Big Blasts From The Past

THE ROLLING STONES – Classic Album ‘BEGGARS BANQUET’ Came Out 45 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Back in time

8 December 2023

THE ROLLING STONES released their 7th British
and 9th American studio LP, titled BEGGARS BANQUET
45 years ago today, on 6 December 2023.

TIME Magazine UK said: “England’s most subversive roisterers since Fagin’s
gang in ‘Oliver Twist’. In keeping with a widespread mood in the pop world, Beggars
Banquet turns back to the raw vitality of Negro R&B and the authentic simplicity of
country music.”

TUTV: If someone had said back then, 55 years ago, that The Rolling Stones
would still be around today – new album Hackney Diamonds just out – he
would have been locked up in a psychiatric hospital.

Singles/clips: Sympathy For The Devil / Street Fighting Man

– SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL –

– STREET FIGHTING MAN –

ALBUM


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THE STONES: Website – Instagram – All Albums


Back sleeve

Back In Time – 3rd LP ‘STRANGE TIMES’ By THE CHAMELEONS – 1986

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past

Underrated British post-punk band THE CHAMELEONS (1981–198, 2000–2003,
2021–present) fronted by founder Mark Burgess released their 3rd LP named
STRANGE TIMES on New Year’s Day of 1986.

AllMusic wrote: “If there was a should-have-been year in the Chameleons’ history, 1986
would clearly be it, and Strange Times demonstrates that on every track, practically in every note. Signed to a huge label, with production help from the Dave Allen/Mark Saunders team who worked on the Cure’s brilliant series of late-’80s records, The Chameleons delivered an album that should have been the step to a more above-board existence on radio and beyond.” Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here.

TUTV says: I still can’t understand why The Chameleons/Mark Burgess‘ highly gripping, captivating and stirring songwriting didn’t touch much more troubled souls around the globe. ‘Strange Times‘ was/is their foremost achievement. A heavy-hearted masterwork.

Singles: Tears / In Answer / Swamp Thing

– TEARS –
Melancholic lullaby

– IN ANSWER –
Mesmerizing pearl

– SWAMP THING –
Irresistible electricity

Album in full
(#1 – #10)


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THE CHAMELEONS: Website – Facebook – Album Discography

NICK CAVE’S Raw And Rough Side-Project GRINDERMAN With Their Self-Titled Punk-Blues Outburst – 2007

Posted on by JL

Back un time

24 November 2023

Band: GRINDERMAN
Who: Nick Cave‘s rowdy side-project.
Two albums between 2006 and 2011.

Album: GRINDERMAN
Released: 5 March 2007

Pitchfork: “Grinderman are an indulgent study in excess, sure, but the twist is that
at every turn Cave keeps the chaos carefully in check, emphasizing messiness when
need be but also showcasing the deceptively precise playing of his band as well as
his loose and at times gloriously silly lyrics.”

TUTV: It feels like Cave wanted to go back to his schizophrenic punk roots with
the Birthday Party and fight some new demons, or he was just bored to write sinister ballads. Anyway, this record is a ferocious punk-blues outburst. Raw and rough with
a knife between the teeth. Follow-up Grinderman 2 rocked with the same liberating
lunacy. Hey Nick, time to take a step aside again and go ballistic once more.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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THE BEATLES – Two Album Birthdays Today – ‘WITH THE BEATLES’ (60) And The White Album (55)

Posted on by JL

WITH THE BEATLES

Their 2nd LP came out 60 years ago today, on 22 November 1963, the day
President John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas. The LP had advance orders
of a half million and sold another half million by September 1965, making it
the second album to sell a million copies in the UK, after the soundtrack to
the 1958 film South Pacific.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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THE WHITE ALBUM

The Fab Four‘s 9th LP, a double one, was released 55 years ago, on 22 November 1968.
The album displayed that the band members were drifting apart. Priced at £3.13 shillings, ($8.76), it topped the UK Charts for 8 weeks.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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THE BEATLES: Bio – Discography – Website

MY BLOODY VALENTINE – Groundbreaking Debut LP ‘ISN’T ANYTHING’ Released 35 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Back in time

21 November 2023

British groundbreaking guitar noise legends MY BLOODY VALENTINE, fronted
by feedback sound wizard Kevin Shields, who turned 60 last May released their flabbergasting debut LP ISN’T ANYTHING 35 years ago today, on 21 November 1988.

Pitchfork says: “At the heart of My Bloody Valentine was the mixture of the crushing power of Dinosaur Jr. and Hüsker Dü and the delicate vulnerability of indie pop; the masculine/feminine dynamic was accomplished not through the brilliant interplay between Kevin Shields and singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher (whose voices complement each other but often sound quite alike) but by the effect of their voices against the guitar noise. My Bloody Valentine offered a new expression of androgynous sensuality in pop, crafting deeply sexual but also abstracted music, short on specifics but heavy with feeling.”
Score: 10/10.

TUTV: One kind of band, one kind of noise, one kind of album.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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MBV: Instagram – Bio – Discography

PATTI SMITH Released Her Masterpiece Debut Album ‘HORSES’ 48 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Back in time

10 November 2023

Living legend PATTI SMITH (now 76) released her solid gold masterpiece
album HORSES 48 years ago today, on 10 November 1975.

