Reviews of "The First One's Free"

Billboard Magazine (May, 1978):

The vocalist also handles keyboards, guitar and percussion on this self-composed set of uptempo pop tunes. Apple is backed by a 10 member band which features flute, pedal steel and violin in addition to the customary rock LP backup. The songs display catchy melodic hooks which should generate radio interest. Best cuts: "Shoot 'em Up, Cowboy," "Right Where She Wants Me," "Holdin' Onto Love."

Cash Box (May 27, 1978):

Monument is moving into the pop field and Apple may be the artist to lead the way. After paying his dues for years in the Kansas City area, Apple has come up with a golden delicious label debut filled with crisp pop-rock tunes and tasty lyrics. While every track is strong, "Shoot 'em Up, Cowboy," a rocking call for gun control, and "Holdin' Onto Love," which melds a ballad with some stirring instrumentals, stand out. A special new album.

Review of "A Musical Tribute to the Last of the Great Toadstool Madonnas"

Robert W. Butler, "The Kansas City Star" (March 30, 1975):

It's about time Kansas City turned out a good album like this one. Apple, 26, has been playing for ten years around town with groups like Speakeasy and Appletree. This LP, recorded at Cavern Sound in Independence and mixed by Wally Heider's in L.A., is being distributed on a local basis right now, mostly in independent record stores. With a little luck one of the big labels will pick up on it, because it is certainly superior to a lot of the stuff on the market right now.

Apple sings, performs on the piano and guitar and has surrounded himself with fine local talent. The result is a thoroughly professional album and at least two or three cuts that ought to get radio play.

The music is basically light rock, but it delves into several styles. There is, for example, a great blues cut, "Sinner from the Sky," featuring great bottleneck guitar and harp work by Allen Blasco, "Back on My Feet," a solid country rocker featuring Billy Spears on fiddle and "Toadstool Madonna," a heavy rocker featuring some imaginative synthesizer work by Steve Rice.

There's "Dream," a funny, slightly naughty and over-dramatic song about a young man intimidated by his dream girl that offers a fine, funky sax solo by Steve Hauser.

Another winner is "If You've Got Money, Honey," a honky tonk piano piece that offers this view of sexual equality:

I truly believe,
Diamonds are a boy's best friend, too,
I feel no shame, 
In layin' back and living off you.

Apple wrote or co-wrote all the songs, sings with gusto and a real sense of humor and manages to keep up the pace without letting down. If "Toadstool Madonnas" was just an album independently produced by a local artist it would be of limited interest. Thing is, it's a genuinely good LP that grows on you a little more each time you hear it.

Try it out. You'll be doing more than patronizing a local artist. You'll be doing yourself a favor.