833. Y&T / Mean Streak. 1983. 4/5

It had been a long journey for Y&T through the first ten years of the band’s existence after forming in 1972. The quartet of Dave Meniketti on lead guitar and lead vocals, Joey Alves on rhythm guitar, Phil Kennemore on bass and Leonard Haze on drums had recorded two initial albums as Yesterday & Today, before shortening the band name to Y&T. Having changed record companies, these initial albums were followed by two much more focused albums in the early 1980’s with “Earthshaker” and “Black Tiger”, where the band brought to the studio the sound and attitude they had cultivated on the road. This resulted in the band receiving critical acclaim for their work through Europe, but little commercial success in their native US, despite a plethora of tracks that were worthy of attention. On the tour to promote “Black Tiger” the band supported some of the biggest bands in the world such as Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and Dio, and were playing in bigger stadiums and garnering more attention as a result.
What was needed to continue their ambitious push was a breakthrough on the American commercial radio stations. Fellow long-term American battlers Twisted Sister and Night Ranger were beginning to attract this kind of attention, and for Y&T to reach the next level they felt that they needed to find a way to crack that market. Their problem was how to do it without being accused of selling out, while pushing forward in their hard rock artform rather than folding back into the less raucous sound of their first two albums in the 1970’s. The basis of what they were chasing appeared to be in the songs of “Black Tiger”, but could they push further forward in that direction on their follow up to that album?

The band couldn’t have done too much better in their quest to gain higher approval of the commercial rock gods than with the opening track to the album, the title track "Mean Streak". This is still the star of this show, with its mercurial guitar riff, hard hitting drums and spitting lyrics. This song goes hard from the outset, delivering great vocals, super drums from Haze and Meniketti blazing away on guitar and vocals. It’s a beauty and a great opening to the album itself. In some ways, the opening is so good that the rest of the album has a hard time trying to keep up, but there is still plenty here to enjoy. The following track tries for the same biting lyrics as the album opener. “Straight Through the Heart” doesn’t flow as pleasingly as the opening track but it has a hard pitch to it that works on most levels with another solid solo driving this through the back half of the song. For the most part though, the rest of the album is an either 'take it or leave it' proposition. Some will find that it probably tends to repeat itself most of the way through, with lyrically similar themes cropping up and not a huge amount of variety in the song writing and taking the album just on the surface that could be seen to be a fair enough comment.
However, I can forgive the majority of that for two main reasons. The upbeat style of the songs keeps the album moving without getting too bogged down in complicated timings and technicalities. The musicianship is good, and Meniketti's vocals always smooth over anything that might be remotely out of the ordinary. "Lonely Side of Town" and "Hang 'Em High" are two great examples here. A number of the songs are very middle of the road, almost 'easy listening' kind of material, in the way that some hard rock albums just get into a groove and never seem to leave it. Songs like "Take You to the Limit" and "Sentimental Fool" fall into this section, which doesn't make them unlikeable, it just makes them come across as though they have been written a bit too close together and as a result have some similar facets to their composition. “Midnight in Tokyo” probably falls into this section of the album as well, but given that it acted as one of the songs that began to get the band noticed, there seems to have been a necessity for it to appear here. Then there is “Down and Dirty” which closes out the album in a similar fashion to “Straight Thru the Heart”. These are good songs that build the solid core of the album. And that does bring around the second reason for forgiving any noticeable traces of triviality. And that is that, despite the fact that the band craved a commercial breakthrough, they have not allowed that to infiltrate the quality of the overall tracks and album as a result. What comes here on “Mean Streak” is a solid hard rock album that utilises the best skills that this quartet has, and puts it out there for you to listen to. They have not gone down the glam metal route, they have not bowed to a soft rock ballad in order to gain acceptance. They have stuck to their guns and brought out the kind of album their fans would have wanted, and that is what is the best part of this album.

