Back in time

Back in time

PAUL McCARTNEY Released One Of His Best Solo Albums Ever With ‘RAM’ Today 55 Years Ago

Aside | Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

17 May 2026

Imperishable and sublime songsmith PAUL McCARTNEY, aged 83 now, released his 2nd solo LP, named RAM, today 55 years ago, on 17 May 1971.

His only one, also credited to his then-wife, Linda Eastman.

The album’s release coincided with a period of acrimony between McCartney and the other former Beatles, and followed his legal action in the United Kingdom’s High Court to dissolve
the Fab Four partnership

While the previous album had featured him playing every instrument, Macca decided to hold auditions for musicians
to play on this one.

The LP topped the US, UK, and Canada charts.


Back sleeve

Upon its release, Ram was panned by music critics. McCartney was particularly hurt by the harsh reviews − especially as he had attempted to address the points raised in criticism of his solo debut by taking a more professional approach.

But over the years critics lauded the album as one of
his best, some claimed that it was the first indie pop
album ever.

Pitchfork said in retrospect: “Ram is a domestic-bliss album,
one of the weirdest, earthiest, and most honest ever made.”

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THE BEACH BOYS Released Their Masterpiece LP ‘PET SOUNDS’ Today 60 Years Ago

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Significant longplayers from yesteryear

16 May 2026

Surf pop icons THE BEACH BOYS released their masterpiece album PET SOUNDS (their only one to my ears) today, 60 years ago, on 16 May 1966. It was their 11th longplayer.

Seeking to expand Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound technique and surpass The Beatles’ Rubber Soul LP, Brian Wilson‘s (1942-2025) orchestrations blended pop, jazz, exotica, classical, and avant-garde elements, combining rock instrumentation with layered vocal harmonies, found sounds, and instruments not normally associated with rock.

It was his album and no one else’s. Also, the first one with several sessions
musicians, on the other hand, the harmonies were pure Beach Boys.

Heralding popular music’s recognition as an art form, Wilson’s accomplishments as
a producer and composer helped initiate an era of unprecedented creative autonomy
for label-signed acts. He contributed to the development of many music genres and movements.

It peaked at #10 in the US, and #2 in the UK.

AllMusic wrote in retrospect: “Massively influential upon its release (although it was
a relatively low seller compared to their previous LPs), it immediately vaulted the band
into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain,
where it was a much bigger hit”.

TUTV: Timeless pop music, lousy album cover.

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TOOL, WEEZER And MISSY ELLIOTT Had An Album Out This Day 25 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

15 May 2026


Credit: Chet Zar

Los Angeles‘ far-famed alt metal champs TOOL, released their
3rd LP LATERALUS on 15 May 2001, today 25 years ago.

It topped the US and Canadian charts and peaked at #16 in the UK.

NME said: “Lateralus has added a little more colour to their palette of chanting,
drumming and high drama. There’s no trickery, Tool’s progressiveness is all their
own work.”

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L.A.’s poppy rockers WEEZER had their 3rd, self-titled album (also
referred to as the green one) on 15 May 2001, today 25 years ago.

It went to #4 in the US, #2 in Canada and #31 in the UK

Rolling Stone said: “It’s a totally crunk geek-punk record, buzzing
through ten excellent tunes in less than half an hour with zero filler.”

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Rap shero MISSY ELLIOTT, born Melissa Arnette Elliott, 54 years ago in Portsmouth (Virginia), released her 3rd LP MISS E… SO ADDICTIVE on 15 May 2001, today 25 years ago.

The New Yorker said: “It’s a foot-tapping, hip-shaking ride from start to finish.
Elliott’s long-term producer Timbaland refuses to pad the album with filler, instead
making every song count, from the driving hip-hop numbers to the languorous
ballads.”

It reached #7 in the US and #4 in the UK.

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ICE-T Released 4th Album ‘O.G. ORIGINAL GANGSTER’ Today 35 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

14 May 2026

Tracy Lauren Marrow aka ICE-T (born in Newark, New Jersey, 68 years ago)
released his 4th LP O.G. GANGSTER, on 14 May 1991, today 35 years ago.

It peaked at #15 and turned gold afterward.

NME said: “His best shot yet. Riotous vignettes from a decaying America full
of devious humour and striking pathos. All those things NWA profess to be but
clearly aren’t.

One of the greatest hip-metalic-hop rappers (also with his band Body Count) in my book.

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KRAFTWERK – German Electro Pioneers Released 8th LP ‘COMPUTER WORLD’ Today 45 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from the past

11 May 2026

German electro pioneers KRAFTWERK (1970–1983, 1986–present / 11 albums)
released their 8th LP, COMPUTER WORLD, on May 11 1981, today 45 years ago.

The album is themed around computer technology and its rise within society.
As was the case with the two previous albums, the record was released in
both German and English.

AllMusic – Ned Raggett in retrospect: “The last great Kraftwerk album, Computer World captured the band right at the moment when its pioneering approach fully broke through in popular music, thanks to the rise of synth pop, hip-hop, and electro.

With this album, Kraftwerk – over a decade on from their start – demonstrated how they had stayed not merely relevant, but prescient, when nearly all their contemporaries had long since burned out.”

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TOM PETTY And His HEARTBREAKERS Released Fourth LP ‘HARD PROMISES’ 45 Years Ago

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Significant longplayers from the past

5 May 2026

On 6 May 1981, 45 years ago, TOM PETTY and his HEARTBREAKERS
released their 4th longplayer, HARD PROMISES.

