Today’s Yesterday Album

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Real Life’ – Haunting Debut LP by MAGAZINE Released 40 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Real Life’ by MAGAZINE
Released: June 1978
Forty years ago

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Like many punk bands, Magazine would likely cite David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Roxy Music. However — this point is crucial — instead of playing mindlessly sloppy variants of “Hang on to Yourself,” “Search and Destroy,” and “Virginia Plain,” the band was inspired by the much more adventurous “Low”, “The Idiot”, and “For Your Pleasure.” That is the driving force behind Real Life’s status as one of the post-punk era’s major jump-off points. Punk’s untethered energy is rigidly controlled, run through arrangements that are tightly wound, herky-jerky, unpredictable, proficiently dynamic.” Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: sounds like haunting and paranoid! Like real life!
Hair-raising and scary. Staggering record!

TWO TOP TRACKS: Shot By Both Sides / Parade

* SHOT BY BOTH SIDES

* PARADE

MAGAZINE: Facebook – All Albums

Today’s Yesterday Album – DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS With ‘Don’t Stand Me Down’…

Posted on by JL

Great longplayers from the past…

‘Don’t Stand Me Down’
DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Third album
15 September 1985

ALL MUSIC wrote:  “Utterly overlooked upon release, condemned and chastised by every reviewer who came within 50 yards of it, Dexys Midnight Runners third album arrived in
1985 with the band’s once-illuminated fame looking seriously battered. Track by track,
Don’t Stand Me Down unfolds to become not the ugly duckling of Dexys Midnight Runners’
hit-packed catalog, but the new dawn that could – should – have finally exorcised ‘Eileen’
and her buddies. And when it didn’t, the band broke up.”
Score: 4/5 – Full review here  

TURN UP THE VOLUME says:  Kevin Rowland was/is
one of the best white soul voices in modern music history…

TOP TRACK:  This Is What She’s Like…

Album in full…

.
DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS: : Facebook – All Albums

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘I Just Can’t Stop It ‘ – Debut Longplayer By… THE BEAT

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘I Just Can’t Stop It’ by THE BEAT
Released: 1 May 1980 – debut LP

ALL MUSIC wrote: “‘I Just Can’t Stop It’ was a late arrival onto the checker- boarded scene, the Specials, Madness and the Selecter had all beat the (English) Beat to the punch, but luckily this wasn’t a race. Besides, the band had already primed the pump with a trio of Top 10 singles – the double A-sided ‘Tears of a Clown’/’Ranking Full Stop’, ‘Hands Off She’s Mine’ and ‘Mirror in the Bathroom,’ their debut album followed hard on ‘Mirror’s heels, picking up the latter two songs and ‘Full Stop’ to boot. The album remained on the British charts for a whopping eight months, eventually peaking at Number Three. Time has not diminished its glory, the songs remain hugely as their continued inclusion in the band’s offshoot’s repertoire have proved.” Score: 5/5 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: It was a red-hot party album then and still
is a red-hot party album now. C’mon, activate your dancing feet, folks!

THREE TOP TRACKS: : Best Friend / Mirror In The Bathroom / Hands Off… She’s Mine

1/ BEST FRIEND

2/ MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM

3/ HANDS OFF… SHE’S MINE

Party in full…

.
THE BEAT: Facebook – All Albums

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘The House Of Love’ – By THE HOUSE OF LOVE

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

The House Of Love by THE HOUSE OF LOVE
Released: July 1990

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Following the combination of indie success and massive hype
leading up to the band’s first album proved to be too much for the original lineup,
with Bickers leaving after a series of problems and pressures once the group signed
to Fontana. Yet rarely has a fraught series of recording sessions resulted in something
so flat-out stunning. The House of Love’s second self-titled album in a row remains
something of a high-water mark in what can loosely be termed U.K. post-punk.”
 Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here.

TOP TRACK: Shine On…

Album in full…

.
THE HOUSE OF LOVE: Facebook

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Black And White’ – THE STRANGLERS 40 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Black And White’ by THE STRANGLERS
Released: 12 May 1978
40 years ago

BBC MUSIC wrote: “After two albums – the great ‘Rattus Norvegicus’ and its weaker sister,
‘No More Heroes’ and some extraordinary singles, The Stranglers were one of the most successful punk-era bands, hitting the top 10 regularly and being controversial (even for
1977) with their sexist lyrics and macho attitude. With an aptly stark cover and a division
into “black” and “white” sides, Black and White was immediately notable for its tougher
sound and attitude, and a merciful lack of songs about how awful women were.”
Full review here.

