Punk and Crust

In this episode of Record Club, we dive into the thrill of discovering rare and unexpected records. Eric shares a unique German pressing featuring punk and crust bands Torture and Hellish View, along with a blues-rock gem from Siren. Jerry explores the psychedelic sounds of Lothar and the Hand People, and the hard-rock legacy of Y&T. Along the way, we discuss record labels, favorite finds, vintage audio gear, and the excitement of uncovering forgotten music one record at a time.

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An independent record label from Minnesota, USA. focusing on instrumental kraut and space rock.

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Transcript

0:07

Sunday, March 22nd. Jerry, why don't you get us started with this day in history? Okay, this day in history. Um on this day. Well, it's just famous people. It's just people born today. Nobody died famous today, no, no events for today, so just people who were born today. First one, uh Chico Marx, was born in 1887. Uh Carl Malden was born today in 1913. Marcel Marceau was born in 1923. Keith uh Ralph R. E. L. F of the Yardbirds was born today in 1943. Uh Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy was born today in 1944. Uh uh Harry Vonda, it just says fish in the pan. It must have been maybe a movie, was born in 1947. And then Randy Hobbs of the Johnny Winter Band was born today in 1948. Gotcha. All right, good. Very good. All right. In the name of Wax, is an exclusive record club for music lovers of the analog format through sharing experiences, memories, discoveries, and emotions tied to the albums. Our goal is to build continued appreciation for forgotten bands and members by understanding more of their histories and connections. We reinforce our bond with club members for love of the groove. Yes, very good. All right. Um, I just had I just had two bands and then that album um that I got. Uh cool. Eric, you got stuff to share today, too? Yep. I have uh two records I'd like to discuss and the record uh just the record hall that I'd had done yesterday. Okay. Uh who wants to go first? I I don't have much to share today. Uh I'm just gonna be a fly on the wall. Uh, but that's okay. Okay, okay. Eric, why don't you let's do let's have Eric go first because he he's already taken records out of their sleeves and and drooling on them. So yes, yes, we don't want to hold them back. Sure, sure. Okay. I'll actually start with uh well, I'll just start with the one on my hand. Actually, no, I'll start with the other one. Um this first one, it's it was unique. It was I found it at a uh thrift store actually. And you know, Jerry, whenever we talk about like going to thrift stores, you know, sometimes you can see if they've never like stockpiled new records or not. And um this one record, it was this it's this black cover with like a skeleton holding a scythe. And uh the album is actually a split. It's two bands. Uh one is called Torture and the other one is called Hellish View. Um it's it's interesting, it's a it's a German pressing, but they're of two American bands, uh Torture and Hellish View. And one of them, if I'm gonna check just to verify, one of them is actually a Minneapolis band. Oh, cool. And there's a a a type of music that I've been aware of, but I didn't know how to like describe it. And in this split, the way that they described the the music here, it was okay, it's considered to be punk and crust. I've never heard crust as a genre of music before. I don't think I've heard either. Okay. But I was interested just to kind of like know, okay, like what is this? Um according to Discogs, crust or crust punk is a form of music influenced by hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style which enveloped in the mid-1980s in England often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills. The term crust was coined by Hellbastard in on their 1986 Ripper Crust demo. Crust is partly defined by its bassy and dirty sound. It's often played at a fast tempo with occasional slow sections. Vocals are usually guttural or maybe grunted, growled, or screamed. Grunt or crust punk takes cues from the anarcho-punk cast of Discharge and the extreme metal bands like Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Motorhead, which Celtic Frost, I really like those guys. Um, while the term was first associated with Hellbastard, uh Amabix has been described as the originators of its style. So just like learning about, you know, we've talked about punk before, but it was like, to me, punk is almost like it's it's uh it's almost it was almost like jazz, where it's like, where do you start? You know, there's so so many different directions to go into. And even just learning about this idea of what Chris What year was that? What year was that album again? This split was done in 2019. Okay. Um and one of the bands was uh so Torture is an American hardcore rock, raw punk band from Los Angeles, and Hellish View is from uh Minneapolis. Um and this record, interestingly enough, there was only 300 pressings of it. So I just the fact that I was able to find one at a thrift store was pretty cool. And I didn't know that and when I got it, I just saw what it was, and I was just like, I'm just gonna grab this. It just looks that's awesome. Um and I listened to it and it was pretty it's it's as far as like my record collection goes, it's probably in my top two like most like aggressively heavy, dense, borderline uncomfortable, but it's like interesting to listen to because it's like there's so it's it's just so much instant noise, and it's like what is happening? What is going on? Um and a lot of the vocals, like when it's talks about like the vocals are kind of like grunted or growled, yeah, that's that's they're they're accurate. Nope. Um so yeah, it was really interesting just listening to this and just thinking about okay, how are like uh just kind of seeing like okay, how do people like want to like maintain a genre like that? Because if it started in the 80s, you know, like how much of a scene is is there for that, you know, in the current times. And I think it's like it's kind of like even when Justin and I