Andrew Wood - Melodies and Dreams

This has to be one of the most special and treasured albums I have.

I literally worship Andrew Wood.  One of these days when I take some vacation time I need to visit his grave in Washington and pay my respects:

I found 'Melodies & Dreams' when searching through the I-tunes archive sometime before I got my copy of the DVD 'Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story'.  I couldn't believe it!  I downloaded this miracle immediately.  Total compulsive buy!

This collection of remastered demos apply showcases Woods ability to write some good ballads.  He could rock with Mother Love Bone, and could do some softer-styles solo.  Most chicks would probably dig this solo stuff.

Also some of the songs on here are surprisingly funky and sound like early Prince circa 'Controversy'  Wood could just transcend genres like they were nothing!!

My favorite song on here is 'Cool Marmalade'.  It was the last song he wrote and recorded just a few weeks before his unfortunate demise.  The first lyrics are something along the line of 'I had a dream I died last night' and then he goes on to sing of being AWOL too.  Man that just gives me chills and makes me hella' sad at the same time.  Did Wood have premonitions he was going to die?

Mother Love Bone - Mother Love Bone

M.L.B. is one another of my favorite bands!

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.)