Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: After the Pearl
Company: Earth Tone
Catalog: ET-01002
Year: 1983
Grade (cover/record): NM/NM
Comments: great shape
Available: 1
Price: $20.00
Singer/songwriter Joey Molland's best known as one of founding members/survivors of The Iveys/Badfinger (and to a lesser degree his work with The Dodgers and Natural Gas (see separate entries)).
Having been in the business for some two decades, Molland's decision to release a solo effort came in the wake of personal tragedy; the album literally being released within a matter of months of former Badfinger partner Tom Evans' suicide - Evans was reportedly depressed over the lack of record royalties. (Ironically, Badfinger's Pete Ham had committed suicide in 1975).
Released by the small Earth Tone label, 1983's self-produced "After the
Pearl" found Molland continuing to mine Badfinger/Paul McCartney-styled pop/rock. While his
instantly recognizable voice may have lost a touch of it's earlier flexibility, on original material such as "Here Comes Heartache", "Too Late To Cry" and "Moolah Rey" the man still sounded pretty darned good. Always a talented
melocist, Molland's gifts remained intact throughout the set. Now for the bad news ... In an era of rap and new wave, like the cigarette he was shown holding on the cover photo, his affections for '60s-styled rock were hopelessly outdated. That's unfortunate since in an earlier timeframe virtually every one of the nine
songs would have made a dandy top-40 hit - okay, "All Your Lovin" succumbed to the dreaded
sea-of-synthesizers-disease. Highlights for us included the pretty ballads "In My Heart", "What Happened" (ah, shades of Badfinger) and the rocker "Mean Jemima". Very few copies were printed; even fewer actually sold, making the LP a future collectable.
"After the Pearl" track listing:
1.) Here Comes Heartache (Joey Molland) -
2.) Too Late To Cry (Joey Molland) -
3.) Moolah Rey (Joey Molland) -
4.) In My Heart (Joey Molland) -
5.) All Your Lovin' (Joey Molland) -
6.) Life Song (Joey Molland) -
7.) What Happened (Joey Molland) -
8.) Mean Jemima (Joey Molland) -
9.) Dream of Thunder (Joey Molland) -