Back in 1986 when the fabled weekend of the "Music Video Hits" program on Channel 10 on Australian TV was dedicated to heavy metal music videos, one of those that became a favourite for me was the video for Y&T's "Mean Streak". The song and video both caught my attention immediately, and from that point the song became a hit for me. However, it wasn't until a little under two years later, as I rummaged around in one of my favourite haunts, Illawarra Books & Records, that I came across a copy of the album of the same name, and my hand couldn't get to my wallet fast enough to pay for it.
To be honest it was as much a surprise to me that I loved this album as much as I did at that time, when my main focus was the giants and heavier bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth. But it was my first year of university, and my wide-ranging search for new music and new bands was incorporating subtle differences in genres. Y&T, and "Mean Streak” in particular, fitted very nicely into this bracket, the kind of album I could put on and just let flow across whatever mood I was in at the time. It wasn't straight out aggression. It had those wonderful Meniketti vocals layered over the terrific rhythm section of Kennemore and Hazes and the great guitars of Alves and Meniketti himself. This blended their 1970's roots as found on their eponymous debut album with the harder sound specified in the drums and guitar that had been building over each album.
Y&T is one of those bands that, like Night Ranger, could and should have been bigger than they have ever become. Both have albums that should be considered classics, but perhaps just lack those last vital ingredients that could make them timeless. “Mean Streak” is like that for me, an album I still love to this day, and enjoy anytime I put it on, but taking away my biased joy of the album, perhaps it just needed something else in the mix which may have propelled it to a higher plane. Despite that, it is still a great favourite for me. It got a hammering when I first bought it, and was on heavy rotation for at least a two year period, so all of these songs are ingrained in me to a level where I don't really hear anything that I don't like. It's an historic relic for me, and one I love as much for the nostalgia it brings whenever I listen to it now, as to the actual music itself.

724. Yesterday & Today / Yesterday & Today. 1976. 3/5

Coming straight out of the middle of the 1970's is the very 1970's-sounding eponymous debut for Yesterday & Today, or Y & T as they were to become known.
For the most part this is a great sounding record. It is a product of its time, with stylised 70's rock drumbeat and bass line, overlaid by Dave Meniketti's smooth vocals and guitar licks. The blues rock roots are evident in songs like "25 Hours a Day" with the vocal/guitar trade off sequences, to the obvious Kiss influences in "Game Playing Woman", where you can here Gene Simmons in Meniketti's vocals as he sings it, and perhaps even more so on "Come on Over". Those two songs in particular could have been Kiss songs. On the other side of the coin, "My Heart Plays Too" is a dreary ballad of the type that makes me shudder. Sleep inducing boredom and a bit too kitsch for my liking.
This is redeemed by the excellent "Earthshaker", perhaps the first real indication of the star quality this band has. Whenever I listen to "Alcohol", I feel like I'm watching a re-run of The Dukes of Hazzard. It is just dripping of that standard style of song from the 70's. That's okay, after all it is when it was written and recorded, but there is absolutely no doubt what era this album comes from. Better is to come with "Beautiful Dreamer", a jaunty track dominated by one of those long 70's guitar solos in the second half of the song, a beauty from Meniketti to end the album.

While it may not be to everyone's taste, it is still an interesting comparison point, to hear what the band sounded like at the start of their career, compared to their high point of early 80's hard rock/metal sound, to the glam rock they converted to in the late 90's. It isn't an album I dive for very often, but there is still enough here for me to appreciate the start of what has become a long and (somewhat) stellar career.

Rating: I'm a cold, cold heartbreaker 3/5

723. Y & T / Yesterday & Today Live. 1991. 3.5/5

There was a time in the early to mid-1980's where Y & T looked as though they were going to be one of the biggest bands running around. With albums such as Earthshaker and Black Tiger and Mean Streak as their basis, the band had built up a big following on the back of some great hard rock and heavy songs, retaining their melodic background. Decisions and directions from that point on seemed to eat away at both the following and the quality of their work, somewhat disappointingly from a fans point of view.

At the end of that era, this album was released, recorded at the end of a tour that was presented as their last, but as with all rock bands it proceeded not to be. However, a vast array of their best songs can be found here, showcased with the energy and drive that the band was best known for. As you listen down the song list, it is hard to believe that they were unable to write more songs of this vintage. The opening of "Meanstreak" into "Hurricane" and "Don't Stop Runnin'" is still just awesome, three great songs from the band's greatest era. Other pearls such as "Black Tiger", "Midnight in Tokyo" and "Squeeze" complement these terrific jewels. It may not be a veritable best-of collection, but it is an excellent portrayal of the band's live sound and stage presence.
If you have not experienced Y & T, this isn't a bad place to start, before going back and checking out the three albums listed above.

