Joey Molland has seen it all. During his time in Badfinger, he witnessed the ups and downs of rock and roll stardom, rubbing elbows with The Beatles no less, and being taken under their collective wings to be the big, blockbuster breakout of Apple Records. Badfinger’s power pop legacy is undisputed.
Of course, the highs of every rock and roll story descend to lows and Badfinger’s story is a notoriously bleak and complicated one. But Joey manages to stay positive and spread some feel-good vibes on his latest release, Be True to Yourself which encapsulates much of the Badfinger power pop sound in a modern setting. Produced by Mark Hudson (Ringo Starr, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne) Be True to Yourself also features a cadre of musical friends: Julian Lennon, Micky Dolenz, Jason Scheff, and Steve Holley.
Join us as we discuss the the creation of his new album with Mr. Molland and the long and winding road he traveled to get from there to here.
The new album is called Be True To Yourself and why don’t you tell us a little bit about the title and that particular song?
Yeah, the title, what can I say? The song came from a conversation I had with my brother, Frank. My eldest brother. He was considerably older than me, and I don’t know if you come from a large family, but it was one of the first times in my life that I’d actually had a conversation with my brother. He was already in his 20s when I was born, you know? So I was a little kid, so we didn’t really hang around together. You know what I mean? So I just had a talk with him and yesterday we talked about the future, we talked about faith, and we talked about government stuff. You know, all the things that you talk about with your friends. And that’s where this song was born—from that conversation.
I’d had the melody for a couple of years and I’d never really gotten a hold of a lyric that I wanted to put with that melody, so it was great to finally get some lyrics and it was fortunately for me, when we started discussing doing a record, Mark Hudson and myself, and that was one of the songs that he really liked and really enjoyed. We’ve got at least five songs’ worth of Mark Hudson’s songwriting talent in there, too. I enjoyed it. The idea Be True to Yourself seemed like a reasonable thing to call an album, and that’s what we were trying to do. That’s what I was trying to do, anyway. Write songs that I liked. I don’t know much about writing hit songs. I just have to play what I’ve got, you know? Just like in the old days. I always had the exact same approach. We’d play our songs and the ones we liked, we’d work on them and they’d be the ones we’d record, you know?
I’m happy the people seem to like the stuff that’s on this particular record. It seems to be a good thing, and I think it’s a good title. I think it’s a good way to think about things.
I think it is, too. Tell me about working with Mark Hudson. He’s worked with Aerosmith and Ringo Starr and now Joey Molland. How did you hook up with him, and how did you arrive at working with Mark Hudson on this new record?
Over the years, I’ve done lots of kind of Beatle related events and I started to meet Mark at them. You know, people get him because of his big affiliation with Ringo and his friendship with the other Beatles, and we just started to be friends backstage, really. We think alike. Mark is a hilarious person. I don’t know if you’ve met him, but he’s a hilarious guy. He’s a great guy to hang around with, and of course he’s a brilliant producer. Grammy winning. He’s just a brilliant, super talented guy. Sings like a bird. He’s all about the show and as long as it’s got a song to back it up, and I got really lucky for him to produce. He’s the reason the album sounds so good. The people that he works with like Mario McNulty who he’s another Grammy winner and well known for working with the likes of David Bowie and several other majors.
So, that’s what Mark attracts. People know his talent and they know his way of producing. He’s so focused, you know? And he’s entertaining while he’s doing it. He drives the bus, he really does. He doesn’t really apologize. He’ll pull himself way out, he’ll pull himself in the record with you. I really enjoyed it. It all came together, our friendship. Did I have songs? Would I like to make a record? So I said yes to all those questions. I’m really knocked out, you know?
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Julia Reidy, Vanish (Editions Mego) Featuring two side-long pieces, this LP is guitarist Ready’s debut for Editions Mego, but it completes a trifecta of records with two from last year, the 12-inch “brace, brace” on the Slip label and In Real Life on Black Truffle. Reidy (from Sydney, based in Berlin) has a few prior releases on cassette, CDR and wax, and is a member of Splitter Orchestra (whose CD with trombonist George Lewis I’d really like to hear), but this is my introduction to her work, a set that establishes her as a multi-instrumentalist, integrating synths, found sounds, autotuned voice, and harmonica into extended vistas that are strange and vivid. Both tracks are unsurprisingly layered, but also fluid and with a few instances of boom-thud. But worry not, mavens of contempo guitar artistry, there are ample stretches of string glisten, especially in the middle and latter portions of each cut. As unusual as it is satisfying, comparisons to other string benders are elusive. I plan on seeking out more of Reidy’s stuff. A-
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Tokyo, JP | Tokyo Vinyl Record Stores: Tokyo is filled with vinyl record stores in all sizes and there are a large number of smaller specialty record shops that focus on a certain kind of music. In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of vinyl record stores in Tokyo. As music lovers have been driving the popularity of the record sound, over the download variety of digital music that has increased in popularity in recent years. Some of these record stores also sell compact disks (CDs), cassettes, and more. Here is a list of 
Peoria, IL | Pandemic Fails to Slow Vinyl Resurgence in Peoria: Craig Moore wasn’t sure how the public would respond after his record store was closed for 2 1/2 months this spring due to the state’s coronavirus lockdown. “Initially, the pandemic didn’t treat us too well. We were shut down when everything had to close. It took awhile to adjust,” said Moore, who’s been selling records since 1984 when vinyl was the norm, and for more than 20 years at his Younger Than Yesterday shop at 2615 N. University St. “But when I opened the doors on May 29, there were 20 to 30 people outside. I thought maybe this will be okay,” he said. Moore not only requires customers to wear masks at his store, but supplies gloves they can use to flip through a record collection he estimates tops 50,000. “Business has been normal since we reopened. At times, better than normal,” he said. “One thing the pandemic did was force me to go through 
