Yesterday and Today

Yesterday and Today is the debut on which the band that would later call itself Y&T carved local California Bay Area hard rock with straightforward playing. Dave Meniketti’s guitar and voice hold a firm sense of melody within their roughness, and the rhythm section of Joey Alves, Phil Kennemore and Leonard Haze supports the songs powerfully. It is a record full of early impulse, from the time the band was still called Yesterday & Today. The songs, foregrounding blues-based thick riffs and driving choruses, already carry an aggression that leads toward later American metal. At the same time, the band’s own warm groove and Meniketti’s expressive vocals give the rough playing a firm depth. Within the mid-1970s hard-rock scene, they were trying to assert their own heat and identity. Foregrounding the raw body heat and youth of the playing over flashy refinement, it is a starting-point record worth hearing as the firm origin of Y&T’s long career.