Rating: "Better open your eyes, boy...  3.5/5

543. Y&T / In Rock We Trust. 1984. 2.5/5

By the time 1984 had rolled around, Y&T had been around the music scene for over a decade, making a consistent presence on the hard rock scene through the 1970’s in the US, though somewhat hampered by the lack of push from their record company over their first two albums. The signing with A&M Records gave the band the creative push they required, and their solid albums such as “Earthshaker”, “Black Tiger” and “Mean Streak” had seen their stock on the rise. “Mean Streak” in particular, on the back of the video for the title track, had been a deal breaker. You can listen to the episode dedicated to that album in Season 5 of this podcast. Up until this point, on the back of touring with bands such as AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Dio, Iron Maiden, Marillion, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Twisted Sister, and ZZ Top, Y&T’s popularity was on the rise throughout Europe and the UK, far more so in their native US. “Mean Streak” at least had seen their profile finally rise in their home country, despite what they felt was a less than spectacular effort by their record company to promote the album or the band. Indeed, given the style of music the band played it is hard to believe that their record company refused to give them the push they surely deserved in the United States at this time.
Less than a year later, and the band had already headed back into the studio to write and record the follow up, no doubt hoping to strike while the iron was hot. And in the age where bands consistently rolled out an album every 12-18 months, because in those days selling albums was still a reasonable way of earning money, you can see why it happened. In the case of this album, as we discuss its pros and cons beyond the next break, it is worth considering that perhaps sometimes it would be a better option to take the time to really come up with great follow up tracks to make a superior album, rather than having another album out simply for the sake of having new material out there for the fans to lap up.

In many ways, at the time of its release and even looking back on it from this position so far in the future, this album was always at a disadvantage, given that it immediately follows the excellent and well received “Mean Streak”. The solid outing and enjoyment of the singles and music videos that accompanied them, and which received a lot of airplay on MTV and other music video programs around the world, did make it feel as though "In Rock We Trust” was always on a hiding to nothing.
None of that forgives what feels at times like an unimaginative writing process for the album. The opening track “Rock & Roll’s Gonna Save the World” should have been a barnstormer. Yes, it is a simple-based riff and catchy lyric singalong song, but get some real drive and energy and passion into the song, and it would have lifted it and the album immensely. Perhaps they needed to leave the "Rock & Roll's Gonna Save The World"-type songs to KISS, because they could always find a way to make these kinds of songs work. Instead, it is a slightly bland opening.
Unfortunately, it sets up the whole tone for the album, from which it never really recovers. Formulaic rock should really be beneath a band with so much talent in its ranks, and who at various times of their journey have produced some fantastic songs. Instead, at different times during parts of the album I feel like I'm listening to Hall & Oates ("Break Out Tonight"), KISS (the afore-mentioned "Rock & Roll's Gonna Save The World") and even Huey Lewis & The News ("(Your Love Is) Drivin' Me Crazy"). Good bands who write great songs, but these should be Y&T songs and have a trademark sound of their band rather than other bands of a similar ilk. And I will point out that these aren’t bad songs as such, but just... uninspired, compared to what they have produced in the past. It does sound like they have got the song generator out and gone with a join-the-dots write a song textbook. “Life, Life, Life” plods along like the opener, just begging to be injected with some real power to become a song closer to what this band can perform. “Masters and Slaves” ups the tempo enough to make it a more enjoyable song, or at least one you can bob your head along to. Meniketti’s guitar solo in the middle of the song does provide the highlight. “I’ll Keep on Believin’ (Do You Know)” then switches to the other side of the Yesterday & Today story, the romantic story telling with the sweeter vocal line and inoffensive soft rock melodies that try to reach the hearts of that part of their fan base. The mix of styles throughout is no doubt enjoyable for some.
Some face is saved by the time you reach Side 2 of the album. "Lipstick and Leather" has the attitude that does provide the best Y&T songs with solid vocals and a sharp drum beat and bass line to keep the song progressing. This is followed by the much better Y&T feel of "Don't Stop Runnin'". Great riff, terrific rhythm throughout, Meniketti soaring on lead vocals and great support from the rest of the band on backing vocals, a better tempo and overall just a far better track.
“She’s a Liar” is just about the best song on the album, because it finally sounds like a true Y&T song with energy in the music and the vocals in a similar way to “Don’t Stop Runnin”. The album closes out with “This Time”, a rock ballad that not only traverses the depths of this style of song, but once again concludes the album in a less than satisfying way. It isn’t particularly surprising given the nature of the way the album has progressed from opening to close, but it still could have been saved slightly with a great hard rock track to take the album out. But, for those of you who are frequent listeners to this podcast, you’ve heard all of this before.

