Even with Mott the Hoople retrospectives now more or less ten-a-penny, this three-CD box set is nevertheless one for the ages. A thorough updating of the late-'70s Shades of Ian Hunter vinyl double, The Journey offers up a solid chronological survey of Mott and the solo Hunter's careers. Fifty-three tracks journey from the 1969 balladry of "Road to Birmingham" and Dylan-isms of "Backsliding Fearlessly," through to the solo Hunter's 21st century "Dead Man Walking" and, in between times, take in as many highs as you could hope for. Completist collectors will find nothing here that they don't already own: the B-side "The Debt" and the Two Miles from Heaven version of "One of the Boys" are the closest you'll get to rarities. More casual listeners, however, might well be overwhelmed by the treasures on display. Each of Mott's seven original albums is visited for its most indisputable highlights, a role call that includes Brain Capers' shattering "The Journey," The Hoople's "Crash Street Kids," and Mott's "Violence." Naturally, the hit singles are all present and correct, and the disc and a half dedicated to Mott races by so fast that the listener will be breathless by the end of it. And you're still only halfway through the box. Hunter's solo account kicks off, unsurprisingly, with "Once Bitten Twice Shy" and it's an indication of just how triumphant his solo debut LP was that no less than six of its tracks are included here (seven if you include the poetic coda to "It Ain't Easy When You Fall"). Things speed up thereafter, as All American Alien Boy and Overnight Angels are swiftly (and deservedly so) dispensed with, but You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic opens disc three with four songs that peak with the mutant funk of "Bastard." And then we put on skates again to race through the '80s and '90s, a fallow period for Hunter by past standards, but still littered with golden moments. "All of the Good Ones Are Taken," "Ill Wind," "Morons," and "Michael Picasso" all sparkle here, but there's really not a disposable moment in sight. So, once again, there are a lot of Mott and Hunter collections out there. But this is the one that matters.