Mother Love Bone Songs Ranked
Mother Love Bone was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood’s personality and lyrics helped to catapult the group to the top of the burgeoning the late 1980s/early 1990s Seattle music scene. Wood died only days before the scheduled release of the band’s debut album, Apple, thus ending the group’s hopes of success. The album was finally released a few months later. As well as being influential to grunge, they are also considered early pioneers in the alternative metal genre. Here are all of Mother Love Bone songs ranked.
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9. Holy Roller (Crown Of Thorns, 1989)
“This version is similar to the released version, but feels a little ‘looser’, which changes the groove a bit. There are other slight differences (a very short middle section that is a bit different than the released version), that also make this alternate take an interesting listen. Great sound quality, fantastic performance.”
8. Stargazer (Apple, 1990)
“It is a pretty neat rock ballad. The singing is really good and soothing, the lyrics are good enough. Instrumentally it has a great guitar playing with some good melodic chords, the drums are very soft and the bass only follows the guitars. The show here is the good singing performance. It does have a sort of glam relation, but overall i find this ballad really enjoyable.”
7. Capricorn Sister (Apple, 1990)
“Mother Love Bone will forever be remembered as the group that spawned Pearl Jam. However, there was so much more to the story of the short-lived band, that was fronted by the late Andrew Wood, who lost his battle with heroin. Mother Love Bone’s 1990 debut album, Apple, is an overlooked recording, that bridges the ’80s Hollywood big hair band scene to the Seattle grunge movement. “
6. Gentle Groove (Apple, 1990)
“Gentle Groove is another great rock ballad written and sung in such a powerful way by this prolific artist. It is produced in an interesting way of the piano melody recorded loader than it is often the case and retaining the central stage throughout. I wonder what exactly Andrew was addressing here because I have this feeling that when he says: ‘nobodies gonna change the way I feel for my love’ this time he does not mean – a woman.”
See more: Mother Love Bone Albums Ranked
5. Stardog Champion (Compilation album, 1992)
“After Andrew Wood (lead vocals) died of a heroin overdose, the other members of MLB decided to close out the short life of the band by moving on to other projects. The most famous of these, and the reason for this re-issue, was Stone Gossard (guitar) and Jeff Ament’s (bass) creation of Pearl Jam. Because of Pearl Jam’s monster success (as well as the extreme popularity of Seattle’s alt-rock scene in general i.e. Nirvana, Alice In Chains, etc.) Star Dog/Mercury decided to issue you this album and rake in the dough. At least in doing so, they released pretty much all of MLB’s library in one issue. It includes all the tracks from Apple their first full-length album, and Shine their first EP.
4. This Is Shangrila (Crown Of Thorns.., 1989)
“This group is one of the gods of Seattle grunge music, the unfortunate thing was I believe the lead singer died before grunge became an mainstream commodity. Because it is very likely that this would have been the Big 5 Grunge band. This is essentially a power pop track with the grungy guitars that we would later love. This is a miraculous song, Give it to the Gipper.”
3. Man of Golden Words (Apple, 1990)
“Man Of Golden Words is my the most favorite song of this album. This is a song expressing love towards music. I bet it is the most beautiful song of its kind ever written. The lyrics are phenomenal here: ‘Let’s fall in love with music, the driving force in our living, the only international language, divine glory, the expression, the knees bow the tongue confesses; the lord of lords, the kings of kings; words and music – my only tools, communication’. Has a greater tribute ever been paid and a better testimony delivered to our love for music? Andrew Woods has expressed my feelings here as well.”
See more: Temple of the Dog Albums Ranked
2. Chloe Dancer (Singles, 1992)
“Chloe Dancer” is a beautiful masterpiece by legendary Seattle’s band Mother Love Bone and a tribute to Andy Woods’s voice. To me, Andrew Woods was the most charismatic, talented, and promising epic rock ballad writer and vocalist not only coming out of Seattle but coming out of rock music in general.
1. Crown of Thorns (Singles, 1992)
“Crown Of Thorns is another spectacular song and I can completely understand that many can consider it the best song here. This song is a perfect companion to times when things do not work out really well. Oh Andy, I guess you know by now that your words: ‘if you make it death well rest your soul away’ should have been phrased quite differently… I am afraid there is no easy way out of here. Sometimes we wish things would be so simple but that simply defies the rules of this universe in which nothing is simple and everything has that cause and effect we just can’t run away from. Nor should we want to because we direct and control our own lives in a much greater way than we often consider it possible. I have a feeling that if you were exposed to a different, more esoteric set of rules reigning over our lives, and kept in mind that you yourself were going to be evaluating your own life and setting conditions for the individual evolution of your soul – you would have less of a problem getting rid of your addiction.”
