Mother Love Bone "Apple" LP

Color vinyl.

Fair or unfair, Mother Love Bone is destined to be described as "the band Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard were in before Pearl Jam." But in fact, Apple is a solid offering that can stand on its own merits. Even if Pearl Jam had never come about, Apple would be well worth obtaining. Though MLB proudly declared its allegiance to Seattle in a 1990 interview with Cash Box, Apple really doesn't fall into the alternative rock category or inspire comparisons to bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, or Soundgarden. Rather, MLB were clearly Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith devotees, and it's hard to miss the influence of Zep's Robert Plant and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler when lead singer Andrew Wood tears into such intense yet melodic hard rock boogie as "Capricorn Sister," "Stardog Champion," and "Captain Hi-Top." This was a band with great potential, but sadly, one can only speculate on what would have happened had it had a chance to develop.