Back in the ’70s, when Sparkling Apple was one of the few bar bands making its own records and selling them independently, it likely was finding it hard to be taken seriously. Mixing humour with rock is very tricky, partly because humour is subjective and partly because even at the band’s deepest, it is still lightened by a joke. Hard Core Apple is like that, while proving the trio was accomplished. It gathers up singles, B-sides, live performances, unreleased tracks from the late ’70s and adds two new ones into an 18-song collection. It mixes in the seriously inclined hard rock of Killer By Night and the much lighter I’m Only Here For The Beer. One seems like a bid for credibility while the other is more like a mission statement. Which to believe? The two new tracks don’t answer that question.
Grade: C-plus
