Back in time

THE KINKS Released 3rd LP ‘KINK KONTROVERSY’ Today 60 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

26 November 2025

British timeless rock heroes THE KINKS had their 3rd LP named
THE KINK KONTROVERSY out on 26 November 1965, today
60 years ago.

It peaked at #9 in the UK.

It was received as a transitional album, with elements of both the earlier
band’s styles, heavily blues-influenced songs power chord-driven hits.

The longplayer’s title is a mocking reference to the notorious reputation
the group had developed over the previous year, including onstage fights
and concert riots in Europe, which led to a ban on the group’s concerts
in the USA.

AllMusic: “The Kinks’ coming-of-age. Their raw early material
was being replaced by more thoughtful and sophisticated songs.”

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Biography – Discography

JOHN LENNON – Immortal Working Class Released His Final LP ‘DOUBLE FANTASY’ With YOKO 45 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

17 November 2025

After leaving music behind him for five years in order to be as much as possible
with his son Sean, immortal rock & pop legend JOHN LENNON went back in the
studio, with the love of his life YOKO and Sean‘s mother to work on what became
their 5th and final collaborative LP.

DOUBLE FANTASY was released 45 years ago on 17 November 1980. It wasn’t an impressive one and got knifed down by the press, but it was so special just because
it was the last one by one of the greatest singer-songwriters that ever lived.

Only three weeks after the LP’s release the working class hero was killed cowardly by
Mark Chapman. Lennon was, unquestionably, my favorite Beatle, he was the rocker and much more. As part of the Fab Four, he changed pop, along with his twin songwriter buddy Macca. And let’s not forget he became an influential peace activist, under the influence of Yoko.

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JOHN LENNON: Facebook

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Released Their Underrated 4th Album ‘LOADED’ 55 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

16 November 2025

One of the most iconic bands of the 60s/70s, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
released their 4th and final LP, titled LOADED, on 15 November 1970,
55 years ago.

Just before the album’s release, Lou Reed left the band and when guitarist
 Sterling Morrison and drummer Moe Tucker did the same a year later it
was all over, although the band’s then bassist Doug Yule wrote/recorded just
by himself and released, under The Velvet Underground‘s name, the full-length
Squeeze in 1973, regarded as VU’s officially final one.


The final VU line-up

Rolling Stone said: “Although the Velvet Underground are more loose and straightforward than we’ve yet seen them, there is an undercurrent to the album that makes it more than any mere collection of good-time cuts”

Turn Up The Volume: The LP is filled with easy-listening pop songs, with a lot of typical, familiar 60s harmonies à la The Mamas and The Papas and The Beach Boys, sounding like
VU having fun. Despite the LP’s sweet accessibility, it failed to be a hit.

Lou Reed: “I don’t mind a repetitive chorus, I mind a repetitive verse. I mean, it’s the
same amount of space. Why would you have only three diamonds if you can have six?”

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Bio – All Albums

ETTA JAMES – One Of The Greatest Voices In Music Ever Had Her Debut LP ‘AT LAST!’ Out This Day 65 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

15 November 2025

Legendary blues and soul heroine ETTA JAMES (1938-2012), born in Los Angeles,
released her debut album AT LAST! this day, 65 years ago, on 15 November 1960.
The record was produced by Phil and Leonard Chess, the founders of her Chess
Records label.

It was originally issued as a 12-inch LP consisting of ten tracks, five songs on each side of the LP. The Chess brothers believed that James‘s voice had crossover pop potential, so with this debut album, they backed her with orchestral arrangements on many of the tracks.

The album is ranked at #191 on Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The album’s title track has been covered by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé,
Joni Mitchell, Leela James, Cyndi Lauper, Randy Crawford, Celine Dion, Connie Wilson and Christina Aguilera. Other LP’s tracks also got covered over the ears. It all says enough
about her influence on modern day artists/voices.

Rolling Stone quote: “James bloomed into a fiery interpreter on this spellbinding LP.”

