Back in time

PJ HARVEY Released Her Remarkable Album ‘LET ENGLAND SHAKE’ Today 15 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

14 February 2026

The now 56-year-old, unique songstress PJ Harvey released her 8th LP
LET ENGLAND SHAKE on 14 February 2011, today 15 years ago. One of
my beloved PJ albums.

The record was written over a 2+1⁄2-year period, and recorded in five weeks
at a church in Dorset (UK) during April and May 2010. It peaked at #8 in the UK
and #32 in the US.

PJ: “I knew that I wanted the music to offset the weight of the words. That was very important.
I wanted the music to be full of energy and to be very uplifting and unifying, almost insightful
in its creation of energy.

It took me a long time to find out how to sing such words because to sing it in the wrong voice would have given it the wrong feeling– maybe too self-important and dogmatic. I wanted the songs to be much more ambiguous than that. This was the way that the language was best moved from lip to ear.”

Pitchfork said: “On Let England Shake, Harvey is not often upfront or forceful.
Her lyrics, though, are as disturbing as ever. Here, she paints vivid portraits of war,
and her sharp focus on the up-close, hand-to-hand devastation of World War I,
depicting “soldiers falling like lumps of meat, provides a fitting setting for today’s battlegrounds.”

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GENESIS – 7th LP ‘ A TRICK OF THE TAIL’ By Prog Rock Giants Is 50 Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

13 February 2026

English prog-rock legends GENESIS released their 7th studio album,
today 50 years ago, on 13 February 1976. It was the first LP with their
drummer Phil Collins on vocals replacing face/voice Peter Gabriel
who had left the band.

It went to #3 in the UK and #31 in the US.

Upon release, critics were impressed by the improved sound quality
and the group’s ability to survive the loss of Gabriel without sacrificing
the quality of the music.

AllMusic said: “This album is not quite as memorable as Foxtrot or Selling England, largely because its songs aren’t as immediate or memorable: apart from “Dance on a Volcano,” this is about the sound of the band playing, not individual songs, and it succeeds on that level quite wildly — to the extent that it proved to longtime fans that Genesis could possibly thrive without its former leader in tow.”

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RUSH – Canadian Rockers Released One Of Their Most Popular Albums ‘MOVING PICTURES’ Today 45 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

12 February 2026

Canadian prog rockers RUSH started their musical enterprise
way back in 1968. Forty-seven years and 19 LPs later they called
it a day.

But 10 years later, in 2015, they returned to tour. And last year they celebrated
the 50th anniversary of their-self titled debut LP, which got a deluxe reissue
treatment.

Today marks the 45th birthday of their 8th album
MOVING PICTURES, released on 12 February 1981.

It was a big hit, topping the Canadian charts and reaching #3 in both the US and UK.


Promo picture

PopMatters wrote in retrospective review: “Moving Pictures is, without any question, not only Rush’s masterpiece but one of those rare albums that epitomizes an era. It represents both a culmination and a progression: the peak of the band’s development as well as the blueprint for Rush’s subsequent work.”

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CAROLE KING Released Her Masterpiece ‘TAPESTRY’ 55 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

10 February 2026

Singular voice and songwriter CAROLE KING was
born in Brooklyn 84 years ago. She released 16 LPs
between 1970 and 2001.

Her magnum opus, TAPESTRY came out
55 years ago today, on 10 February 1971.

Rolling Stone wrote back then: “Carole King’s second album has fulfilled
the promise of her first and confirmed the fact that she is one of the most
creative figures in all of pop music. It is an album of surpassing personal
intimacy and musical accomplishment and a work infused with a sense of
artistic purpose. It is also easy to listen to and easy to enjoy.”

Turn Up the Volume says: I’m pretty sure songstresses like Sheryl Crow,
Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Adele, Céline Dion and Alanis Morissette
have this record in their collection.

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ADAM AND THE ANTS Topped The UK Album Charts With ‘KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER’ This Day 45 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from the past

25 January 2026

British new wave band ADAM AND THE ANTS (1977–1982) fronted by
Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard, 71 years ago) topped the UK Charts
with their 2nd longplayer KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER on 25 January 1981,
today 45 years ago.

Prior to his first slot on Top of the Pops, Adam Ant got the band together in a small rehearsal room in Brixton to create a video test. Shooting stills from the monitor screen during the band performance produced some powerful images. Two days later a repeat shoot from the video recording, in a blacked-out studio, produced the sleeve image.

The Village Voice (American music magazine, 1955-2017) wrote: “The music, needless to say, is rock and roll, a clever pop-punk amalgam boasting two drummers, lots of chanting, and numerous B-movie hooks. Especially given Adam’s art-schooled vocals, I find that the hooks grate, but that may just mean that when it comes to futuristic warriors I prefer Sandinistas.”

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Discography

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS Released Their 5th Longplayer ‘TRUST’ 45 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

24 January 2026

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS released their
5th LP, named TRUST, 45 years ago, on 23 January 1981.

Just as the 4 previous ones, the record was produced by big friend
Nick Lowe. It went to #9 in the UK and peaked at #28 in the US.