talk about like our music, where it's like we just gotta like find our audience, and it might be some, but that audience will be dedicated and they will be interested. And it made me just appreciate not just punk more, but just seeing like okay, the different subgenres of punk. And this was interesting. I was uh the songs were incredibly short, like some songs. I think they were like almost like um maybe even like a minute long, like they were very quick. Um, but then when like they would do like really heavy blast beats, it would be instant changes, but it would, but then it would go right back into the really heavy, like snare, fat fast snare hits. Um yeah, it was it was very interesting listening to this. So this is uh a unique pressing of a record of a of bands I never heard of, and it was just an impulse vibe, but I'm really glad I got it. Um it's it's pressing You'll never see that one again. Yeah, it's pre it's the label is uh Romantic Disasters. It's the name of the label. Um, where's the label from? Germany. Oh, it's a German label, okay. Yep, so it's a Germ German pressing of uh Los Angeles band and a Minneapolis band, and this is a split, so it's one side, one band per side of the album. Um yeah, and wow, that's really interesting. What there so there's two bands on on this album. Yeah. Wow. So Torture and Torture and Hellish View. It's two two groups. Wow. And yeah, German pressing and yeah, so there's five, just to get an idea of like for the track listings, there's five tracks for Torture and then four tracks for Hellish View. So you can and even and and it plays at 45. I was just gonna say it must play at 45 if there's because you said the songs were short. Yeah. And that there was only so many on each side, okay. Well, the 45s, a lot of times 45s as far as like fidelity, have a better fidelity. Yeah. So just so like I'm I'm actually showing Justin the record now, but you can see like for how much space there is and like for like the dead wax there. Like you can just see and this plays at 45 RPM, so it just plays faster. Yeah. So um yeah, so you can kind of get an idea of like for how long the tracks are. But yeah, there's uh one band on each side. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. Um, I don't have very many split albums like this. Um they feel close in genre or does it does it feel like you're listening to two separate bands, or does it feel like one continuous album on? I couldn't tell the difference. Really? Yep. Uh maybe maybe a little bit like for like well, not even like a vocal style. Um I couldn't I really couldn't tell the difference between I couldn't tell, I still couldn't really tell you which band was which because the label doesn't really tell you either. Um, interesting. I'm just guessing that okay, so torture is on this side, hell of she is on that side. So um, so yeah, but if if I were to just put this on, I wouldn't be able to tell which is which. Um but it was interesting. It was uh I'm I'm glad I got it. And it was just like I was like we were talking before, like the different areas of punk and the different subgenres of it. It's um just interesting just to kind of see like what stuff is out there and what and looks like uh there weren't very many releases of these bands either. So there might like we talk about like uh rare pressings or bands that only make it to 45 records. Well, interestingly enough, this is uh 12 inch, but it also plays at 45. But it looks like there might not be very many of of either of these bands out there. So uh very cool. So that's one that I got and then the other right place at the right time there. Yeah. And you picked that up at a thrift store. Yep. Uh huh. Yep. Uh it was uh Family Pathways. Which which location? North Branch. Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah. I just uh typically every Friday I'll stop by there and just see what's going on around there and just see if I happen to find anything. And yeah, I always like to look at their records, obviously. Um this other group, this was interesting for several reasons. Um I'll just name the band because I've never heard of them. I don't know, Jerry, I'll see if you've heard of them. You ever hear of the band Siren? Um no, that was the one that I didn't recognize of the ones you showed me or that you sent me. Sure. That that was the only one I didn't know was that one. So I mean, yeah, you can talk about that one for sure because I don't know that. Um I'm kind of walking into this blind as well. I did listen to the record and it's good. Um, it's kind of like mellow blues rock, uh, but the guitar solos were amazing. Uh it's on Electra, that's why I grabbed it. So I was like, all right, it's uh so yeah, it's just kind of a blind find. But the one thing I thought was interesting about this record was uh Jerry, have you ever seen any Electra labels that were on a uh yellow splatter label? The vinyl yellow splatter? Nope, nope. Uh the label itself is yellow and it's almost like a splatter style. Like typically I mean, I've seen Electra on yellow labels before, but I wouldn't say anything was with splatter on it. Yeah, it's not like a full yellow. It's like it almost looks like it's like a I mean, it's not like yellow marker, but it's um it's just a different styling of the uh label that I've never I've never seen a yellow. It looks like it's looks like marker that was kind of just like drawn across, but it's it kind of has like this splattery feeling. It doesn't sound familiar. What year did you say that was again? I couldn't see the year on it. I'll actually look I'll actually it it doesn't say on the jacket. Um uh looks like this came out in 1969 out of Canada. Cool. Okay. And interestingly, okay. Uh when I look up it was on Dandelion Records, but also on Electra. So that might be why. It's like a split between labels. So it's a we just talked about dandelion like a week or two ago. That label. Yeah. So this is a dandelion and electra label, and it the label shares both qualities. So have you listened to it? Yeah, yeah, I listened to it last night. Okay, okay. Yeah, it was really good. It was like it was kind of mellow blues rock. Uh the uh the guitar solos. It