Today’s Yesterday Album

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘High Land, Hard Rain’ – AZTEC CAMERA…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘High Land, Hard Rain’
AZTEC CAMERA
Released: 19 April 1983
Debut longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Some performers never make a bigger splash than with their first record, a situation that the Ramones and De La Soul know all too well. If that’s the case, though, said musicians had better make sure that debut is a doozy. Aztec Camera, or more specifically, Roddy Frame, falls squarely into this scenario, because while he has doggedly plugged away ever since with a series of what are, at times, not bad releases, High Land, Hard Rain remains the lovely touchstone of Frame’s career. Very much the contemporaries of such well-scrubbed Scottish guitar pop confectionaries as Orange Juice, but with the best gumption and star quality of them all, Aztec Camera led off the album with “Oblivious,” a mini-masterpiece of acoustic guitar hooks, lightly funky rhythms, and swooning backing vocals. If nothing tops that on High Land, Hard Rain, most of the remaining songs come very close, while they also carefully avoid coming across like a series of general sound-alikes.” Score: 5/5 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: PILLAR TO POST

Album in full…

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AZTEC CAMERA: Biography – Discograhy


Early days…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Bricks Are Heavy’ – L7

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

‘Bricks Are Heavy’
by L7
Released: 14 April 1992
Third longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Though they hailed from sunny L.A., L7 became the poster girls for grunge in 1992, with the meteoric success of their third album, Bricks Are Heavy. While their previous efforts had sounded sloppy and uneven, Nevermind producer Butch Vig helped the girls obtain a tight, compact sound on Bricks, pushing them to focus on their songwriting to boot. After all, great albums need great songs, and that’s exactly what you have here. these four ladies had been doing this kind of thing for as long as the Seattle trio. L7’s crowning achievement, Bricks Are Heavy sadly proved to be an impossible act to follow, and the band gradually faded into obscurity thereafter.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s (and almost anybody’s) favorite track: PRETEND WE’RE DEAD

Album in full…

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L7: Website – Facebook – Discography


Back in town…


L4…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Plastic Surgery Disasters’ – DEAD KENNEDYS

Posted on by JL

Remarkable longplayers from the past

‘Plastic Surgery Disasters’
DEAD KENNEDYS
Released: Nov 1982
Third LP

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Having proved themselves masters of the quick, vicious smash and bash, on their second full-length album the Kennedys continued in that vein while finding other effective ways to express their all-encompassing message of resistance and satire. Absolutely nobody is safe, whether it’s the more expected targets of conservative society, or those who claim to follow what the Kennedys and punk promised but only ended up acting like idiots. For the most part, though, it’s a well-deserved smackdown of all the jerks the early ’80s produced, set to some fantastic music. Unsurprisingly, Biafra is still at the center of it all.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: MOON OVER MARIN…

Album in full…

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DEAD KENNEDYS: Website –  Facebook – Discography

 

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Thunder Up’ – THE SOUND

Posted on by JL

Remarkable longplayers from the past

‘Thunder Up’
THE SOUND
Released: 28 Dec 1987
Fifth and final album

PENNY BLACK MUSIC wrote: “Released on the Dutch label ‘Play It Again Sam’ (PIAS)
after Statik went into liquidation, ‘Thunder Up’ is the most diverse of all The Sound’s
albums and strikes a middle balance between the pumped-up adrenalin rock of
‘Jeopardy’ and ‘From the Lion’s Mouth’, and the more subdued, bleak experimentations
of ‘All Fall Down’. The musicianship is never less than impressive. It is, however, Borland’s
lyrics that are the real tour-de-force. As The Sound’s fortunes had begun to wane and they played to increasingly diminishing audiences, the always sensitive Borland had started to display symptoms of manic depression. In 1986 he was diagnosed as having a schizoid
affective disorder. ‘Thunder Up’ was essentially about a man clawing his way back from the edge, desperately trying to make sense of his life in all its confusion and to save the band that he loved. It is especially poignant as Borland, Mayers and the Sound were all not to survive. Thunder Up’ despite all its rich complexities, remains the band’s unsung masterpiece.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s fav track: immensely beautiful… HAND OF LOVE

Album in full…

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THE SOUND: Biography – Discography


Magic and tragedy…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘The Las Vegas Story’ – By… THE GUN CLUB

Posted on by JL

Remarkable longplayers from the past

‘The Las Vegas Story’
THE GUN CLUB
Released: 15 June 1984
Third album

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Late frontman /guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce was writing feverish rock & roll songs that took their inspiration from Southern blues and West Texas country music all framed by an angular, jagged post-punk energy. The screaming rawness at the heart of the band’s debut, Fire of Love, had been replaced by a dry, moaning lonesome, percussion heavy desert sound, space and echo float through the mix like a ghost through Pierce’s slide guitar playing. Bass drum and tom-toms fuel the attack with a basic, primitive nocturnal energy. Topics ranged from personal disintegration in “Walkin’ with the Beast,” and the country-blues-drenched “Eternally Is Here,” and the shambolic, two-step country confusion of “My Dreams” that quotes directly from Television’s “Marquee Moon” to the disappearance of the nation in “Bad America”‘s edgy guitar wrangle. There are a couple of covers on the set tossed right in the center of the album: “The Master Plan,” a spooky, brooding, rock read of Pharoah Sanders’ and Leon Thomas’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” and a slovenly, funereal version of “My Man’s Gone Now,” by George and Ira Gershwin from Porgy and Bess. The Las Vegas Story is a provocative record that reveals the Gun Club was pulled in many directions at once, and though the tension is in evidence on every track, it nonetheless holds together. After ‘Fire of Love’, ‘The Las Vegas
Story’ is their most satisfying album and is, perhaps, the band’s most visionary offering.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: My Dreams

