Mean Streak

Mean Streak is a record on which Y&T powerfully played linear hard rock centered on Dave Meniketti’s singing and guitar. The songs do not chase speed alone, gradually raising the heat through the weight of the riffs and the tenacity of the rhythm. Keeping the hard-nosed style built up to the previous album, it steps into a more aggressive, edgier sound. The racing title track “Mean Streak,” the Japan-set “Midnight in Tokyo,” and songs like “Straight Thru the Heart” and “Hang 'em High” carry the band’s stage-forged cohesion and firm drive. A lyrical song like “Sentimental Fool” also brings out Meniketti’s expressiveness. Prioritizing burning the songs straight over showing off technique, it is an earnest, powerful record that vividly carves Y&T’s hard, hot rock soul.