it was interesting because like the guitar solos almost seemed like they were out of place, but when they would come in, it just completely changed the direction of the song. So it's like it's like the guitar player was just waiting to just do his thing, and like he was just kind of like busting at the seam. So when he would start, like like he would be a little louder than the rest of the band. So it was interesting to just kind of hear it where all of a sudden it just started, and it was it it was very captivating, and I really enjoyed listening to this record. Cool. Yeah, so Dandelion and Electra. So it's the first time I've seen so yeah, because we just talked about dandelion, and I don't have any, I didn't have any, so uh I just happened to grab this on Impulse because I saw that it it mentioned Electra Records on the back. Um and then but when I got home and looked at it, I see that it's like a split label album. Wow. So the other one, single record, two bands on the same label, and now Siren is a dual label, but it's just one band on on a single record. Cool. And I think it might be uh uh Jerry, could you you could probably correct me on this? Is Dandelion out of Canada? Um I think I don't think so. I mean, I'm not 100% on that, but when I was reading about Dandelion, it seemed like it was from either Germany or the UK, I thought. Because that's sort of like connected to one of the bands I was gonna talk about today, too. Oh, Dandelion is. Yeah, Dandelion was uh was it last week, Eric, or the week before we talked about it? I think it was last week. Yeah, I think it was too. But yeah, it's like when I saw that label dandelion, I saw a picture of it, I'm like, I've never seen this before in my life. And so I I'm thinking, well, I mean, with the band it's associated with that I was looking at, I'm like, well, geez, I'm gonna try to get anything dandelion I can, but it's one you don't see that often. I mean, I've never seen it before. Yeah. Are there are there any more public publicly known bands on Daniel? Well, yeah, I I believe yes to that. I mean, I'd have to like look that one up to make sure again. Um just unless Eric has it handy. I I do. Uh it says around 28 albums were released by the label. One album was Gene Vincent, the cast of musician members of uh with a cast of musician members uh comprised of the Birds and Steppenwolf. So it's an old label. Yeah. Uh it looks like um they they were distributed. Dandelion records were distributed by successful by successfully CBS Records Warner Brothers uh records in Polydor. Uh it the label ran until late 1972 when it started to try its place uh with its artists and other labels as a distribution via Polydor had then ceased. It issued about a dozen singles and two dozen albums. Several releases attracted a cult audience, but never quite crossed into the mainstream. Although one of the singles, Cliver T Wards, Coat Hanger, uh from his debut album, say uh singer-songwriter, correct, certain amounts of airplay, uh uh Peel, the founder of Dandelion, he said, When you can't afford full-page ads in the music press, artists become very resentful. There's no faster way of losing friends. So it kind of sounds like they were very interested in wanting to do it, but they just had very short run releases. Sounds like they only did like 20 records. So very cool. Yep, learn learning stuff all the time. Love it. Anything else? Uh that's about all I have. And then I could just talk a little bit about you know, just grabbing some of those records that I sent you guys. Uh oh yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, so I just went with went and had lunch with a friend of mine, and then we went to um Cheapo Records, and that's where I found Siren was there. Um and then I found uh that Chick Korea record. That's a good one. Which every time I see Chick Korea, I always just grab 'em. Um because I've there was uh and actually last or this last week on Monday, I think I listened to like seven records. I worked from home that day, so I was able to actually just listen to records throughout most of the day. Yeah, good. That live Chick Korea album, it reminded me of us. Like it uh Chick Korea's like guitar solos, it was like very experimental, and he just said, We're just gonna wing it, we're just gonna go with it, let's just see what happens. And it was just really interesting listening to it and like hearing like I think there's one guitar solo where he's literally like tuning his guitar like in the middle of the solo. I'm like, Oh, this is so great. Yeah. Um I don't know why more bands don't do that. Yeah, just record, just record your jams and release it. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so I anytime I see Chick Crea, I always just grab it. So uh I have another one in the in the works and I'm excited to listen to. Um yeah, and uh the second record story I went to, we went to No Name. Uh and Jerry, you and I, we've been there uh last time here. Yeah, I think I think Nick, my son,'s going there today. Cool, cool. Yeah, I went through the two dollar bin and the dollar bin, and that's actually where I found that Brian Auger um and and it was Genesis and uh the album was Genesis, and I think that that's the UK pressing because it's on Polydor. Um, because I have that I have that album, uh, but it's a different cover and for a dollar, yeah. I'm gonna grab that. Um so it was fun. Like most of those records I got. I think the highest dollar record I there was that I got was like $349, and like the rest they were like a dollar or two dollars. So it was very fun just knowing what to look for and just kind of seeing bands that I've been introduced to or being familiarized with just through this process over the 10 years, like my excitement for the scores just get more and more when I'm recognizing names, album covers, and labels, and it's it's so fun. It it never ends. Yeah, it never ends, yeah. And I think uh uh no name, I think I've said this before too. No name seems like the exception to the rule as far as record scores go. So you can go in there with ten bucks in your pocket and walk out with two or three great albums. So right. Yeah, and even just seeing