Big Blasts From The Past

CAT POWER Released Her 3rd Album ‘WHAT WOULD THE COMMUNITY THINK’ Today 30 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

10 September 2026

CAT POWER (born named Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall, 54 years ago in Atlanta, Georgia) released her 3rd full-length WHAT WOULD THE COMMUNITY THINK on 10 September 1996, today 30 years ago.

The album was produced by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley,
who also provided drums during the recording sessions.

The album has been noted for its variety of musical styles,
ranging from alternative rock to folk and blues. Though not
a commercial hit, the album received unanimous critical
acclaim.

The cover artwork was created by Power herself out of a postcard:

“I just needed a cover and I had this postcard that I’ve had for a long time. It’s this woman from the ’70s in New York and they did this collage of cigarette ads and she whited out the eyes and instead of a cigarette she had a whistle. It’s no big deal, I just cut out the center of her face and put mine on top. It made it look more real.”

Entertainment Weekly said: “Power Thraises goose bumps on What Would the Community Think with bluesy, traumatized songs on which she whispers laments over a spare arrangement of guitar and drums. A sudden fervent holler — to the father of her unborn child or to her own lacking papa — interrupts the calm like thoughts of mortality in the night.”

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R.E.M. – 30 Candles Today For Their 10th Album ‘NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI’

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

9 September 2026

Rock celebs R.E.M. (1980–2011) from Athens, Georgia
released their 10th album NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI
on 9 September 1996, today 30 years ago.

The members of R.E.M. consider the recorded album representative of the band at their peak, and fans generally regard it as the band’s last great record before a perceived artistic decline following drummer Bill Berry‘s departure. It has sold around seven million units, and has grown in cult status in the years after its release, with several retrospectives ranking it among the band’s best work.

Mike Mills bassist: “It usually takes a good few years for me to decide where an album
stands in the pantheon of recorded work we’ve done. This one may be third behind Murmur and Automatic for the People.”

AllMusic wrote: “New Adventures in Hi-Fi feels like it was recorded on the road. Not only
are all of Michael Stipe’s lyrics on the album about moving or travel, the sound is ragged and varied, pieced together from tapes recorded at shows, soundtracks, and studios, giving it a loose, careening charm.”

KEY SINGLE

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JOHN LENNON Released His 2nd Solo Album ‘IMAGINE’ Today 55 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant lonplayers from yesteryear

9 September 2026

JOHN LENNON released his 2nd solo LP IMAGINE
on 9 September 1971, today 55 years ago.

It was co-recorded by Lennon, Yoko Ono and Phil Spector.
It topped both the UK and US charts.

The LP’s lyrics reflect peace, love, politics, Lennon’s experience with primal scream therapy and, following a period of high personal tensions, an attack on his former writing partner Paul McCartney in “How Do You Sleep?”.

Lennon: “I used my resentment against Paul to create a song not a terrible vicious
horrible vendetta. I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles,
and the relationship with Paul, to write ‘How Do You Sleep?’. I don’t really go ’round with
those thoughts in my head all the time.”

MOJO magazine said in retrospect: “The album contains both the best and the worst of Lennon – the idealist and the ranter, the righteous and the vindictive anger – and as such remains more patchy than its iconic status might allow.”

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Almost 1 billion streams
on Spotify

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SUEDE – Their Flawless Firework Guitar-Pop Album ‘COMING UP’ Came Out 30 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

2 September 2026

Band: SUEDE (London)
Active: 1989–2003, 2010–present
10 studio albums so far.

Anniversary Album: COMING UP
Their third LP.
Released: 2 September 1996 – 30 years ago today
Score: #1 in the UK, Sweden and Denmark.

After the departure of guitarist Bernard Butler and the lack of commercial success with their 2nd LP Dog Man Star – still their masterpiece to my ears – and its singles, they were being somewhat dismissed by the British music press with Oasis, Blur and Pulp taking the limelight.

Determined to bring Suede back into the mainstream, frontman Brett Anderson decided that the sound of the new album would be the complete opposite of Dog Man Star. “I think the next album will be quite simple, actually. I’d really like to write a straightforward pop album. Just ten hits.”

The Daily Telegraph (English newspaper) said: “Coming Up is their defiant reminder of what made Suede so special. If Dog Man Star was Diamond Dogs, then this is Suede’s Ziggy Stardust – extravagant, steeped in glam and unashamedly poppy.”

TUTV: Many thought Suede would implode after musical force
Bernard Butler left, except for Brett Anderson. His self-confidence
went through the roof with a magnificent record of glam and
glitter firecrackers as a result. Towering trash all the way.

The ace singles.

– TRASH –

– BEAUTIFUL ONES –

– SATURDAY NIGHT –

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BOB DYLAN Released His Back To His Roots Album ‘MODERN TIMES’ 20 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

29 August 2026

Legendary singer-songwriter virtuoso BOB DYLAN released his 32nd LP,
titled MODERN TIMES on 29 August 2026, today 20 years ago.

It topped the US Charts and peaked at #2 in the UK.

Pitchfork said: “The music legend returns with a companion piece
to 2001’s Love and Theft, offering new tracks of jazz-inspired, rockabilly-
scamming, ragtime-aping rock’n’roll, more heavily indebted to blues
and honky-tonk than Woody Guthrie and Folkways.”

Turn Up The Volume: My all-time favorite singer-songwriter goes
back to the 50s/60s on this one. Several musical genres that inspired
his extraordinary career are featured. Past rather than modern times.