&T is a band that I decided to investigate after one music video, the aforementioned “Mean Streak” from the band’s previous album to this. That video had appeared on a two-night heavy metal special of the Channel 10 Australia show Music Video, which was hosted by Basia Bonkowski on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the 1980’s. My friends and I stayed up both nights and taped as much as we could onto VHS tapes that we then wore out watching. The video for that song put me on a path to chase down the band and their albums, a task that came to pass that included picking up this album second hand at Illawarra Books and Records.
It is interesting that this album became the band’s highest charting album in the US, which to me was more through the general build of the three very good albums before it. It feels as though that peaked here with “In Rock We Trust”, and that people bought the album because of the albums that preceded it. Because to me, this album does not rate above those.
The positives here is that Dave Meniketti’s vocals are terrific on this album. I have always enjoyed his voice and the way he sings his songs, and that is no different here. And the core group all sound good as well. But the songs... well, they just don’t cut it overall. To me this isn’t a bad album as such, it’s just an average album. And more than that, in places it is just dull. This album, and the band overall, is trapped in an era where hard rock had transitioned to becoming glam metal for the attention and grandiose spectacle that was necessary to gain an audience, and where the new wave of heavy metal was moving at full throttle towards thrash metal, and this doesn’t touch either of those elements. Are there good songs? Yeeeeeessss. Are there more unremarkable songs? Yes. It’s interesting that they skewed more towards the glam rock side with their 1987 album “Contagious”, which perhaps was the right step but a little too late.
When I do reach for a Y&T album to listen to, I can’t say that it is this one very often. Or perhaps at all. That falls to the previous albums or the aforementioned “Contagious”. And having listened to this again over the last two weeks, nothing much has changed in my opinion of it. This was in the middle of the classic era of this band, one that I still enjoy, but I still always have that nagging feeling that they were far more than they ever really showed. This album is endemic of my feelings in every regard.

277. Y&T / Endangered Species. 1998. 3/5

Trying to regain what they had in their heyday in the 80's, Y&T dish up more of the same without really finding anything new, but without spitting on their own reputation in the process.

Like most of the Y&T catalogue, Endangered Species sticks to the hard rock roots of their earliest releases. On a few songs, such as “Can't Stop The Rain”, “Gimme The Beat” and “Hello! Hello! I'm Back Again” they equal what they produced in those times. These are the stand-outs. The rest is pretty much run-of-the-mill stuff for the lads.

Rating: Much like the other albums in their collection. 3/5.

258. Y&T / Earthshaker. 1981. 3/5

More of the same from one of the bands in the 1980's who knew how to do it well.

This is one of their earliest releases, and while it is a good solid album, it resembles so many of this band's albums in that it has some good songs on it, but overall it can't quite climb out of the 'good' album rating to the 'great' album category.

I've said it all before about these guys, and it all remains the same. Great songs, like Hurricane, Squeeze, Young And Tough and Knock You Out just can't pull this album out of the normal, average and everyday. And there is nothing wrong with that. This is still a good album and a joy to put on and listen to. But when you compare it to other albums throughout history, it can't be considered above them.

Rating : Good and solid. 3/5.