like um just seeing like Brian Auger and the Dollar Bin. And I saw Argent in the dollar bin, and I was like, I already have this album, but I was like, it's amazing just to see this stuff in there. Um yeah, it's a it's a really fun shop. And I even when it's uh it's like a f about a 45-50 minute drive to get there, I'm like, it's totally worth it. It's just it's fun. I spend more time in there than I do driving. Nice. So yeah, that's uh that's what I got for today. Okay. Well, like I like I mentioned uh a couple days ago I found this album. And I never thought I'd see this album or this group again. Because it was many years ago, 25, 30 years ago, I had an album, uh Lothar in the hand, people, and I I don't I don't know. I I must not have listened to it. I'm not even sure what, but I'm like looking at it and I'm like, it sounds so weird. And what are these like people from the jungle? I didn't know what the heck it was. Anyway, that was their 69 album, and what I found the other day was their 68 album. And those are the only two albums that this band did. And I learned some more stuff about them. Uh they're out of Denver, and they're um uh psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, and space rock. They were active from 1965 to 1970, and their stuff is on Capitol Records. And the one thing I the one thing I learned, because I'm always wondering, you know, who the heck is Lothar? I'm like, that doesn't sound like an English name. Is it a name of a person? Anyway, I found out who Lothar was. This group, there's no other group that I know of that has ever used this. And Eric and I have talked about this like a while back. They were the first band to use the theremin. Oh, cool. Yeah, they use the theramen and uh Moog synthesizers or mood modular synthesizers, and the theramen, the nickname for the theremin was Lothar. Now, I'm just wondering, Justin, do you know how a theremon works or not? Yes, I do. Okay, okay. I maybe not the the scientific nature of it, but I I've seen it and uh sadly not in person, just you know, just on videos and stuff. But well, yeah, hardly anybody would see them in person. But no, I'm familiar with the instrument. I thought I thought um the Beach Boys were credited with the first recording of the Theremon. Or maybe they had the first hit with it. I'm not sure. Hmm. And but I don't I don't I don't associate the Theremon with any other band at this point anyway, but um okay, so they they were notable for being uh the first rockers to tour and record using synthesizers, thereby inspiring a generation of electronic music makers uh who immediately followed them. And uh they were they well, they were out of Denver, but then they relocated to New York in 1966. Uh and this and they jammed with they jammed with Jimi Hendrix and they played gigs with The Birds, Canned Heat, The Chambers Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and The Loving Spoonful. Uh Lothar and the Ham people uh played music for Sam Shepard's play, The Unseen Hand. Um, okay, and was and they were the opening, they were the opening act for the Atlantic City Pop Festival in 1969. Um okay, they were with Capitol Records, like I mentioned, on, let's see here, 1968. Oh, okay. Okay. A Rolling Stone Review uh written by Lenny Kay, described Lothar and the Hand People's Music, and this is like a paragraph, like quote from this Rolling Stone guy. Uh it is electric it is electronic country, a kind of good time music played by mad dwarfs, and it is really good to listen to. There is no tension here, no jarring forces at war with each other. It may be strange that New York City, the city which defies speed and insanity, could produce this music, but it is as if Lothar and the Hen people have gone through this madness and come out on the other side smiling. Okay. Um well, Space Him is what they got FM Radio played a lot. Space Him was probably their biggest song that people would know or recognize. Uh and they were the first their first album was notable for a robotic cover of Manfred Mann's UK hit Machines. Um let's see, 1967, the Chemical Brothers, oh 1997. The Chemical Brothers uh sampled one of their songs. Okay. And that is about it. So there's two albums out there by Lothar and the Hand people, and when I saw this at the antiques, you know, I was just kind of flipping through. It's like you usually don't find much in antique stores or whatever. But I saw, I thought I saw the name Lothar or the top half of Lothar sticking out, and I'm like, this can't be. I pulled it out. I'm like, I'm like, my God. Like I say, I've looked for this for over 25 years. So that was that was a big deal. So I'm really happy to have it. Yeah, so that was that was kind of the album that I wanted to talk about. When you pulled it out, did like the lights come out, like the lights shine on you, and you heard like the like the choir in the background. Ah, like as I pulled the record out. Well, no, I I almost peed my pants, is actually Yeah, it was like I couldn't believe it. Yeah, my heart rate went up, and I'm like, oh man, it was like I was kind of like hanging on to it tighter than a few of the other records I had. And I'm like, geez, I can't believe. So yeah, so that was a good day. So yeah, Eric and I had good days record hunting uh lately. So that was good. Sounds like when you shared that feeling of like uh like your heart rate went up and you're like, oh my god, I'm out. Uh I've had that feeling, and uh the one record that comes to mind is when I finally found In the Wake of Poseidon by King Crimson, which probably my favorite King Crimson album. I mean, everyone says like you know, 21st century schizoid man, and it is a really great or uh In Court of the Crimson King, which it is a wonderful album, but in the wake of Poseidon has a very nostalgic spot for me. And I I remember when when I first saw one, I've never seen a copy of it at that point. And I was flipping through a record store, and when I found one, uh when I saw it, I was like, I literally just stopped. I think I almost dropped the rest of the records that were in my hand. But I was like, oh my god, I'm like, there it is. I'm like, it's it's there, and I was so, so