Album in full (original track list: #1 – #10)…

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THE GUN CLUB: Facebook – Discography


The late, great Jeffrey Lee Pierce…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Trampin’ – PATTI SMITH…

Posted on by JL

Memorable longplayers from the past…

‘Trampin’
PATTI SMITH
Released: 27 april 2004
Her ninth album

All Music wrote: “Nearly 30 years and nine albums in, Patti Smith shows no signs of giving up, or giving in, despite the fact she expected to be quietly doing her work instead of making rock & roll albums and playing in front of audiences. But then 9/11, Afghanistan, war in Iraq. Smith lives the vocation of a poet in an old-world sense of that word. Once, bards were the gadflies of society. Smith’s Trampin’ is a work that directly evolves from that tradition and fits squarely in her oeuvre. Trampin’ is Smith’s first outing for new label Columbia. She and her bandmates — Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan, and Oliver Ray — walk the tightrope between in-your-face garage rock, poetic ballads, and raucous, improvisational pieces. Not surprisingly, Trampin’ is a largely political album, but it is far from a didactic one. Smith’s voice of resistance is a human one, not an ideological one. This is timeless music. It knows no age or subgenre classification; it is American music as it has been spoken the world over; it is rock & roll done
as well as it can be by anybody.”

Turn Up The Volume‘s favorite track: heartfelt ballad PEACEABLE KINGDOM
Here’s a tender live rendition with Television’s Tom Verlaine on guitar…

Album in full…

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PATTI SMITH Website – Facebook – Discography


Icon forever…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Le Tigre’ by LE TIGRE – …

Posted on by JL

Top-notch longplayers from the past

‘Le Tigre’
LE TIGRE
26 October 1999
Debut album

PITCHFORK wrote: “Radical feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman once said, “I don’t want to be part of your revolution if I can’t dance.” Like Fleetwood Mac before them (but with more politically relevant lyrics than, “All I want is to see you smile/ If it takes just a little while”), Le Tigre’s debut will provide anthems for their target demographic. Fleetwood Mac reached out to hippies and people who liked to look at Mick Fleetwood’s faux-testicles. Le Tigre aims for anyone interested in an addictive pastiche that could ultimately lead to metaphorical “voting-booths” for the cultural and political issues they’re singing about.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: HOT TOPIC…

KATHLEEN HANNA: Facebook – Le Tigre Story


Hot topics…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – Here’s RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE With ‘The Battle Of Los Angeles’…

Posted on by JL

Memorable longplayers from the past…

‘The Battle Of Los Angeles’
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
Released: 2 November 1999
Third album

ROLLING STONE wrote: “There are no love songs, just abused altar boys. No cries of alienation, just calls to arms for peasant Mexican rebels. The fact that music about events so removed from the lives of most American teens has become immensely successful speaks to Rage’s preaching style: They come armed not with a sword but with a microphone. RATM may never ignite the youth war they want to see. But at last, with The Battle of Los Angeles, they’ve managed to win a war within — one in which the band’s notoriously feuding members have come together to produce a sound that’s not quite louder than a bomb but that’s definitely as loud as Led Zeppelin II.” – Score: 4/5

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE …

Album in full…

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RATM: Website – Facebook – Discography


RATM at Woodstock Festival 1999 – looks rather like 2018…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – Self-Titled Longplayer – ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN…

Posted on by JL

Top-notch longplayers from the past

‘Echo & The Bunnymen’
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Released: 8 July 1987
Fifth album

ALL MUSIC wrote: “This self-titled LP caught the group at a fortuitous career juncture; the clutch of songs here were among the hookiest and most memorable the band would ever write, while the arrangements are noticeably clean and punchy, mostly eliminating strings and similar clutter to focus almost exclusively on guitars, keyboards, drums, and occasional percussion touches. Surprisingly, vocalist Ian MuCulloch appeared to have rediscovered the maxim “less is more”; his singing was comparatively restrained and tasteful, resulting in a more natural, unforced emotiveness that was extremely effective. The production values were excellent, with many subtle touches that do not detract from the album’s overall directness. In short, doing it clean really paid off here.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite track: LIPS LIKE SUGAR

Album in full (original track list: #1 – #11)

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ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN: Website – Facebook – All Albums


R.I.P. Pete de Freitas…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever’ – ORANGE JUICE…

Posted on by JL

Great longplayers from the past…

‘You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever’
ORANGE JUICE
Release: 1 February 1982
Debut album

ALL MUSIC wrote: “After leaving Postcard Records and convincing Rough Trade to finance the sessions, Orange Juice ended up signing to Polydor for their 1982 debut album, ‘You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever’. Made up of a couple re-recordings of brilliant songs from early singles (“Falling and Laughing,” “Felicity”), cleaned-up versions of songs from the demo, and a few new tracks, the album is a slick, tuneful slice of early-’80s pop that’s catchy and bright. ‘You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever’ is one of the best examples of early-’80s pop there is. That it’s the one and only album the team of Collins and Kirk made before splitting only makes it all the more essential to own.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite highlight: FELICITY…

Album in full…

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ORANGE JUICE: Biography – Discography


When shorts where fashionable…