I’ll admit it. The name got me. The cover art certainly didn’t…
Seeing an album by MÖTT immediately stirred memories of one of England’s greatest rock bands. For a brief moment I wondered if there was some connection, some lost chapter or forgotten offshoot of Mott The Hoople. Instead, what I found was something entirely different – the work of veteran Canadian songwriter Martin Epp, known throughout his career simply as “Mott”, a journeyman musician who’s spent decades writing, recording and quietly building a catalogue largely under the radar.
And, in fairness, he’s finally decided to make some serious noise.
The Best Is Yet To Come isn’t just a solo record, it’s a who’s who of melodic and hard rock talent, featuring everyone from Jeff Scott Soto, Chas West, Lee Small and Jason Buhr to Billy Sheehan, Phil X, George Lynch, Derek Sherinian and Matt Starr. On paper it’s enough to make any Hard Rock fan sit up and take notice, and thankfully the songs largely justify the calibre of the guests.
The opening stretch immediately grabs you. Chas West powers through the infectious I Say Hello, while Jason Buhr channels more than a little David Lee Roth swagger on the bluesy Fallin’. The title track that follows is one of the album’s genuine highlights, with Jeff Scott Soto delivering a huge vocal over a distinctly Van Halen-inspired groove, complete with the playful nod to Running With The Devil. It’s one of those songs that reminds you just how effortlessly Soto can elevate good material into something memorable.
Elsewhere, Marguerita bursts into life with one of the album’s strongest choruses, Lee Small as always sounding superb, while All Outta Love, Out To Breakfast and Toni keep the energy levels high.
George Lynch’s unmistakable guitar work on Out To Breakfast is worth the admission price alone, and throughout the record the revolving cast of musicians never feels like a gimmick. They’re here because the songs deserve players of this quality.
That’s really the story of this album. Martin Epp can write songs. The problem is simply that he wrote too many of them. Or rather delivered too many of them at once.
At sixteen tracks, The Best Is Yet To Come is a victim of the modern CD era mentality that more automatically equals better. It doesn’t. There are probably ten songs here that I’d happily come back to again and again, but they’re spread across an album that occasionally loses sight of pacing.
The biggest issue comes midway through the record, where Drift Away, Second Chance and Sweet Baby Grace arrive one after another. Individually they’re perfectly respectable slower numbers, but grouped together they sap the momentum the opening half has worked so hard to establish. A little reshuffling of the running order would have made a significant difference, while trimming the album back to ten or eleven of its strongest songs could have transformed a very good record into an outstanding one.
That’s the frustrating thing. This isn’t an album suffering from weak songwriting; it’s suffering from excess. There simply isn’t enough variation in the sequencing to sustain a sixteen-song running time.
Yet despite those reservations, I found myself repeatedly returning to many of these tracks. The choruses stick. The performances are consistently excellent. The production is polished without sounding sterile, and the guest list delivers exactly what you’d hope it would. More importantly, beneath all the famous names sits a songwriter who clearly has genuine melodic instincts and who clearly deserves recognition.
Ironically, the name that initially drew me in ended up being the least important thing about the album.
No, this isn’t connected to one of Britain’s legendary rock bands. Instead it’s the sound of a lifelong musician finally assembling the dream team he’s always desired. Had he been just a little more ruthless in the editing room, The Best Is Yet To Come might have lived up completely to its title.
As it stands, it’s still a really enjoyable melodic rock record packed with some memorable songs, some great performances and enough hooks to keep you coming back. Just don’t be afraid to hit repeat on your favourites rather than playing all sixteen in one sitting.
Track Listing
- I Say Hello
- Someone
- Angéle
- Fallin’
- The Best Is Yet To Come
- Drift Away
- Second Chance
- Sweet Baby Grace
- Alone Again
- All Outta Love
- Marguerita
- I Knew
- Out To Breakfast
- She Holds The Key
- Sunshine Baby
- Toni