stoked, and I still have it like now. Yeah, and and as we all know, 90% of the time we don't find anything, but when we do, it makes up for it. Okay, I've got two bands to talk about, and we've never talked about these bands before. Um, and one of them, and and I've held off for this for two weeks because last week we didn't talk about too many records or whatever, because I wanted to make sure Justin was in on these. Um yes, yes. Now this band, uh okay, there's kind of a good trivia thing here. Okay. Okay, and this band is on dandelion. Okay, no wonder it was so kind of okay. They did a 1972 album, and it's related to okay, it's related to Pink Floyd. So, okay, and I'll throw this out to you guys, and probably especially Eric. I don't know. You're Eric's kind of like my Pink Floyd expert anyway. Um do you remember the album they did in '73? Yep. Yeah, Dark Side of the Moon. Okay. They were gonna name their album Eclipse. They weren't gonna name it Dark Side of the Moon. Because the band I'm gonna talk about already did an album called Dark Side of the Moon, and they did it in '72. What? Yes. There's and this Dark Side of the Moon is super hard to get. Um I think I might actually have this album. Oh, you've I think so. I I remember that fact, and I was like, well, this band did it first. Okay, well, don't say who it is yet, then. Yeah, don't tell me. But it's great if you have that. Yeah, I'm curious to to hear the name of the band because I was like, I'm pretty sure I might have it. But uh yeah, keep on, keep going. Okay, okay. Well, okay, well, this band, they're they're a British uh blues rock band. Um and I found them, like I think I said with Eric before, as I followed a thread from Box of Frogs and ended up here with this band. Um their biggest single success. Okay, this band was like uh this band and the other band I'm gonna talk about, they're like pretty major over in Europe and Germany and but not so much here. Um well Pink Floyd, they decided to decided to go to go with uh Dark Side of the Moon after they realized that this band's Dark Side of the Moon wasn't commercially successful, really, in the U.S. So they went back. So, okay. Um let's see here. And I'll say right now, I love this band, and I've been listening to them for two weeks now. Uh oh yeah, yeah. Uh John Lennon and Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend, uh, they were uh hanging out with this band or whatever. Well, okay, I'll just say the name of the band. It's Medicine Head. Medicine Head, I thought was such a cool name for a band. That's what made me kind of look into it. Oh God, Medicine Head, who are they? Anyway, it was at John Lennon's insistence that that Dandelion Records would sign them. So they were signed to Dandelion. Um boy, there's quite a bit of stuff on them. They did like well, they did 70, 71, 73, 73, 71, 77. Okay. They did about 20 albums. Um, of course, the earlier ones are kind of the ones to get, and they're the harder ones to get. Um just to clarify, this band, Medicine Head, produced an album called Dark Side of the Moon in 1972. Correct. And it's a hard album to get. I'm I'm happy if Eric's got this album. I do. I do not. What's that? I do not. I think I might have read about it, but I don't have it. Uh I'm just looking at things. Well, the reason the reason why, half the time, there's none of them for sale in the U.S. They're all in they're all in um Germany and the UK, and yeah. And I'm like, I looked for Dark Side of the Moon. Just the cassette of Dark Side of the Moon was like 150 bucks. Um I should see what year that was. Let me just check. Dark Side of the Moon, yeah, 1972, what am I thinking? Um, anyway, I did get a German cassette of Medicine Head's greatest hits that went out right uh right in like 1972 or three or something. And I got that for that's that was still like uh almost 30 bucks, and it's coming from Germany. Anyway, uh let's see. Medicine had signed uh for at Paul Polidor Records, and then return for one album one-on-one, Medicine Head. Uh let's see, let's see, post breakup. Well, there's that one uh I don't know if you guys have ever seen that British Lions album. It's like black, but it's got a big like roaring lion head on the front of it. Um that's well, it's connected to them and Box of Frogs, really. But um let's see here. I mean, that was kind of I I don't want to read all the rest of this stuff about kind of their you know uh upbringing and all this stuff, but uh but listening to them's great. And uh yeah, their uh uh new New Bottles, Old Medicine, that was their 1970 album. Uh Heavy on the Drum, 71, Dark Side of the Moon 72. One one and one is one. That's actually a single that was a major hit, but they put an album like that out in 73. Um, I've got that one coming uh through a five, like THRU a five in 74. It's got a big dice on the front with five on it. That was a very good album, and I've got that ordered and um two-man band. I've got two of their albums here now, but I've got more of their stuff coming. So I'm a major medicine head fan. Yeah. I mean, such a cool name for a band, I thought. Yeah, I like it. Uh okay, the other band. Okay, it was a few weeks ago, you know, flipping through records. You know, I pulled this one out. I've had it for a long time and never listened to it. And it's without a cover, all it has is the inner sleeve. So I thought, uh, I'm gonna just throw this on and see what it is. Anyway, it was really good. And they're um, well, I'll just kind of read this. Okay. American uh hard rock, heavy metal band. They really are good heavy metal, and they're out of Oakland, California. Um they they were playing around uh the area or whatever, and they got a phone call that uh a place wanted to sign them, or not sign them, but a place wanted to have them come and perform at their place or whatever, at their club. And they're like, Well, well, what's your name? What's the name of your group? They didn't even have a name, and all they did was look down at the record they were playing, and what was on the record was um the Beatles album Yesterday and Today. So they told the guy, our name is Yesterday and Today. So they put out a couple albums by yesterday