246. Y&T / Down For The Count. 1985. 3.5/5.

More of what you know from the Y&T stable.
This is another great rockin' album. Every song keeps the tempo up and moving. Dave Meniketti's vocals are one of the most recognisable in the heavy metal industry, a great signature for a band to have.

OK, it's a Y&T album, and as with most of their albums in the 1980's it is very similar to its predecessors. Most of the time this can be a hinderance for a band, as it eventually became for these guys. Still, what I like about Y&T is that when you put on one of their albums, you generally know what to expect. Meniketti really is one of my favourites of all time, mainly for his vocals, but also his guitaring and song-writing.

What is with the cover of Your Mama Don't Dance though? I find it OK, but just unexpected.

Favourites on this disc for me include Face Like An Angel, In The Name Of Rock, Looks Like Trouble and Don't Tell Me What To Wear.

Rating : Y&T still rockin' in the '80's. :) 3.5/5.

185. Y&T / Contagious. 1987. 3/5.

We all know the way music had progressed by the time the mid-1980's had arrived. Those bands that had formed in the mid-1970's were in a similar quandry as those bands formed in the mid-1980's found themselves in during the grunge era through the early 1990’s - it was either stick with what you know and try to survive, or morph your own sound to comply with the trend, and in the process often find you lose most of your fan base. Y&T, as a band of the 1970, had found their groove through the early 1980’s, with their hard rock sound formed around drummer Leonard Haze, bass guitarist Phil Kennemore, guitarist Joey Alves and guitarist/vocalist Dave Meniketti finding its way into the scene. “Black Tiger”, “Mean Streak” and “In Rock We Trust” had brought in a bigger following, and supporting big name artists o the time had brought in even more fans.
The previous album “Down for the Count” had contained their highest charting single “Summertime Girls”, but overall the album hadn’t quite lived up to what it promised. In the lead up to recording their new album, the band changed record companies, and also fired long serving drummer Haze for drug abuse issues. In his place came Jimmy DeGrasso, on his way to increasing his own reputation as a drummer.
Whereas all of the band’s previous albums had been wholly written by the band members, “Contagious” has some songs that involve some outside writers. It was around this time where this would occur in the hope of adding some commerciality to an album to help sales. This resulted in two outside players in Taylor Rhodes and Robert Johnson, both who had success later with artists such as Aerosmith and believe it or not Celine Dion, to help contribute to the writing. The result was an album that retained the basis of the band’s sound from recent successful album, while also giving it a touch of style of other recent successful bands, no doubt in the hope that it would translate to commercial success.

Without trying to attempt to suggest this album sounds completely like work done by other artists, in trying to review this for you I really believe you can separate the songs into two categories. There’s what I would call the “Van Hagar” category, and there is what I would call the “Coverdale” category. And again, it is worth pointing out that Y&T has existed long before either of those two artists came into the world, so I am not suggesting at all that they are trying to copy a formula, merely that the songs here have slight similarities to other work that allows you to see where music was in 1987, and why this album has a comfortable feel about it.
Here are the best examples. “L.A Rocks” will remind everyone who knows of late 80’s Van Halen. It is very much in the style of the Van Hagar era of that band, in song structure, vocals and guitar squeals. Though to be fair Meniketti and Alves, having come from the same era of the 1970’s, has always had those similarities to that band and their members, so it is perhaps a little less unusual that this song falls from this tree. “Rhythm or Not” too has a bit of that mid 80’s era Van Halen about it, I love the hard riff and drums combination in this song. “The Kid Goes Crazy” intones David Lee Roth era Van Halen, with Meniketti’s vocals vibing with that era energy, and the song similar in structure to both early Van Halen or early DLR solo.
On the other plane, “Fight for Your Life” has similarities through the beginning of the song to Def Leppard, while “Eyes of a Stranger” and “Bodily Harm” are very much like early Whitesnake, but in a harder vein rather than the blues based feel those early albums had. The vocal lines and melody are similar and they have that smooth velvet sound all the way through.
But it is the excellence of this combination that shines through in all of the songs. Even when you come to “Temptation” which slows things down into the soft rock ballad territory, replete with flowery backing vocals, balladesque guitar solo and lyrics that floats in that direction. Pleasingly though, it isn’t one of the worst of these examples. The drums and guitars keep the song from being a wishy washy effort, and it remains as much rock as you can expect from a band doing a ballad in 1987. The keys are kept to the bare minimum and it is still the main instruments that harvest the major portion of the song. “Armed and Dangerous” is another steady, unobtrusive hard rock song that has the right beat and rhythm that naturally leads to foot tapping and head bobbing from the listener.
The closing track, interestingly is an instrumental, which showcases Meniketti’s excellence on the guitar again. Listening to it actually brings a Gary Moore vibe about it, it is written and played very much in that style of Gary’s own instrumental pieces from his hard rock days in the 1980’s. It’s a great piece, and a surprisingly terrific way to close out the album.
The other song on the album is the opener, “Contagious”. This is for me arguably the bands best song, and they had some beauties before this album, believe me. Yes, this is very 1987 this song, it is tied to the era and it reeks of everything that some people try to disassociate themselves with. But it has the right moves, great drums, singalong vocals, and a great riff. It is where Y&T were able to merge the past and the present in perfect harmony.

