Ahh, those happy days when a drummer could ‘play’ the drums with a pair of pool cues on Top of the Pops and get away with it. I seem to remember that on another occasion Dale Griffin used baguettes.

Roll Away The Stone was Mott The Hoople’s first single from their seventh and last album with Ian Hunter – The Hoople – and their first to feature new guitarist Luther Grosvenor, aka ‘Ariel Bender’, though that memorable guitar motif was actually played on the single by Mick Ralphs before he left to join Bad Company.

The vocal trio here are Thunderthighs – Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou and Casey Synge – who had famously provided the backing vocals to Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side the previous year (despite not actually being “coloured girls” at all).

A year after this they would go on to have a hit of their own with Central Park Arrest, written by Lynsey De Paul who, in another twist, voiced the talking part of the song on Mott’s re-recorded version that appeared on the album, The Hoople.

It’s their best single apart from All The Young Dudes and it reached no.8 in December 1973.