and today, but then they shortened it to YT, like capital Y and then the the symbol for and then the capital T. Okay, now this was an American group that is huge in Europe, Germany, over there. They went and toured over there, they just stayed over there, and all their records are are from again from the UK and Spain and Germany. And they're on Polydor. Let's see. Um, nope, I I okay, not Polydor. London. Yeah, London AM. I've got one on AM and then one on Giffen, too. Okay. Uh let's see here. According to asking the oh yesterday, today it should be all that, okay. Um the 74 lineup. Okay. Okay, they they began performing shows uh with Journey and Queen, and they did they did play on um The Queen's Night at the Opera Tour. And YT were seen uh by the president of London Records and subsequently was signed with the label. Uh London released the band's two studio albums, a self-titled debut and Struck Down in 76 and 78. Uh Struck Down would go. Okay, the band continued to tour extensively, uh, building to headliners while they opened for bands such as Wild Cherry, Kiss, and ACDC. Um, major interviews over the past decade. Uh 1980 AM Records, probably I'm sure the band named the YT. Okay, that was kind of the label's idea to shorten the name, I guess. Uh let's see here. Uh by 1983, uh YT had started to play larger venues such as arenas, stadiums, and amphitheaters across America and Europe, with a variety of acts, including ACDC, Alice Cooper, Blackfoot, love that band, uh Dio, Iron Maiden, Marillion, and I had their album and I don't have it anymore. Dang it. Molly Crew, Ozzy Osborne, Twisted Sister, and Z Z Top, uh garnering far more mainstream recognition in Europe and Japan than they did in the United States. They're huge over there, but people over here don't know them as well. Which, okay. And that's why they're hard to get here, their records. Okay. With their third AM release, Mean Streak 1983, radio airplay and exposure had increased. And the increase in the US, um, let's see, commercial success. Okay, let's see. Oh, yeah, In Rock We Trust. That's a great album. This this band has great covers too. Um, 84. I'd be give me the band's highest sound chart. Okay, double 200, I'd say. Okay. The success of In Rock We Trust, uh, which saw the band continuing to perform at arenas and stadiums, including opening for Rush and Dio on their tours for uh Grace Under Pressure and uh The Last in Line, respectively, as well as shows with Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, Rat, Dachan, and Night Ranger. And participating in the 1984 edition of Monsters of Rock in Donnington Park, England, gave YT better exposure than they had previously had. The band's 80, they just kept getting more and more popular as it went on, is kind of what happened. Uh the band's 1995, 85 hit, Summer Girls, initially featured on Soul Track, it's a Open Fire. That's a good song. Okay. Down the Billboard Hot 100, number five in Billboard Hot 100, uh number 16 on mainstream not. Uh da da da da uh MTV. They received heavy rotation on MTV as MTV's top video playlist. And continue to get regular airplay on classic rock radio throughout the United States. Um the band's last album, uh, the band grew uh increasingly frustrated with the lack of promotion from the label within the US, despite successful tours with Molly Crew and Aerosmith. Um let's see. Then they signed with Giffen in '86. They're still going in 09. Okay, June 2010, YT toured the world in support of uh facemaker or face melter, sorry, uh performing the big European summer festivals, such as Sweden Rock, uh Download Festival in Donington Park, England, and Hellfest in uh Clisson, France. Um, during the World Tour, uh, one of them looks like had some health issues. Uh gosh, he was diagnosed with with lung cancer right after that. I think that's about when the yeah, they lost that guy. Okay, I'll just go right to their legacy part. Okay. Uh this isn't too long. Uh Summertime Girls appeared on the soundtrack to the 1985 film Real Genius, as well as an episode season one of HBO's Peacemaker TV series. Um, in the movie Anvil, the story of Anvil in a bonus feature interviews, Lars Ulrich of Metallica talks at length about seeing one of his favorite bands, YNT, for the first time at a club in Hollywood in December 1980. Uh, Ulrich from Metallica credits YT as the reason he decided to become a musician, saying, and this is a quote from that guy uh that was a turning point for me wanting to play music. You could tell they loved what they were doing. So I'm I'm putting that out there to you guys and anybody else listening. YT is a super great metal band. They put out studio albums, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, twelve studio albums, and it looks like six live albums, and then there's uh another seven compilation albums. And and when you look at the charting stuff, only only in 85 did they chart in the US, but they charted in over in Europe and the UK a bunch of times. Yeah. Y and T, it's like I had this album for who knows how long, and I just you know pulled it out, and I'm like, I don't know these guys, and and it kind of like lit a fuse. Yeah, great band. Um, anything you can get YT, you guys would like, I'm sure. Yeah. Never heard of them until today. That's exactly what I I know that feeling. I felt like that two weeks ago. I haven't heard of 80% of the bands that you guys talk about. I mean, I'm getting there. You're getting there, exactly. Yeah, you know, yeah. Well, you're on your way. Some of these bands I've never even heard of either. Um I know that's kind of the fun part. Yeah. I mean, Medicine Head, I didn't know who who the heck Medicine Head was until I took a deep dive into Box of Frogs. Um, I sent the same pictures to a different buddy of mine, and he's like, Wow, nice haul at the record store and an incredibly deep dive. I gotta admit, I don't think I've heard of any of the names of these bands before. And I said, I've only heard of six of these. Some I've heard from Jerry, and some I haven't heard of either. That's the fun of records, the blind discoveries. Some I grabbed because I knew the label and I like the bands that the label worked with. Others