MUSIC
MY AIM IS TRUE
Badfinger’s Joey Molland’s Album is a Welcome Dose of Positively Beatlesque Pop
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
Todd…! I must say, Todd Rundgren brought so much HIS MONTH, BADFINGER CO-FOUNDER JOEY energy every night. I never saw a day that he wasn’t just Molland is slated to release a new solo album. Be bursting. As it is now, we may come back out next spring True To Yourself (Omnivore Recordings) is an and fall, so please look for us. Then if this record does energetic, ten-track set of clever pop tunes and his first good, it’ll bring a lot of things into the picture. I’m really batch of new material since 2013. excited to see where it all goes. With a little help from a number of the singer-songwriterguitarist’s friends, including Micky Dolenz (The There are several of your White Album tourmates as Monkees), Wings album Steve Holley, Chicago singerguests on the album. bassist Jason Scheff and Julian Lennon, the record was You know how it is on a tour, you get to know folks produced and honed by Mark Hudson (Aerosmith, Ringo as you travel along. Then when it came time to do the Starr, Hudson Brothers). Lennon also shot the front and record, they volunteered! back cover photos for the album package. There’s a cheerful, Anglophile jangle has the same spirit as an early Ringo solo WHEN I SEE PEOPLE Itrecord to the collection, which is to be expected where you can tell there was a party SMILE AS I’M as Molland is the last surviving original going on in the studio. PLAYIN,’ THAT JUST Mark, as a producer, allows the musicians member of Badfinger. His considerable Beatle pedigree (with guest spots on DRIVES ME ON. ALL to put themselves into it. I think that’s why both John Lennon’s Imagine and George YOU CAN DO IS YOUR it sounds like such a good time. We didn’t Harrison’s All Things Must Pass) forever the parts all written out or anything BEST - AND THAT’S have amplifies his offerings among the Fab4 so everyone put their own heart into every THE WAY I’VE Faithful. Related, he was part of last song. Every song is different, but there’s still ALWAYS DONE IT. an ongoing thread to it. We all laughed a lot. year’s “It Was Fifty Years Ago Today - A Tribute to The Beatles’ White Album” When you’re makin’ up things as ya go, there tour with featured spots from pals Dolenz, Scheff, and are screw-ups. So we had a few laughs and we ended up polar-opposite singer-guitarists Todd Rundgren and diggin’ it all when we listened to the tracks back in the Christopher Cross. studio. It was like a party. There wasn’t a lot of boozin’ or INsite phoned the jovial Liverpudlian at his Minneapolis anythin’ but it felt like it. home studio to discuss the new record. With forty songs to work with, you could do three more Great to talk with you again. The last time we spoke you albums before the pandemic passes. were on a big package tour and that evening became the We could! Mark picked the ones that he kinda thought final Peter and Gordon performance. were the most viable and I believe he chose ‘em well. If this Oh at that fairgrounds kind of place there? Yeah! How’s one’s a bit of a success, we’ve got loads of material so we it going down there? can go back in and do some more. It was a great experience, makin’ this record. The way things are now I was astounded When the pandemic is over, we’ve got to get you back I even got the chance, you know what I mean? down this way. I’d love to, it has been a while. I really want to be out The industry has changed so much since you made and playin’ again, it’s drivin’ me crazy! Return To Memphis in 2013. Everything has changed. The ways of recordin,’ the How are you handling the down time? style of music, the sound. Even what they’re singin’ I’ve just been makin’ myself busy around the house, about and how ya hear it. It’s a different world, man! But around the cars, with my girlfriend’s life and stuff. Just when you’ve got 300 billion people with studios in their gettin’ along best as I can, really. I binge-watch the TV basement, everybody wants to be a musician. like everyone. Thank God, I’m still doin’ ok; I’m well. I A lot of music is comin’ out and a lot of it is great. haven’t had any attacks or anything. I’m not bouncin’ off the walls. Yet. It’s a good time for a record like this one. It’s a very positive listening experience. Are you able to work on new music with all this That’s good t’ hear. But I’m a pretty positive person, craziness going on? Sometimes I’ll work on some ideas, but lately I tend to put them aside, really. I’m getting a bit miserable because I can’t get out and work, you know? But I do play the guitar a lot because I want me fingers to keep workin’ for when all this is finally over. In a way, I feel like I’ve been workin’ on music a lot because the record took a couple of years. It took us a while because [producer] Mark [Hudson] wanted to do it the old-fashioned way - with real instruments, real studios and real engineers. Just like the way I used to do it! I sent him around forty songs and we really went through them, song by song. Mark added his magic to ‘em and I’m happy to say that the reaction we’ve been getting has been really good. I’m doin’ interviews with Japan, Australia, all over the world. And when you do that, then the music goes all over the world.
T
You were on the road last year with the White Album tour, but you didn’t make it to Atlanta. It looked like a blast for all concerned. Yeah, we did the east coast and I’m surprised we didn’t get down there. We were gonna go back out in May and then again this fall but it all got cancelled. But it was good fun. We had good audiences and you know, not a lot of people have played that album live - all the way through like that. The songs aren’t quite as big as from Abbey Road or the Beatles’ early stuff, but it was good. The performers on the show, maybe myself excluded, were extraordinary. Micky Dolenz was incredible. Christopher Cross was singin’ like a bird and playing guitar. But PG 12 • October 2020 • insiteatlanta.com
really. Mark brings a lot of that out, too. But the songs are positive and the lead vocals, the harmonies and even the backing vocals all of that stuff is so upfront. You don’t hear a lot of that now, that I’m aware of anyway. I think people are likin’ that and the energy of the record is tremendous. It’s straight-ahead pop music and I really like it.
Every one of the guests bring their own style to it, yet it still sounds like your older stuff. We all pretty much grew up in that same era. But they do bring their own personality to it. They brought themselves to the project. Jason came along and just blinded us with his harmonies. Then it’s like, well if Micky Dolenz says he’ll do it, you know he’ll bring the sort of energy you’d expect. Plus, he’s just a regular bloke. A family guy that was also in The Monkees and did all these other things. You should be talkin’ to him. He’s much more interestin’ than me! He’s one of my very favorite people to interview. Julian Lennon is also on the album. Did you know him as a kid? I actually met him when the Valotte album was out. Of course I played with his dad on the Imagine album. Of course you did! You have a built-in core of fans who know your entire body of work and this record is a solid addition to it. I’ve been lucky to have worked with some very popular people, yeah. And the Badfinger fans always give me a chance. The fans are lovely and they still come to my shows. I’m lucky that I have a good audience every time I play. So I do my damnedest to bring all those songs to life and put a bit of rock’n’roll in their evening. I’m a beat guy, you know. You were ‘there’ and you haven’t diverted from the traditional pop formula of the ‘60s and early ‘70s. You’re still true to yourself. I developed my style, I suppose, when I was a young man. I haven’t really changed it all that much to fit in or whatever. I’ve tried to make use of modern technology or sounds sometimes, but for me, the approach and the feel of the music is always the same. When I see people smile as I’m playin,’ that just drives me on. All you can do is your best - and that’s the way I’ve always done it. Be True To Yourself will be available from most music retailers on October 16 or direct from the label at omnivorerecordings.com.