Rolling Stone wrote: “From its first defiant line, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine,” the opening shot in a bold reinvention of Van Morrison’s Sixties garage-rock classic “Gloria,” Patti Smith’s debut album was a declaration of committed mutiny, a statement of faith in the transfigurative powers of rock & roll. Horses made her the queen of punk before it even really existed, but Smith cared more for the poetry in rock. She sought the visions and passions that connected Keith Richards and Rimbaud – and found them, with the intuitive assistance of a killing band (pianist Richard Sohl, guitarist Lenny Kaye, bassist Ivan Kral and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty) and her friend Robert Mapplethorpe, who shot the stark, beautiful cover portrait.”

Patti Smith: “I had a handful of records, but when I was 11 years old,
I liked Puccini as much as Little Richard. They both made sense to me.”

HORSES


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PATTI SMITH: All Albums

THE POLICE Released Their Debut Album ‘OUTLANDOS D’AMOUR’ 45 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

2 November 2023

The iconic trio THE POLICE released their debut longplayer
OUTLANDOS D’AMOUR 45 years ago today, on 2 Nov 1978.

The working title, ‘Police Brutality,’ was changed to make is sound more
romantic. The title loosely translates as ‘Outlaws of Love’ but the term
‘Outlandos‘ is actually a mix of the words for ‘Outlaws‘ and ‘Commandos.’

BBC Music: “‘Outlandos d’Amour’ is not only the first Police album, it’s their best.
Like many great works of art, the band’s debut LP initially flopped along with the single ‘’Roxanne’’. Impoverished, they set off across America in 1978. On their return, buoyed
by favourable reviews in the states they re-released the single which soon climbed to
number 12, and also taking Outlandos d’Amour into the album charts. After that,
there was no looking back for the threesome.”

Glorious single ‘Roxanne’

ALBUM


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THE POLICE: Instagram – Bio – Discography
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

THE STROKES Released Their Riff-Crazy Second Album ‘ROOM ON FIRE’ 20 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Back in time

29 October 2023

New York’s jingle jangle champs THE STROKES released their
2nd LP ROOM ON FIRE 20 years ago, on 28 October 2003.

NME review: “‘Room On Fire’ is a refining and tinkering with The Strokes sound,
a carefully calibrated attempt not to fuck up too early in the face of untold temptations.
The results are still sleek, sexy and thrilling, with a tantalising promise of even better
to come.”
Score: 4.5/5


Back sleeve

TUTV says: The Strokes jumped into an empty period of guitar rock bands
and scored big time with their jingle jangle firework on their first two LPs.
Riff-crazy from start to finish.

Singles/clips: Reptilia / You Talk Way Too Much / 12.51

– REPTILIA –

– 12.51 –

– YOU TALK WAY TOO MUCH –

ALBUM


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THE STROKES: Website – Facebook – All Albums

DAVID BOWIE Released His Covers Album ‘PIN UPS’ 50 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

19 October 2023

50 years ago today, on 19th October 1973, the late genius
DAVID BOWIE released his seventh album PIN UPS.

The album, which features then supermodel Twiggy on the front sleeve, is an LP of covers, of 12 of Bowie‘s favourite songs, including tracks by Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, The Who, The Yardbirds and The Kinks. The longplayer hit the top spot of the UK Albums Chart.

TUTV‘s favorite one.

Original from 1965 by American band The McCoys

ALBUM


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DAVID BOWIE: Facebook – All Albums


Back sleeve

THE AFGHAN WHIGS Released Their Magnum Opus ‘GENTLEMEN’ 30 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

5 October 2023

Band: THE AFGHAN WHIGS (Cincinnati, Ohio, US)
Album: GENTLEMEN – 4th longplayer
Released: 5 October 1993 – 30 years ago today

Foreword by mastermind Greg Dulli

Pitchfork wrote: “Greg Dulli sings about some fucked-up shit on the Afghan Whigs’ fourth album and major-label debut, 1993’s Gentlemen, a harrowing song cycle chronicling the death throes of a relationship… This is an album that serves as an emotional exorcism, visceral and violent, played by a band not known for its squeamishness.” Full review here.


(Brussels 2015 -pic by TUTV)

TUTV: Pitch-black sentiments, bone-chilling tunes, spellbinding orchestrations.
As a fervid Whigs fan I can listen to Gentlemen every single day (already two times
today, and it’s only noon). It’s their magnum opus (note: Black Love, 65 and last year’s
How Do You Burn? are not far away).

This time the cliché ‘no fillers, all killers‘ is 150% accurate. Every song is humanly perfect.
I’m not a big fan of artists playing an album in full live, but Gentlemen is definitely a rare one I would travel a long way for to hear it for its 48 grand minutes. Having experienced their high-powered live exploits several times, I just know it would be an unforgettable blast/night. What do you think, Mister Dulli?

Track-by-track breakdown. Back in 2014 Greg Dulli
talked to Spin about every song. Read the feature here.

Singles/clips: Debonair / Gentlemen

– DEBONAIR –

– GENTLEMEN –

ALBUM


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THE AFGHAN WHIGS: Website – Facebook – All Albums