Rolling Stone said: “It marks Elvis’s summit as a singer,
songwriter, and miserable-Irish-bastard pin-up boy.”

Elvis Costello: “A record that falls between the cracks a little bit.
It has one of the greatest Attractions performances with ‘New Lace
Sleeves.”

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ARCTIC MONKEYS – Debut Album ‘EVERYTHING YOU SAY I AM, THAT’S WHAT I’M NOT’ Is 20 Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

23 January 2026

British rock prodigies ARCTIC MONKEYS started their career in grand style with
their debut album WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT’S WHAT I’M NOT.

It catapulted them immediately into indie rock stardom.

That was long before frontman/songwriter/guitarist Alex Turner came up with
his posh Elvis persona and became a crooner, and obviously wants to be the next
Nick Cave.

The album’s title was taken from a line in the novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, written by Alan Sillitoe. The name was chosen after Turner recognised similarities between the two works and the appropriateness of the title.

Turner: “It’s good because the book is called Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and
that’s kind of what the album is, so there’s a link there. And also, there’s a lot of people
saying a lot of things about us and you don’t have control over it.”

The album’s cover is a black-and-white photograph of Chris McClure – a close friend
of the band who was the lead singer for The Violet May and the brother of Reverend
and The Makers lead singer Jon McClure, which was taken in the early hours of a morning
at the Korova bar in Liverpool. The band had given him, his cousin, and his best friend £70 to spend on a night out.

NME said: “Our Generation’s Most Important Band. Alex Turner’s lyrics and depiction of Sheffield, and the night lives of teenagers in particular, make him a master of observation.”

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DAVID BOWIE Released His Cocaine Album ‘STATION TO STATION’ 50 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

23 January 2026

The thin white duke DAVID BOWIE (1947 – 2016) released his 10th LP
STATION TO STATION on 23 January 1976, today 50 years ago.

It peaked at #5 in the UK, and #3 in the USA.

During the sessions, Bowie was suffering from various drug addictions, most
prominently cocaine, and subsequently stated that he recalled almost nothing
of the production.

Bowie in 1987: “I was so blocked, so stoned. It’s quite a casualty case, isn’t it.
I’m amazed I came out of that period, honest. When I see that now I cannot
believe I survived it. I was so close to really throwing myself away physically,
completely.”

Rolling Stone wrote in retrospect: “An album that was both musically
accessible and lyrically elliptical, a transition between the plastic soul of
Young Americans and the chilly electronic hum of the Berlin trilogy that
followed.”

The cover art featured a still from the film
The Man Who Fell To Earth, in which Bowie
had the main role.

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Legendary Nightingales SIMON & GARFUNKEL Released Their 2nd LP ‘SOUNDS OF SILENCE’ 60 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

16 January 2026

Paul SIMON (now 84) and Art GARFUNKEL (also 84) are two of the most loved and famous voices in musical history. Together they recorded/released 6 LPs between 1963 and 1970. Then they went their seperate ways, but reunited countless times afterward to play live shows.

SOUNDS OF SILENCE was their 2nd LP. It came out 60 years ago
today, on 17 January 1966. Almost all tracks were written by Simon.

It peaked at #21 in the US and #13 in the UK. Over
the next few decades it would keep on selling copies.

The album cover photo features the duo on a trail looking back
towards the camera. It was shot at Franklin Canyon Park in L.A.

AllMusic said in retropective: “Tough a rushed effort, this was a far stronger album
than their debut, mostly thanks to Simon’s compositions; indeed, in one fell swoop, the
world learned not only of the existence of a superb song-poet in Paul Simon, but, in
Simon’s harmonizing with Art Garfunkel, the finest singing duo since the Everly Brothers.”

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Remember When PETER FRAMPTON Came Alive? It’s 50 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

15 January 2026

PETER FRAMPTON was only 16 when he was a member of British
pop band The Herd (1965-69), who scored a couple of top 10 hits
in the UK.

Afterward, he formed, along with Small Faces‘ frontman, the late Steve Marriott,
a group named Humple Pie (1969-1975). Frampton already left in 1971 and went
solo, but also worked, in between, with rock stars such as David Bowie, Bill Wyman
and Ringo Starr.

On 15 January 1976, today 50 years ago, he released his most successful LP,
a double one, in his career with PETER FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE!

It debuted on the charts at No. 191. Only weeks later, it reached No. 1 in the US, spending 10 non-consecutive weeks in the top spot. It was the best-selling album of 1976 and has sold over 8,000,000 copies in the United States.

AllMusic/Bruce Eder: “At the time of its release, Frampton Comes Alive! was an anomaly,
a multi-million-selling (mid-priced) double LP by an artist who had previously never burned
up the charts with his long-players in any spectacular way. The biggest-selling live album of
all time, it made Peter Frampton a household word.”

Peter Frampton: “I’m very aware that when I kick the bucket, the first paragraph will be,
‘The man responsible for Frampton Comes Alive! just dropped dead, after coming alive all
these years.'”

Frampton showed millions of screaming girls the way.

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