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PUDDLE OF MUD – Grunge Rockers Released Their 2nd Album ‘COME CLEAN’ Today 25 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

28 August 2026

Band: PUDDLE OF MUDD
Who: Famed grunge rockers from Kansas City
running amok since 1992 and still going strong.

Last year they released their 9th LP, Kiss The Machine.

Anniversary Album: COME CLEAN
Their 2nd.

Released on 28 August 2001, today 25 years ago.

It was POM’s biggest hit on the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 9, despite mixed critical verdicts. The album has sold over 5,000,000 copies and was certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA. It peaked at #12 on the UK Charts.

Flavorwire (NYC-based cultural magazine) said, “Sadly, grunge led straight to post-grunge,
a genre that retained grunge’s guitar sound and jettisoned everything else that made it special. The result was torpid pseudo-grunge. Like this album, for instance.”

Loudwire (US Magazine) wrote in retrospect: “Though they’ve released seve other albums since, Puddle of Mudd never surpassed the success they had with Come Clean, making it the best offering of their catalog.”

SINGLE
(More than 423 million
streams on Spotify)

Sing it, Kurt.

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DONOVAN – British Psych Pop Legend Released His 3th LP ‘SUNSHINE SUPERMAN’ Today 60 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

26 August 2026

Scottish psych-pop songsmith legend DONOVAN, who turned 80 last May, released
his 3rd LP, named SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, today 60 years ago on 26 August 1966
in the US alone.

It didn’t come out in the UK at that time because of a contractual dispute. In June 1967,
a compilation of tracks from this album and the follow-up Mellow Yellow was released as Sunshine Superman in the UK.

Weird thing in Donovan‘s career, once dubbed as the British Bob Dylan,
is the fact that he made it first in the US, and in the UK sometime later.

The album was one of his most successful, peaking at number 11 in
the US and remaining on the Billboard Chart for 6 months. The 1967
UK edition peaked at number 25.

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PAUL SIMON Released His Contested 7th Solo Album ‘GRACELAND’ Today 40 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

25 August 2026

Legendary singer-songwriter PAUL SIMON, who turns 85 next October, released
his 7th album, named GRACELAND, on 25 August 1986, today 40 years ago.

Organizations such as Artists United Against Apartheid criticized Simon for breaking
the cultural boycott on South Africa imposed for its policy of apartheid, while others
accused him of appropriating the music of another culture.

Simon responded that Graceland was a political statement that showcased collaboration between black and white people and raised international awareness of apartheid. Some praised him for helping popularize African music in the West.

The album became Simon‘s most successful album and his highest-charting album
in over a decade, with estimated sales of more than 16 million copies worldwide.

Rolling Stone said: “An album about isolation and redemption that
transcended ‘world music’ to become the whole world’s soundtrack.”

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THE ROLLING STONES – 45 Anniversary Candles For ‘TATTOO YOU’ Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

24 August 2026

THE ROLLING STONES released their 16th LP, in the UK and their 18th in the US today
45 years ago, on 24 Augustus 1981. It topped the charts in the US, Canada, Australia and several European countries, and peaked at #2 in the UK.

Tattoo You is an album primarily composed of outtakes from previous recording
essions, some dating back a decade, with new vocals and overdubs. The Stones
put together this collection to have a new album to promote for their worldwide
American Tour 1981/European Tour 1982.

Richards: “The thing with Tattoo You wasn’t that we’d stopped writing new stuff, it was a question of time. We’d agreed we were going to go out on the road and we wanted to tour behind a record. There was no time to make a whole new album and make the start of the tour.”

The album title was originally planned to be simply Tattoo. Jagger claims to this day that even he has no clue how the ‘You’ became attached to the title. The title caused friction between the glimmer twins with Richards suspecting that Jagger had changed the title without seeking his input. The album cover had concept origination, art direction and design by Peter Corriston and illustration by Christian Piper.

The New York Times said at the time: “Remarkably, Tattoo You is something
special. None of the tracks are Chuck Berry retreads, none of them are disco, and
none of them are reggae. They are all rock-and-roll, with more than a hint of the
soul and blues influences that were so important in the band’s early work.

The new album’s lyrics are also a surprise. The Stones seem to have dropped
the studied decadence that was their most characteristic pose throughout the
70’s. The songs on Tattoo You seem to be by and about real people rather than
larger-than-life caricatures.”

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NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Released Their 3rd Album ‘KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS’ Today 40 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

18 August 2026

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS released their 3rd full-length, baptized
Kicking Against The Pricks on 18 August 1986, today 40 years ago.

The title is a reference to a biblical quote from the King James Version
of the Christian Bible, Acts 26, verse 14.

It’s a covers LP with their take on songs by John Lee Hooker, Johnny Cash,
Bill Roberts, Lou Reed, Jimmy Webb, Alex Harvey and more.

It topped the UK’s alternative album chart.

Cave: “It allowed us to discover different elements, to actually make and perform a variety of different sorts of music successfully. I think that helped subsequent records tremendously.

The songs were all done for different reasons. Basically a list of songs were made and we tried to play them. We tried songs by the Loved Ones and the Saints and all sorts of people that never got on the record.

Some songs were tributes, like the Tom Jones song “Sleeping Annaleah” other songs we didn’t think the song was ever done particularly well in the first place. Some songs had just kind of haunted my childhood, like “The Carnival Is Over”, which I always loved.

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