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Rating:
I felt it was necessary, since no one else has done it, to review the only album of one of the best bands from the Seattle scene.
Not very well known but made up of important figures like Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (guitar and bass), completed by Bruce Fairweather on guitar, Greg Gilmore on drums, and especially the charismatic and versatile singer Andrew Wood, Mother Love Bone had a brief existence due to the premature death of Wood. Nevertheless, they managed to create the beautiful Apple. After debuting with the EP Shine in '89, Apple was released posthumously in '90 after Wood's death. The album significantly deviates from the Grunge sounds of other Seattle bands (more cheerful than the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains) and favors less rough sounds closer to the hard rock emerging in Los Angeles.
With powerful riffs and beautiful vocals, the album is very varied and offers 13 tracks. It ranges from songs like the opener This Is Shangrila and Captain Hi-Top, powerful and fast, to others like Stargazer, delicate and melodic, and Man Of Golden Worlds, almost a prayer accompanied by the piano. But the best song is Stardog Champion, a synthesis of the entire album: melodic and powerful at the same time, where Wood provides the best performance of the record. But the rest of the album is no less impressive, with other Hard Rock episodes like Heartshine, Come Bite The Apple, and Capricorn Sister, and slower ones like Bone China, the martial Holy Roller, and the lengthy Crown Of Thorns.
Overall, Apple is a unique, evocative, and unrepeatable work, with its own style and an extraordinary singer who unfortunately died at just 24 years old.
In '91, to honor Andrew Wood in the best possible way, the project Temple Of The Dog was born (the name comes from a verse in the song Man Of Golden Worlds) where Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden joined Gossard and Ament to create a splendid tribute to the singer.
From the ashes of Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam was born, still active today.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 This Is Shangrila (03:42)
I've been around the world and i wrote a million songs
it's all a bore to me
i've slept in the gutter and I've lied with the dogs
it never bothered me
the sheriff he come to with his little boys in blue
they been lookin' for me
but with my crystal sheen guitar i'm another ego star
so give it to me.......
get me to the stage - it brings me home again
this is shangrila
i'm trippin on it now - it brings me home again
this is shangrila
i look bad in shorts but most of us do
don't let that bother me
i'm the football who is who, I don't believe in smack
so don't you die on me
cause love is all good people need
and music sets the sick ones free
without love no one ever grows nothing ever sings...
this is shangrila
you have gathered for the feast
the bread is my body....the wine is blood
get me to the stage - it brings me home again
this is shangrila
i'm trippin on it now - it brings me home again
02 Stardog Champion (04:57)
Ah, ah, ah.... oh yes.
San Francisco, where the flowers bloom in spring.
I said fade to winter and see what disease brings.
Augustino, with his eyes like a shinning sea.
I said he's half a shadow... god don't let that be me.
I'm a Stardog Champion.
I'm a Stardog Champion.
West Virginia, that where my father lies.
He was a war time hero,
The kind that money buys.
Diamond braclett for my mommy's memory.
I said that's all she wrote for, that's all she wrote for me, yeah.
I'm a Stardog Champion.
I'm a Stardog Champion.
That's right.
And the children, they used to sing of love
With the grace from the lord above.
I said the children, they used to sing outloud.
Sing it loud...
Good god, I'm a Stardog Champion.
I'm a Stardog Champion.
I'm a Stardog, baby
And I ain't gonna let you down, yeah
Ain't gonna let you down..
I'll never let you down...
Let the children sing
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nahnahnahnahnowah....
03 Holy Roller (04:28)
Oooh baby gotta put me back together
I need your smooth dog lovin' oh, yeah
And so I'm sending off the little monster
Gonna turn it up inside your head
Do you believe?
Holy Roller
Like a holy roller
Like a holy roller
In my head
I said you loin queen parader
I'm gonna get you down on all fours
And then you gotta show me what you're made of - little darling
I'll meet you child - by the backdoor babe
Like a holy roller
Like a holy roller
To my head
The love-bone breakdown.
That's right.
All right you people.
See I, see I got somethin' to say to you people out there.
You gotta listen to me people, you gotta listen to me.
Yeeeeeah, the lord's comin' down people.
Yeeeeeah he's gonna take ya whole, he's gonna eat ya whole people.
Like a big grizzly bahr comin' out of the closet and eat ya whole.
Ya see the lord's gonna come and get ya people and ya gotta beware
because the Mother Love Bone camp knows what to do about it.
Ya see I been around I seen a lotta long haired freaks in my day,
but those boys in Mother Love Bone I'll tell ya they know what's right for ya.
Ya know they're like Malt-O-Meal for ya, they're good for ya.
They're like soup, they're like nothing bad, let me tell ya that much.
I tell ya people, the lord's comin', and if you don't believe,
and if you don't believe in what I can convey to ya, I tell ya people:
Love rock awaits ya people.