TOP TRACK: ‘Nice ‘N’ Sleazy’ – here live on Top Of The Pops in 1978…

Album in full…

.
THE STRANGLERS: Facebook – All Albums

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Paul’s Boutique’ – Second LP by BEASTIE BOYS

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Paul’s Boutique’
BEASTIE BOYS
Released: 25 Juli 1989
Second longplayer

ROLLING STONE wrote: ” ‘Paul’s Boutique’ named after a Brooklyn store whose radio
ad is tossed in the mix and whose picture graces the cover, surprises from the get-go.
Each track brims with ideas and references too numerous to catalog, veering in new
directions at every verse. The songs are buoyed by the deft interplay of the three voices
and a poetic tornado of imagery. The Boys’ rap references range from Magilla Gorilla to Dickens, their musical samples are equally far-flung, including Johnny Cash, Hendrix and
Jean Knight’s ‘Mr. Big Stuff.’ The Boys are just being themselves, thrashing about in a reality ignored by too many mainstream white-rock acts.”
Score: 4/5 – Full review here

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: ‘Maybe not their best known album,
but certainly one of their best.

TOP TRACK: Hey Ladies

Album in full…

.
BEASTIE BOYS: Website – Facebook – All Albums

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘The Perfect Prescription’ – Dope LP By SPACEMEN 3

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘The Perfect Prescription‘
by SPACEMEN 3
Released: September 1987
Second longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Drawing together some earlier material and a slew of new songs, Spacemen 3 tied everything together on the brilliant Perfect Prescription, the clear point
of departure from tribute to psych inspirations and finding its own unique voice. Planned
as a concept album, this LP works where so many other similar efforts failed due to the
strength of the individual songs, as well as the smart focus of the concept in question,
a vision of a drug trip from inception to its blasted conclusion, highs and lows fully intact.”
Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: Psychedelic gloominess at its mind-pleasing best.
The British Velvet Underground. Addictive classic.

Album in full…

SPACEMEN 3: Biography – Discography

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Things Fall Apart’ – Fourth LP By… THE ROOTS

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Things Fall Apart’
THE ROOTS
Released: 23 February 1999
Fourth longplayer

PITCHFORK wrote: ” ‘Things Fall Apart’ was a turning point for the Roots, the record
where they figured out what kind of band they could be. Both its themes and its eclectic
mix of sounds resonate in the current moment. As the Roots teetered between fame and purgatory, virtue and failure, the album captured the intensity of a group with everything
to lose and the world to gain. The band was pushing the limits of their sound. By building a musical community and mastering the art of collaboration, they figured out how to cross over and keep their soul intact. ‘Things Fall Apart’ was The Roots’ most successful record, and after years in the shadows, they were finally getting radio airplay and touring as headliners.”
Score: 9.4/10 – Full review here

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: “Unfortunately this album is highly relevant again today, as so many things falling apart again – most of all the equality among humans, regardless race, religion and sexual orientation – the past few years with macho world leaders dividing the people for their greedy benefit.

TOP TRACK: The Next Movement

Album in full…

.
THE ROOTS: Facebook – Twitter – All Albums

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Cut’ – Punk Reggae Party Debut By… THE SLITS

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Cut’
THE SLITS
Released: 7 Sept 1979
Debut longplayer

PITCHFORK wrote: “When the group first formed, they couldn’t play their instruments for shit. The songs on the album offer an amalgam of punk’s abrasive DIY WTF-ness and the spacious relaxed rhythms of dub reggae. This album is a keystone for any and all punk-based grrrl movements. And– though it goes without saying, it’s often said anyway– this album is terribly, terribly important in the history of the rock music and the grand scheme of canonical flippity floo flap.” Score: 9.3/10 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: “experimental vision, wicked sing-along songs,
turbulent live presence, glorious DIY yourself punk reggae party.”

THREE TOP TRACKS‘: Typical Girls / Instant Hit / I Heard To The Grapevine

* TYPICAL GIRLS

* INSTANT HIT

* I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE (cover Marvin Gaye)

Album in full…

.
THE SLITS: Fan Facebook – Biography
.

DIY icons – R.I.P. Ari Up…

TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Imperial Bedroom’ – 7th ELVIS COSTELLO LP…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Imperial Bedroom’
ELVIS COSTELLO
Released: 2 July 1982
7th longplayer

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Having gotten country out of his system with Almost Blue, Elvis
Costello returned to pop music with Imperial Bedroom — and it was pop in the classic,
‘Tin Pan Alley’ sense. Costello chose to hire Geoff Emerick, who engineered all of the Beatles’ most ambitious records, to produce Imperial Bedroom, which indicates what it sounds
like — it’s traditional pop with a post-Sgt. Pepper production. Essentially, the songs on
‘Imperial Bedroom’ are an extension of Costello’s jazz and pop infatuations on Trust.”
 Score: 5/5 – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: Another high-quality album by
a high-quality singer/songwriter…

TOP TRACK: Man Out Of Time…