They are an interesting mix of '80s glam rock, grunge, and also a little bit of funky guitar thrown into the mix.
M.L.B. was so talented, they could do so many genres. They could do stadium anthems like 'Star Dog Champion', to Guns N' Roses sleaze rock like 'Mindshaker Meltdown' (I like the part where Andrew Wood swaggers and sings he is a 'Bad M.F.'... dude could totally be tough as Axl!) and they had a keyboard player in Andrew Wood so they could play some ballads.
There is little doubt in my mind that in time M.L.B. would have had some mega Power Ballad cross-over hit if they had gone on. I think it would have sounded something like Cinderella, but a little heavier/ grungier. Maybe like a mix of Cinderella and Guns N' Roses 'November Rain'.
I've always liked Jeff Aments early Bass playing. He plays these like long sustained notes that I would just never think to play if I was a musician. Dude is just way talented and obviously looks at playing Bass guitar differently then a lot of other Bass players. I would say he is my 2nd favorite Bassist, with Lou Barlow being first.
Andrew Wood... Man he just totally rocked, he was like the David Lee Roth of Generation X!
'Mother Love Bone' the album has so many good songs on here. The only one I dislike is 'Mr. Danny Boy', which is just a throw-a-way B-Side... everyone has a few of those.
'Star Gazer' is probably my favorite from this set. I think Andrew wrote it about hanging out in San Francisco (where they were recording music at the time) and it totally captures this San Francisco late at night vibe in my mind.
By the way, why hasn't 'The Love Bone Earth Affair' been re-issued on DVD?!?!?! I had this back in the day, think I rented it from some dingy little Alternative Records store (sort of like the store in the 'Empire Records' flick) and it was sweet! Someone please re-issue this, it would be a total cult classic!
In closing though it should be stated that if M.L.B. had stayed together I think they would have amassed enough good material to be my 2nd favorite musical act, supplanting Dinosaur Jr. D.J. has just recorded so many good songs with so many good guitar solos now (this includes their three 're-union era' albums) that I have no choice but to put D.J. number 2 after my number 1 which is naturally Leonard Cohen.)
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