I bought this album at a second hand record store in 1988, just a year after it was released, and it was basically vinyl in mint condition, so someone hadn’t thought much of it. I still remember putting it on for that first time, and hearing the starting chant of ‘hey, hey, hey’, the kind of thing you feel yourself fist pumping to. And there are definite similarities to bands such as Van Halen, as well as Def Leppard and Whitesnake in the songs. And maybe that’s why I enjoyed it when I first bought it, because those bands were ones I still enjoyed from that era. Eventually it was lost in amongst the heavier and grittier music that was being released at the time and that I was enveloped in. But each time over the years when I pulled this album out, it never ceased to be enjoyable for me. I still love this album, probably more now than I did when I first bought it. Part of that is the memories of that era for me, some melancholy I guess, but it’s also because I still love that 80’s hard rock material, and this album was obviously geared towards this sound, and maybe because of that it holds up just fine.
It was, however, the last of its line. One further album came before the band broke up, before reforming for two more albums in the late 1990’s, a really strange time for such a band to try and reignite the flame. A further break then saw the excellent “Facemelter” in 2010, but with only Meniketti remaining of the original foursome.


Now this won’t be to everyone’s taste, that is certain. But if you have enjoyed any Y&T material over the years, and you still enjoy the style of hair metal that was played at the end of the 80’s decade, I still think you will find plenty here to enjoy.

135. Y&T / Black Tiger. 1982. 3.5/5.

Ah, the boys from Y&T. This is one of their early and defining albums, and though they seem to still be searching for what they want to be, it is still an interesting effort.

This is a solid outing, with the general mix of what Y&T always offered – rock songs and rock-ballads. Though I am not a fan of the ballad (as I am sure I must have mentioned here somewhere before), at least with Y&T you knew it would not just be a change of their musical character. They were still guitar and drum oriented, and the tempo was still such that you can tap your foot along to them, unlike other bands who write them purely for radio airplay. Winds Of Change here is a prime example. It is a ballad, but still has the same defining Y&T character that all of their songs do.

Open Fire, My Way Or The Highway, Black Tiger and Winds Of Change are my favourites from the album.

Rating : Y&T, like AC/DC, make very similar albums each release – but they do not lose anything in comparison to each other. So you either like 'em or don't. I do. 3.5/5.

121. Y&T / The Best Of Y&T (1981-1985). 1990. 4/5.

Here is another Best Of that was released when there were more albums to come from the band – but here they got it spot on.
No one could deny that Y&T's glory days were between the years of 1981 and 1985, and this collection captures the best that the band released.
You can choose your own favourites out of those on the album sleeve. I loved the album Mean Streak, and all the songs on it. Mean Streak, Midnight In Tokyo, Hang 'Em High, Hurricane and Black Tiger probably classify as my favourites from this collection.

Good albums were still to come – 1987's Contagious is another of my favourites – but certainly the best they came up with finds itself here in the glory years of the early-to-mid-80's.

Rating : An excellent collection that shows off the best that this band could produce. 4/5.