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Biography – All Albums

BRIAN ENO – Experimental Masterclass LP ‘ANOTHER GREEN WORLD’ Is 50 Today

Posted on by JL

14 November 2025

Former Roxy Music alien-like BRIAN ENO (now aged 77) became a sound
virtuoso over the years. So far he has released no less than 31 albums and
worked with tons of artists – Bowie, U2, David Byrne, Devo, John Cale and
many more – as their producer.

ANOTHER GREEN WORLD was his 3rd one. It came out today 50 years ago,
on 14 November 1975. It’s widely perceived as his masterclass LP.

At its release, it didn’t chart anywhere, the
public recognition and sales came later.

Pitchfork said in a retrospective 10/10 review: “Brian Eno has done everything from producing huge pop stars to creating tiny art installations to touring with rock bands
to inventing ambient music. ‘Another Green World’ remains his definitive album. ‘Another Green World‘ It’s not a happy record, nor is it sad. There are no demonstrations of personal triumph or failure, pain or elation, tension or release, desire or disappointment.

The most remarkable thing about the album is how a stoic Englishman who showed
no interest in the conventional expression of emotion managed to make something
that feels so intensely personal.”

Eno in an interview with NME back then: “I think I started about 35 pieces and some of ’em were real clutching at straws. But it’s interesting: Sometimes that kind of desperation gives rise to things that would never happen any other way.”

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Instagram – Linktree – All Albums

SYD’s 2nd Solo LP ‘BARRETT’ Released 55 Years Ago Today With A Little Help Of Pink Friends

Posted on by JL

13 November 2025

Pink Floyd‘s co-founder and confused genius SYD BARRETT (1946-2006)
released his 2nd and final solo album, simply called BARRETT 50 years ago.

It was produced by PF’s guitarist David Gilmour and keyboardist Richard Wright.

Wright: “Doing Syd’s record was interesting, but extremely difficult. Dave [Gilmour] and Roger [Waters] did the first one (The Madcap Laughs) and Dave and myself did the second one. But by then it was just trying to help Syd any way we could, rather than worrying about getting the best guitar sound. You could forget about that! It was just going into the studio and trying to get him to sing.”

Barrett about his 2 solo longplayers: “They’ve got to reach a certain standard and that’s probably reached in Madcap once or twice and on the other one only a little – just an echo
of that. Neither of them are much more than that.”

Barrett himself designed the LP’s cover.
The album didn’t chart. All fans had
forgotten about their former idol.

AllMusic: “Instrumentally, the result is a bit fuller and smoother than the first album,
although it’s since been revealed that Gilmour and Wright embellished these songs as
best they could without much involvement from Barrett, who was often unable or
unwilling to perfect his performance.

It was regarded as something of a charming but unfocused throwaway at the time
of its release, but Barrett’s singularly whimsical and unsettling vision holds up well.”

Turn Up The Volume: Probably still with his head in the clouds, Barrett showed
his songwriting skills again and recorded them with two Pink Floyds. A mix of folk,
pop, and psych-rock twists. Too bad it was already over after this second and final
studio LP. Wish the crazy diamond had produced some more magic. R.I.P.

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Biography – Discography

PATTI SMITH – Magnum Debut Opus ‘HORSES’ Is 50 Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

10 November 2025

PATTI SMITH (78 now) released her debut magnum opus,
HORSES today 50 years ago, on 10 November 1975.

It peaked at #47 in the US, but went on selling for decades afterword.

Recognized as a seminal recording in the history of punk and later rock
movements, Horses has appeared in numerous lists of the greatest albums
of all time.

Rolling Stone said: “Wonderful in large measure because it recognizes the overwhelming importance of words” in Smith’s work, covering a range of themes “far beyond what most
rock records even dream of.”

The music was informed by the minimalist aesthetic of the punk rock genre, then in its formative years. Smith and her band composed the album’s songs using simple chord progressions, while also breaking from punk tradition in their propensity for improvisation and embrace of ideas from avant-garde and other musical styles.

The title Horses reflected Smith‘s desire for a rejuvenation of rock music, which
she found had grown “calm” in reaction to the social turmoil of the 1960s and
the deaths of numerous prominent rock musicians of that era.

