Y & T
UnEarthed Volume 2
Meanstreak Records 2005
www.yandtrocks.com

Read the Dave Meniketti interview

What’s the 4-1-1?
Y & T offers their fans demos and unreleased recordings from 1974 through 1989.

Genre
Hard rock

The Good
We start off with a few Ronnie Montrose co-penned numbers. “Face to Face” has a wicked guitar riff that’s prominent throughout, while “Showdown” is loaded with hard charging rhythms and strong vocals. For the third Montrose ditty, we have an 80s rock cliché alert: A song that uses a popular idiom for its title, “Ashes to Ashes”. “Love Has No Cure” was written originally for the Contagious album, it has a cool electronic guitar riff that mixes well with Meniketti’s powerful melodic vocals. Dave admits in the liner notes that he pretty much ripped off two sources for the bluesy ballad “Help Me Hear Me”. The lyrics were taken from a poem by an anonymous author that he read in school, while the music was ‘borrowed’ from Deep Purple’s “Gypsy”. Chugga-chugga riffing controls the feel of “New Kid in Town”. It’s the proverbial anthem for the outsider in a new environment. For such a great build up, the chorus is kind of weak musically. The solo is quite impressive though.

“Long Time Coming” is a demo that shares the same verse as “Cold Day in Hell”, which appeared on 1995’s Musically Incorrect. Another track they may sound familiar is Dance Dance Dance. This one had several name changes apparently. It appeared on 1987’s Contagious as L.A. Rocks because its second title “Boys Night Out” was going to be used by Sammy Hagar that same year. Umm…someone had Whitesnake’s “Slow & Easy” cranked up in the background when they wrote “Crazy Make Love”. Meniketti even delivers a Coverdale style. “Hands of Time” is a powerful and emotional acoustic ballad that appeared on an AIDS charity album originally. The acoustic tones are great. Y & T throws in a dark yet heavy, sexually charged rocker about my favorite type of girls, “Bad Bad Girls”.

The Bad
I have to agree with Dave Meniketti when he says in the liner notes that “More” has a lot of quality issues and the chorus is kind of lame.

The Verdict
Another surprising collection of could-have-been hits from the vaults of Y & T

Did You Know?
Y & T got their name from a Beatles album, Yesterday and Today.

Rating: out of 5

Related Reviews:
Y & T - UnEarthed Volume 1

--George Dionne