Yeeeah lo and behold, lo and behold...
Holy Roller
Like a holy roller
To my head
05 Come Bite the Apple (05:26)
How did I get here?
What song did I sing?
And just what have I done
To deserve such a thing?
You say - I've heard all that before
So won't you give it up babe - stop using me
You say - I've heard all that before
So bring me an apple - I'm cryin'
I been persecuted - like a lying man
The spirit provides me
The spirit gives but it also can take away
You say - I've heard all that before
So won't you give it up babe - just stop using me boy
You say - I've heard all that before
So come bite the apple
I'm run down
Like Soddom to Gammorah, all dead now
So please stop to laugh, and pity me
My soul means well, but I'm sorry
My skin it is withered and I'm nervous, yes I am
My future was in my hands till I washed it all away
Washed it all away
Said, get along - little sister
Heard you're doin' well
Get along little sister
Doin' well
06 Stargazer (04:52)
I'm crazy, crazy - I'm the boy
Who defies all, yeah
Lift me higher, than anyone
And hold me arms
Woman, woman, she outta mind
And simply out of soul
She gets me higher than anyone
And I miss her so
So do it
I miss her so
Stargazer you call the shots
And I'll take all
Star you kick with me - oh please
Stargazer you call the shots
I take all
Stargazer won't you kick with me
Oh please
I dance a dancer - I'm all wrong
She thinks she's young and wise
But oh, no - no
She dance around my - my dirty little cable car
And fix me up with a guy - why?
C'mon
Why'd you do this to me, babe?
[Chorus]
Stargazer you cry in blue
Anything I've ever seen
Ain't as good as you child
I'm not trying to push your feelings
But I know you hold me like butter in your hands
Cry for me and rub it in
Cry for the saviors and the prophet's son
Dream of me and Julie Ann
Oh xana come back again
07 Heartshine (04:37)
Waste away my tears - babe I can't cry no more
No more, no less - My love
I said, my brother's drowning
Like a star babe, like a slower suicide
Me I gave mine away
I give you my heartshine
Yes I do
I give to you my heartshine
Only for you
A sad hello to death, I'm a stubborn goat on trial
No more, no less
I said time will tell, if love is gonna have the strength to push it
The strength to push my pain away
I give to you, I give to you my heartshine
I give to you my heartshine
I give you my heartshine
I give to you my...
Love flourishes
Love flourishes
You've gotta value love supreme
Love flourishes
Love flourishes
08 Captain Hi-Top (03:06)
I am magnificent!
I'm the instigator of the me generation
The official seminator of the female population
Scoff at my rivals cause they ain't cool
And I re-wrote the bible, and I made my own rules
Captain Hi-Top the love commander
I'm the ego star forever after
Captain Hi-Top the love commander
Hide your mom, control your sister
I'm the hip-hop surgeon of the mindless eye
I said - Take me babe, in between your [?] thighs
And these stories of my image ain't up to par
I'll tell you what I'll do
I slid the beast to Farah, saying babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe
Baby, I'm a star
Captain Hi-Top the love commander
I'm the ego star forever after
Captain Hi-Top the love commander
Hide your mom, control your sister
11 Gentle Groove (04:04)
written by Wood and Mother Love Bone
---
like my world i'm on fire
cause i'm full of desire
no more preachin on your part
no more love on my pillow
come dance with me in my room
you can hold me hands
i shall be your boyfriend
and you can call me names
and nobodies gonna change the way i feel, for my love
nobodies gonna slow my gentle groove
till kingdom come thy work is done on earth as it is in dallas
come play with me in romm
you can hold me hands
i will be your boyfriend
and you can call me names
and nobody gonna take the power away, from my love
and nobodies gonna slow my gentle groove
and nobodies gonna take my love away
and nobodies gonna slow my gentle groove
till kingdom come thy work is done on earth as it is in dallas
---
13 Crown of Thorns (06:22)
written by Wood and Mother Love Bone
---
you ever heard the story, of mister faded glory
say he who rides the pony must someday fall
i been talkin to my alter it says life is what you make it
and if you make it death well rest your soul away, away, away
it's a broken kinda feelin, should have to tie me to the ceiling
a bad moons-a-comin better say your prayers
i wanna tell her that i love her but does it really matter
i just can't stand to see you dragging down again, again, again
this is my kinda love
it's the kind that moves on
it's unkind and leaves me alone
repeat
i used to treat you like a lady, now you're a substitute teacher
this bottles not a pretty, not a pretty sight to see
i owe the man some money so i'm turning over honey
you see mister faded glory is once again doin time
repeat chorus
repeat chorus
like a crown of thorns, its all who you know
so don't burn your bridges woman cause someday
repeat chorus etc....
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