Day 0835 - 1977

Ash "1977" (1996)

Not the first band to name an album or a song for the year they were born, and certainly not the last.   1977 also being the year Star Wars was released, the album opens with the sound of a TIE-fighter and ends with the clear Star Wars reference of track "Darkside Lightside" (the band also recorded a cover of "the Cantina Song" from Star Wars as a b-side for single "Girl From Mars").

The band were still teenagers when they entered the studio to work on the album, stating that they became nocturnal creatures, being introduced fairly rapidly to drugs by their producer.   

Despite all of this, and having put aside some freakout noise tracks they'd worked on in their murky studio state, the album is a gorgeous slice of pop-rock, with catchy singles like "Girl From Mars" and "Goldfinger" showing the young band's already mature songsmithing.  The opening and closing tracks show the band displaying some blistering pop-punk with emphasis on the punk.

Day 0655 - Pump

Aerosmith "Pump" (1989)

Aerosmith feel like they combine the riffs of Zeppelin and the backing/harmony vocals of the Beatles, but with a little slease and 80s production shine.   Going further on the Zeppelin thing, Aerosmith are such a quintessentially American band that it's almost like one of those things where someone puts English text through an online translator then translates it back into English.  You get Zeppelin taking American blues and doing their own thing with it, then Aerosmith bringing it back to America but funnelling it through their own unique filter.

The album is reflective of the band's late 80s/early 90s output with some stomping hook-filled rockers and some power ballads that could power half of Massachusetts.  Some interludes break things up interestingly ticking along and the odd, confronting "Janie's got a gun" keeps the listener from getting too complacent.

Aerosmith's creative and commercial slump was well and truly over.  For this album they decided to eschew outside help and assembled at a secluded studio to work on songs, coming up with 19 tracks that they divided into the 'A' and 'B' material.