Recognized as a seminal recording in the history of punk and later
rock movements, Horses has appeared in numerous lists of the greatest
albums of all time.

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Instagram – Linktree – All Albums

NEIL YOUNG And CRAZY HORSE Released ‘ZUMA’ Album This Day 50 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

10 November 2025

NEIL YOUNG and his CRAZY HORSE released their 2nd collaborative LP
and Young‘s 7th one, named ZUMA on 10 November 1975, today 50 ago.

Zuma was the first album released after the so-called Ditch Trilogy,
consisting of the three LPs Time Fades Away, On the Beach and Tonight’s
the Night.

It wasn’t a huge commercial success.
It peaked at #25 in the US and #44 in
the UK.

All Music/William Ruhlmann wrote: “Having apparently exorcised his demons
by releasing the cathartic Tonight’s the Night, Neil Young returned to his commercial
strengths with Zuma, named after Zuma Beach in Los Angeles, where he owned
a house.

Young had abandoned the ragged, first-take approach of his previous three albums, but Crazy Horse would never be a polished act, and the music had a lively sound well-suited to the songs, which were some of the most melodic, pop-oriented tunes Young had crafted in years, though they were played with an electric-guitar-drenched rock intensity.”

Young: “It’s about the Incas and the Aztecs. It takes on another personality.
It’s like being in another civilization. It’s a lost sort of form, sort of a soul-form
that switches from history scene to history scene trying to find itself, man,
in this maze.”

Last year the record was reissued on vinyl, including 7 previously unreleased songs from the Zuma recordings sessions. For the re-issue occasion, the album was rebaptized DUNE and came in 2 LPs. Still available, right here.

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All NEIL YOUNG Albums

THE CLASH – Their Break-Up And Final Album ‘THIS IS ENGLAND’ Is 40 Today

Posted on by JL

5 November 2025

This wasn’t the original punk force that shocked the system, that
wanted a riot of their own, that made timeless music any more.

The band was falling apart. Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon
clashed with Mick Jones and Topper Headon who got kicked
out of the group.

Strummer went on to write all songs with manager Bernie Rhodes
for the final LP CUT THE CRAP. Unfortunately, most of the songs
were crap.

It ended up at #16 in the UK and #88 in the US.

Strummer said: “It was like when you’re younger and you’re trying
to make a date with a girl but she won’t have any of it. You keep going
back, trying to fool yourself that this time will be better.”

It was also Rhodes who titled the album, taking
the line “cut the crap” from a scene in the 1981
post-apocalyptic film Mad Max 2.

AllMusic/Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: “Unfortunately, they sound like a parody of
a classic punk band with the exception of the surprisingly nervy “This Is England,” this is all formulaic, tired punk rock that doesn’t have the aggression or purpose of early Clash records, let alone the hardcore punk that the new band was now competing with. It’s a sad end to one
of the greatest rock & roll bands, not even offering much of interest for the dedicated fans.”

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Bio – All Albums

DAVID BOWIE – 3rd Album ‘THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD’ Released In The US 55 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

4 November 2025


The American LP’s front cover

55 years ago today – on 4 November 1970 – the late genial starman
DAVID BOWIE released his third album THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD
in the US. Six months later, in April 1971, it came out in his home country.

The LP’s artwork – featuring a cowboy in front of a mental asylum – designed by a Bowie friend, an underground comics artist called Michael J. Weller wasn’t really a Bowie-style image. At first Bowie thought it was a ‘horrible‘ idea but later in 1999 he stated that he “actually thought the cartoon cover was really cool”.

Six months later the UK front cover artwork featured the iconic image we all know
with Bowie on a chaise longue in a cream and blue satin ‘man’s dress‘, an early indication
of his interest in exploiting his androgynous appearance.

Despite laudatory criticisms, the album wasn’t a big commercial success at first
but went on selling more copies over the years as Bowie became a superstar.

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DAVID BOWIE: Facebook – All Albums


The American LP’s back sleeve