just look cool and they're worth a shot. So it's like uh and one of the records, actually, I didn't talk about it today, or I didn't mention it yet, but uh Jerry, you I have uh another uh a blind find that I was very, very impressed with. Did you recog you recognize that Paul Horn album? Yeah, I did right away. Yeah. Yeah, I never heard of it. I just looked at it, I was like, this just looks good, so I'm just gonna grab it. And I was very, very impressed. It reminded me so much of like Herbie Mann, and I was like, I'm gonna get into this guy. And it looked like he released just as many records as Herbie Man just when I was digging into it, and it looked like this might have visions this album might be like I don't know, maybe like his twelfth album or something like that. Like it was well into his career. Um, and it looked like he was on the same caliber as Herbie Man, like making records from like the late 50s on, and but it was very, very well done. Yeah, it's kind of funny because when I saw that album, I'm thinking, back in the day, I used to see his albums in the bins all the time, but I hardly ever see them anymore. What year is that album did you say? I think that one is '72. Oh, I think you did say, okay. Okay. But it's like much later on in his career. Um yeah, I really enjoyed listening. That was actually the last record I listened to yesterday. And I it was soft, melodic, and like the vocals were great. And that was another thing. It's like and thinking of it as like musically, it was a lot like Herbie Man, but then with when there was vocals added to it, it completely changed the uh uh the dynamic of the music. And I just really enjoyed it. It was uh it was an interesting find that I just had no idea what I was getting into, and like that is that's that's a good feeling, yeah. Oh, here I got a I got a uh uh a question. I did get a live album the other day. And I wasn't sure who it was when I saw the name, but I knew it was somebody from somewhere. And uh do you recognize the name? Uh I don't know if it's pronounced Jan or John Ackerman. Oh yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, I just say Jan Ackerman. He was in uh focus. Yep, he was in focus. Yeah, I think I have three of his solo albums, and all of them are good. That's what I figured. I thought, okay, it's a live one, so I got a soft spot in my heart for live albums, so that's good. Yeah. Uh Jan Ackerman, he uh was really influenced by Eric Clapton, but he couldn't afford a Les Paul. So he would buy I think he bought um uh a Les Paul that had no pickups, but then he rewired it to put like Gretsch pickups in because he couldn't afford like he did like some interesting like experimentation just to try to make the instrument sound more like him, uh, but he couldn't afford the price at point of uh Gibson Les Paul or something to that effect. Um I remember reading up a little bit about that, but yeah, Jan Ackerman, he was in uh focus and he's a really great guitar player. Yeah, I haven't listened to it yet, so that'll be soon. And yeah, that's that's about all I got. I mean I could go on, but we we always can, and that's that's what uh that's what this is all about. It's like just to keep going. Yeah. Uh I was gifted uh a new receiver for my for my turntable. Oh yeah, I saw that. Yeah. Have you has you tried it out? Uh yeah, it it works. So, you know how I've been trying to kind of pinpoint what you know, because my issue has been base response. Yeah, my base response. So I got this new receiver thinking maybe the old receiver. Um, same exact thing. Um, just very, just not a lot of bass. This receiver happened to have a Bluetooth connection. So I hooked my phone up to it and I played some Bukowski and it sounded amazing. So I think it's the turntable. Sure. I'll have to I'm gonna the the I'm gonna have to keep my eyes off for a new turntable. Yeah. Um, do you clean the records and clean your needle? Um, I mean, I make sure I take the dust off the needle, but um that that's a uh it could do something like that. Oh yeah. Um like those I don't know if you've seen them, but like a needle cleaning brush. Yeah, Eric showed me his. It doesn't even look like a brush. Yeah, it doesn't. It's like super hard, but it's like tight, small bristles packed in, so I gotta do it every like every second or third record, I try to do it. Yeah. And sometimes I'll it's like, hey, this doesn't sound right or whatever. And I thought, wait, I haven't cleaned the needle for a while. So I go give it a clean and it's like bang, it sounds great. Really? Yeah. Yep. Interesting. I would try that first before you stick money into something else. Yeah. And maybe it could be just a bad needle, too. I mean that's possible. You gotta almost take a micro uh magnifying glass. Um because if I recall, like that's the turntable I gave you. And like I was using that down here, and it was fine. Like it's if you look at the needle close, you'll be able to see if it's worn down or not. And and that's true. If it's worn down, it's not gonna sound right. Yeah, yeah. They have a lifespan. And needle changes are not hard. They're like it's uh I've noticed too, like I I it's not just the bass, it's it's like the whole volume too. It's like there's that even sounds more like the needle. Yeah, it's like there's yeah, there's like no volume response. Like you gotta keep it like you basically have to have like the stereo pretty much like a full blast. Yes, I have to crank it just to hear it some. At like a relatively low volume. Um yeah, so that could be the needle. Um I would say more more to discover, but now you have two different things to compare it with. Yeah, yeah. But it the fact that you're having the same problem with that, but you played it with a different um a different uh sound source, whether it's a cup your Bluetooth and it sounded amazing all of a sudden. Yeah, it's like that's uh big because honestly, like my first reaction was I think these speakers might be blown because there's no punch coming out of them, but the chances of both speakers being blown. So uh hooking my phone up to it, um just yeah, the speakers speaker sounded amazing. Sure. It uh it ruled it out. Yep. Yeah. And plus if you get a new needle, even if yours is still good, you got a backup needle when you need it. Okay. Are those needles easy to swap out? I think send me a picture of the one that you uh maybe just see like which one looks familiar. Okay. A lot of times there's like four little uh four little wires that you just gotta like plug in and then like the two little screws at the top, that's it. Okay. Um mine just snaps on and snaps off. Oh, really? It's it's real easy, yeah. Okay. Yours is uh that's on that project turntable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I swear by those. Eric, did you ever find like the weight um little measurement tool that detects how I believe I I believe I did. I think it is upstairs. Okay. So I was very wrong. I thought I threw it in your bag. You were about to that day, but I remember like you took it back. