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.