Its working title was Benmont’s Revenge, referring to their keyboard player
and the band’s co-founder Benmont Tench. Hard Promises is the last full
album to feature the original Heartbreakers lineup, as bassist Ron Blair
left after the album’s release.

It reached #5 on the US Charts, #1 in New Zealand and #32 in the UK.

AllMusic‘s verdict: “It offered a reaffirmation that the previous album ‘Damn
The Torpedoes’ wasn’t a fluke. There’s not much new on the surface, since it continues
the sound of its predecessor, but it’s filled with great songwriting, something that’s as
difficult to achieve as a distinctive sound. It has a tremendous set of songs and a unified
sound that makes it one of Petty’s finest records.” Score: 4/5.

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AEROSMITH – Hard Rock Titans Released Their Drugs-Fueled 4th LP ‘ROCKS’ Today 50 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

3 May 2026

Hard rock titans AEROSMITH released their 4th LP,
named ROCKS on 3 May 1976, today 50 years ago.

At that point, although often derided by critics, the band had
amassed a loyal fanbase from relentless touring and their
ferocious live shows.

The album went to number 3 on the US Charts.

Producer Jack Douglas acknowledges the pervasiveness of drug use during
the album’s sessions: “Labels were giving them drugs. It was written into the project,
and in the case of Columbia Records, they had guys who delivered it to you. And they
finally got busted for that, people lost their jobs and it became a huge scandal.”

Rocks was one of Kurt Cobain‘s fav albums.

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NEIL YOUNG Released His 29th Album ‘LIVING WITH WAR’ Today 20 Years Ago – Painfully Relevant Again Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

2 May 2026

Rock icon NEIL YOUNG released his 29th LP, titled
LIVING WITH WAR, on 2 May 2006, today 20 years ago.

The album’s lyrics, titles, and conceptual style are highly critical
of the policies of then-President George W. Bush‘s administration.

The record is incredibly, painfully relevant again today with that rudderless orange narcissist in the White House who fucks up the world’s economy with his unfounded
and illegal Iran war.

Neil Young about the LP’s crucial track Let’s Impeach The President:

“When I wrote “Let’s Impeach the President,” a lot of people criticized it as a crappy song,
that it was such a terrible melody. What am I going to do, write a song like that and use a
good melody? That doesn’t make sense. You want a melody that pisses people off, that’s so stupid and repetitive that it aggravates people. ‘Ohio’ is about kids getting killed.

It’s about people you cared about personally, your own brother and sister. That’s when you
put everything you have, poetic, musical, performance-wise, at your command. Because you believe in it so much. “Let’s Impeach the President” is a political song about something that’s so wrong that the only way to point out how wrong it is by doing a song that’s wrong: smashing and pounding away at it. It was very successful in that respect.”


Neil Young, Brussels 2025 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume

Pitchfork wrote: “Like Bruce Springsteen’s We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,
this album features an elder rock statesman making an effective protest record
thanks to a raucously communal approach. Living With War’s short gestation benefits Young‘s performance, inspiring him to make his loudest, rawest release of new
material since at least Ragged Glory.

With his guitar re-tuned to its characteristic distorted snarl, and the clearly live
mix preserving bum notes and sloppy harmonica or trumpet solos, Young returns
to the spontaneous recording style of albums like Tonight’s the Night that best suits
his talents.

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Neil Young Archives Website

PAUL McCARTNEY And WINGS Topped The US Album Charts With ‘WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND’ Today 50 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

26 April 2026

PAUL McCARTNEY and WINGS had a 10-year run, from 1971 until 1981.
Macca‘s then-wife, Linda Eastman (1941-1998) was the band’s keyboardist.
They released 7 LPs.

One of them was WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND. It topped the US album charts, today 50 years ago, on 26 April 1976. Actually their fourth consecutive LP to do so. In the UK, the record peaked at #2.

In response to critics who believed Wings was merely a vehicle for Paul McCartney, the album featured every member of the band taking lead vocals on at least one song, and two songs from the album are written or co-written by band members other than the McCartneys.


Back sleeve

Melody Maker (legendary British music weekly) said: “This is not an album that hits
you with the sustained power of Band on the Run or Venus and Mars. Much good music
then on an album that will engender fierce comparisons with the past two albums but will increase the growing worldwide appeal of Wings.

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RAMONES – New York’s Punk Pioneers RAMONES Released Game Changing Debut Album 50 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

23 April 2026

The New York punk pioneers RAMONES (1974 – 1964 / 14 studio albums)
released their self-titled debut LP on 23 April 1976, today 50 years ago.

All 4 original members Joey, Tommy, Dee Dee,
and Johnny are already gone. R.I.P.

The New York Times said back then: “What the Ramones do is deliver a nonstop
set of short, brisk, monochromatically intense songs. Conventional considerations of
pace and variety are thrown calculatedly to the winds. The ingredients are simplicity
itself. The effect in the end amounts to an abstraction of rock so pure that other
associations get left behind.”

TUTV: In my punk book, this gabba gabba hey debut was a game-changer.
Turning bubblegum pop into sickly catchy and speeding blitzkrieg electricity
was just jaw-dropping. Without a shadow of a doubt, da brudders’ best exploit.
A timeless document in rock history. Hail hail!

Singles.

– BLITZKRIEG BOP –

– I WANNA BE YOUR BOYFRIEND –

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