released: November 1973 (UK) and 1974 (US)
Songwriter: Ian Hunter
Producer: Mott the Hoople
Charted No.8 in UK

On the first version, recorded before Mick Ralphs left the band, Ralphs plays lead guitar and one of the Thunderthighs handles the bridge voice. It was re-recorded by the band for their 1974 album The Hoople, with Ariel Bender on lead guitar and English vocalist Lynsey de Paul singing the vocal bridge

The song featured backing vocals from female trio Thunderthighs, who consisted of Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou and Casey Synge, They’d provided the backing vocals to Lou Reed’s hit single, “Walk On The Wild Side” the previous year and later recorded their own hit single “Central Park Arrest”, which reached #30 in the UK Singles Chart in 1974.

The song was re-cut with new guitarist Luther “Ariel Bender” Grosvenor for inclusion on the The Hoople album, with singer Lindsey De Paul replacing one of the Thunderthighs for the spoken-word section midway through. (De Paul had written “Central Park Arrest” for the all-girl threesome).