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[Metallus Maximus]

Metallus Maximus � Maximus Archivus � Classic Album Of The Day Archive (Moderator: Hellboy)
Classic Album of the Day 10/24/08: Y&T - Mean Streak

[mak28]

A buddy of mine has this album.  I should pop it in next time I'm at his place.  Ages ago I owned Contagious and Ten but those were nothing special and more akin to Bon Jovi than they were classic albums.  I know these older albums are quite different and would be more fitting of my taste but I never got around to checking them out.

[MetalShock]

Yep, good album-- finally converted to cd at ProgPower, and picked up Black Tiger (hadn't owned/heard that one before, other than the songs from Open Fire).

Black Tiger is their 2nd best album and really only other essential album to own by the band.

I would have to disagree with both comments.  I think Black Tiger is actually better and I also think that all their material from 1976-1984 is essential, starting off with the first 2 "yesterday and today" albums [before the name change to Y&T].  I very much agree with Mean Streak and Black Tiger as clearly their best work.  Love the sound of the bass guitar on both of those LP's.

As for the other material, the s/t, although not metal has some cool tunes such as Fast Ladies (Very Slow Gin) and 25 hours a day.  78's Struck Down has the title cut, I'm Lost, 81's Earthshaker has some kick ass tunes such as Rescue Me, Hurricane, etc.  Skip the 2 best best albums, and enter 1984 when they released In Rock We Trust.  Masters and Slaves, Lipstick and Leather and I also like the tune Break Out Tonight.  After these albums they went somewhat downhill.

Now then, Mean Streak is excellent!  I actually like every song on this album.  Because I'm an old fart and loved this band back in the day, have fond memories of them, saw them at Hammerjacks in 1985 [with the one and only Mama's Boys from Ireland] I would give this album a rating of 9 out of 10.  As for Black Tiger, the same thing applies, I like every song on this album as well, but there are one or 2 tracks on Mean Streak I like less than any track on Black Tiger.  This album gets a 10 out of 10 from the MetalShock Man.

If you like classic rock/metal pick it up.  If it's not your style of music or you are too young to appreciate your older brothers metal then don't waste your money or your time downloading.

[Hellboy]

Metalshock knows his stuff... 

Just listened to both albums yesterday and it does bring back some good memories.

[ALF]

Good album. I liked everything they did up to In Rock We Trust even though rampant commercialism was creeping in on the last one.
It went downhill with Down For The Count. I remember being highly disappointed when this first came out. Krokus issued the Blitz that same year and it was discouraging that two of  the bands I liked were compromising their sound for commercial success.

[zekeyou]

Finally upgraded from chrome cassette to cd on In Rock We Trust and pulled the trigger on Earthshaker-- never owned that one before...

I've got to say-- Dave has a great voice-- I was watching some of the live stuff on Youtube-- and that guy is easily one of the best well-rounded hard-rock/metal frontmen-- powerful, melodic voice with definite balls and a touch of grit-- and a very, very solid guitarist.

'Tis a shame they never hit it big, and the closest they got was when they went crappy with the more hair-type stuff.

Metal Shock has been correct all along.  (Not that I doubted him, but...)