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I thought I threw it in there. I think it's up on the ledge there where I keep all my record cleaning stuff. So just uh blended right in with everything else. Yeah, yeah. So um, but yeah, so I got that receiver for free. And so now it's like I've now got two nice receivers, and I'm really excited. Nice, yeah. Yeah, this receiver, uh the owner of my company bought it back in like 2018, and he used it for a um like a some class party, class reunion or something that so it's just been collecting dust. And he he's a really cool guy, and he knows that I'm into records and I've been talking about it. And and he was asking me the other day, and I kind of mentioned, like, yeah, I think I might have something wrong with my receiver, it's not putting out any base, and he kind of looks up and he's kind of thinking about it. He goes, I have a receiver I can give you. And so one day I showed up at the office and curious, here you go. Cool, that's good. Yeah. Yep, that's the and that's the the fun part of like not just records, but like slowly getting like better gear and like finding and the joy of actually listening to music and then really taking the time to be like, okay, what's the thing here? And troubleshooting. Like it's it can be a pain at times, but it's also like the result and the answer is just as fun because then you get to listen to music more. Yeah. Well, I can't I I'm I feel like I'm so close to having like a like a a setup that's that that will be exciting to show off to people. Like sit down, like listen to a record. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of times like people, you know, just talking to people, you know, they know I have lots of records and listen to records all the time. And a lot of times I get the question either what's your favorite band or what's your favorite record? And the only way I can honestly answer that is whichever one I'm listening to. Because there's no way to pick out, you know. Because there's bands to Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna use that line next time. Next time someone asks me who my favorite band is. That's usually the first question I get from people that oh, this guy's into records. Well, what's your favorite one? Yeah. I'm honestly one of those. I'm kind of annoyed of that question now, now that I think about it. Because I've been asked that a lot in my life, and I realize I've never been able to answer it. I always have to think about it. Yeah. Whenever I whenever I'm asked that, it's like, I don't have a favorite band, but I could tell you what bands I've been heavily influenced by. And I was like, in what time frame are you asking? Are you asking like that? Right, it's not an easy question to answer. Yeah. And it's like, and are you asking me as a listener or as a musician? Because that's two completely different genetics. And uh I I would say the same thing. It's like, oh yeah, my new favorite band is a band that I just listened to for the first time last week. Yeah, if somebody asked me now, I'd say I'd say uh Medicine Head and um Y and T for the last two weeks. That's what I would say. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Uh I will pose this question. Uh I will ask it to both of you. Eric, what is your favorite record label? I I don't I don't really have one in there. It's a kind of the same question. I I kind of do. What's your favorite record label, Jerry? Uh it it's like uh Polydor. Okay. Whenever I see a German or UK Polydor, it can be some crazy name of something that I've never heard of before. But if it's on a uh import Polydor, I just get it. Cool. Actually, just with Yuri, you say that, I was like, I kind of maybe answered that. I mean, Electra. I mean, that's one I if I see anything on Electra and I've never heard it, oh yeah. I mean, I would act the same way with that, you know. If I was if I was pinned down to answer the question, I'd say Polydor, but major labels are all good. Yeah. And I think it's like, and I'm just slow, I'm I mean, I'm slowly like we're doing this for Record Club for 10 years and we're still making discoveries all the time. But um uh just really learning like the vastness of like what bands were released on what labels, it's like it's like saying like what country has your favorite music? It's like, well, what that's such a big question. And it's uh and same with labels, where labels are like, well, what what um country did they release? What bands were what year, what decade are you talking about? Yeah. Yeah. I would say if I had to answer, I would probably say Electra, because it's like the one that where I started making connections between like the doors and like clear light and really just seeing the um the connections between the bands that have discussed throughout the years or discovered throughout the years. Yeah, it's interesting. Very good, very good. All right, well, I think this concludes our episode of Record Club today, gentlemen. Alrighty, okay. Well, very good. I feel a sense of relief. Always. It's a good it's a good feeling. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, looking forward to next week. Um me too. Alrighty. Well, you guys have a good day. Yes, yes. Sounds good. Okay. Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, yeah.