Hotline to the Underground
Review by Joe Viglione
Album Be True To Yourself
Artist: Joey Molland
Hotline to the Underground
On
July 12, 2021 the vinyl release of Joey Molland's Be True To Yourself
lp will emerge on Record Store Day. Pick it up as it is an instant
collector’s item with every track stellar and memorable. Produced by
Mark Hudson and featuring Julian Lennon, Micky Dolenz, Jason Scheff and
Steve Holley the work is brilliant artistically and a resounding musical
success.
The four minutes and fifty-eight seconds of
opening track "This Time" sweep in with majesty and authority. Joey
Molland's vocals appeal and this Mark Hudson production feels like it
would be a perfect duet with George Harrison…or Paul McCartney…or
Ringo. Molland consistently writes contemporary (key word) music that
we adore from the era as does the daughter of Denny Laine (nee Brian
Hines) of Wings with her Karmacar band. Molland and Heidi-Jo Hines
(Karmacar) are the best purveyors of the sound established by the
Beatles out there, original music that excites, generates interest,
performances that leads to repeated spins. There is a huge market for
this delicious stuff, the key is finding all those in the appreciation
society lost and spinning in the quagmire that is the internet. Someone
hit them over the head with this and they’ll love you forever.
Be
True To Yourself is no revision of past glories, the ten songs take you
to a place in the future where the Fab Four would have gone.
Exemplified with the dignity of “Rainy Day Man,” resplendent in Beach
Boys harmonies and George Harrison riffs. Molland was there when the
magic happened, was part of the magic and there on the past glories for
all to hear. The majestic melodies, vibes and solid construction in
these digital (and now vinyl again) grooves need to find a film
soundtrack to launch this wonderful work into the stratosphere.
Like
Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Paul McCartney, you can
find much of the music free on YouTube. These stalwarts of the ever
evolving Rock and Roll music genre now utilizing the YouTube platform
the way AM radios in the 1960s got the music out. Remember hearing your
favorite song and hitting the cassette player? Of course you don’t,
that was time on a planet long ago and far far away. Be True To Yourself
is out there on the “tube,” front and center, and you’ll want the
repeated spins without the darn commercials that proliferate these days
inside that venue. But that’s OK, AM radio had too many advertisements
as well, what is important is that the download platforms are our new
radio in 2021.
The aforementioned Rolling Stones have a
magnificent song entitled “Heaven,” find it on Tattoo You. Molland’s
“Heaven” is a sensation counterpart to Jagger/Richards excursion, though
the sounds are separate and different from the Stones; it’s truly All
Things Must Pass Volume 3, for 2021. There is no doubt in my mind that
this music, played and performed with Karmacar’s Heidi Jo along with
Ringo and Sir Paul would usher in a new era of Beatles’ magic. All four
of them were there, Heidi around the McCartney farm, Badfinger on the
right track with “Baby Blue,” “Come and Get It,” and of course the
Nilsson masterpiece “Without You” (power ballad from Tom Evans and Pete
Ham of Badfinger.) “Shine” has Mark Hudson truly pouring all the
elements into the kettle and pouring out dreamy, creamy moods.
“All
I Want To Do” is power-pop reinvention. Hudson’s sublime production
and the essential talents of McCartney/Elton John/Ian Hunter drummer
Steve Holley, Julian Lennon, Mike Nesmith and Jason Scheff providing
exquisite backing. It is a wall of sound, perfectly spaced and so very
exciting from track to track. Indeed, this long-time rock journalist
doesn’t hand out mere platitudes, I’ve got better things to do. Be True
To Yourself is the real deal, a merry-go-round of borderline
psychedelia, a Magical Mystery Tour for 2021. If you feel that this
essay dips too much into the Beatles’ bag, it is only for the fact that
the fans of the Fab Four, the Kinks and yes, the highly popular Monkees,
need to absorb this series of compelling sounds.
My
review of the 2001 This Way Up on AllMusic.com is similar to how I feel
about this new album. There are millions and millions of fans still out
there on the planet, and somehow they need to be alerted to this album
that brings the music they love into the 21st century.
CD / DIGITAL TRACK LIST:
1. THIS TIME
2. BETTER TOMORROW
3. RAINY DAY MAN
4. HEAVEN
5. ALL I WANT TO DO
6. I DON’T WANNA BE DONE WITH YOU
7. ALL I DO IS CRY
8. LOVING YOU
9. SHINE
10. BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
Cat: OV-402
THIS WAY UP, 2001
JOE VIGLIONE REVIEW ON ALLMUSIC.COM
https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-way-up-mw0000660696
AllMusic Review
by Joe Viglione
[-]
Joey Molland's group Badfinger was one of the great
power pop bands of all time. Before the Raspberries, the Dwight Twilley
Band, and other tunesmiths found the magic of energetic car radio
melodies, Molland and crew led the way. This Way Up continues that work
and is one of the best solo discs that ex-members of the Beatles never
made. It bears repeating -- This Way Up contains the essence of what was
great about those early solo Beatles albums, not surprising because
Molland played on some of them. The surprise is that a sideman from
those sessions has created a mini-masterpiece rivaling, and on some
songs equaling, those classic and important recordings. As good as
Molland's power trio is live, why it doesn't perform originals onstage
the way they are presented on this disc is a mystery. Molland is an
excellent guitarist, and in concert he can veer off from the hit
material and rival Pat Travers. That isn't always what his audience
wants -- what his audience wants are the pretty guitar lines and vocals
in a song like "The Bust," a slice of the stuff that made everyone into
Badfinger fans, still alive and well and current. This is a very, very
excellent recording, make no mistake about that. From the opening track,
"Mirrors," to the bounce of "Happy," and from the cool John Lennon-ish
"This Must Be Love" to the final production, a moody and melancholy
"Isn't That a Dream," 13 perfectly constructed songs by Molland do more
than just carry on a tradition -- they combine to give proof that this
style of music is still so very vital.
This CD can satisfy the fans of discs like Plastic
Ono Band, Mind Games, Ram, and All Things Must Pass. It has flavors of
the song "Free As a Bird" and it has Molland presenting tremendous pop;
just listen to the exquisite "Moonlight" to get that thrill the first
McCartney solo project gave you. This album is everything a fan of those
wonderful early solo Beatles albums is looking for -- great lyrics,
pretty melodies, and elegant sounds. If you want to know where Tom Petty
could go with his music, listen to "A Way to Be." Molland should've
been in the Traveling Wilburys, and if that venerable "supergroup" did
this album with the Badfinger guitarist, this amazing stuff would have
had a fighting chance. In a perfect world, music directors would seek
out superior sounds no matter if released on an independent, a major
label, or the Internet. This entertaining record deserves airplay
wherever people like and want to hear the music of the Beatles. "What
Else/Nothing" is just an incredible Beatles-style track from the man who
played on the Imagine album, on All Things Must Pass, and on Concert
for Bangladesh, a musician who the Beatles themselves signed and brought
to the attention of the world. "Tell Me" could be the Traveling
Wilburys, while "Three Minute Warning" is reinvented Chuck Berry by way
of Marc Bolan before T. Rex. The final track is majestic, with a vocal
like Ian Hunter and suspending guitar lines that chug along slowly. This
Way Up is an incredible work of art that deserves worldwide exposure.
