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.”
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.
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.”
Rock iconNEIL 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.
“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.
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.
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!
It topped the charts in the UK, US, Canada
and several European countries.
Back sleeve
AllMusic/Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in retrospect: “Pieced together
from outtakes and much-labored-over songs, Sticky Fingers manages to have a
loose, ramshackle ambience that belies both its origins and the dark
undercurrents of the songs.
It’s a weary, drug-laden album, well over half the songs explicitly mention
drug use, while the others merely allude to it. With its offhand mixture of
decadence, roots music, and outright malevolence, Sticky Fingers set the
tone for the rest of the decade for the Stones.”
Rock icons THE DOORS (1965–1973 / 9 albums) released their 6th LP L.A. WOMAN
on 19 April 1971, today 55 years ago today, three months after the release, on July 3, frontman Jim Morrison was found dead.
#1 in Holland, #11 in Canada, #9 in the US, #28 in the UK
The band began recording without much material and needed to compose songs
on the spot, either by jamming or talking through ideas. Lyrically, the album deals
with contemporary topics such as love, life in Los Angeles, and complex aspects
of the human experience.
The LP, as a whole, demonstrated Morrison‘s songwriting abilities, combined with his poetic phrasing and enthusiasm for Los Angeles, but still a desire to leave the city with
his partner, Pamela Courson. Artistically, L.A. Woman saw the band mixing blues and
rock, with some elements of psychedelic and jazz rock of their early career.
NME said: “One of their best in sometime with great depth, vigour and presence.”
TUTV: One of the best bands ever (as if you didn’t know this) with one of their best
albums ever (as if you didn’t know this), including two of their best songs ever (as if
you didn’t know this) with Love Her Madly and Riders On The Storm.
The album’s title came from a speech by Ronald Reagan in
the 1980s, addressing the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”.
“If you look at the atrocities committed by the U.S. in the latter half
of the 20th century, we feel that tag could be easily used to describe
the U.S.”
Press photo by Niels Van Iperen
Rolling Stone wrote: “Heavy metal has never been much of a forum for political discourse. Rage Against the Machine hope to change that with their inflammatory blend of roaring guitars, barked raps and political activism.
Their lyrics lambaste government corruption, media manipulation, big business, complacency and ambivalence, and the band members practice what they preach.”
Inside artwork
Zack de la Rocha about the LP’s artwork: “The image of the second record
was a little ironic, you know? Considering if you look very closely at the boy’s face,
he symbolizes the power structure in the U.S. and if you look at him, he’s smiling as
if he’s in control.
But if you look deeper into his face, you see that he’s afraid, because he knows what’s
comin (note: now, today, we know too). He knows that poor people in the U.S. are not
going to suffer in the way that they are suffering without taking action.”
The record came out just months before two other classics were
released, Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and The Beatles’ Revolver.
It was their 4th British and 6th American studio LP,
It topped the UK charts and peaked at #2 in the USA
Aftermath was The Stones first LP with only original Jagger/Richards songs and several hits on it.
The album’s release was briefly delayed by controversy over the original packaging
idea and title – Could You Walk on the Water? – due to their label’s fear of offending Christians in the US with its allusion to Jesus walking on water.
Record Mirror Magazine wrote at the time: “Whether they realize it
or not – and I think Andrew Oldham does – the Rolling Stones have on
their hands the smash LP of the year with Aftermath.”
Singles/clips: Paint It Black / Lady Jane / Under My Thumb
