Customer Reviews

Struck Down

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fantastic hard rock CD. Everyone plays their instruments extremely well. The drumming is great! And Dave in my opinion never got his due as a lead guitarist - there is blazing lead guitar on this, as good as most any in the 70's. If you like 70's (or any) guitar driven hard rock, you cannot go wrong with this - it rocks HARD. And Dave sings great also, he's as good a guitar player/singer as Mark Farner or Frank Marino were. This is a closet classic hard rock offering, I promise.

I've had several Y&T albums in my day. After meeting Dave Meniketti back in 1976 at Leo's Music in Berkely where he was wailing on a flying V, I asked the name of his band and immediately bought the Cd when I returned to Fresno. I have been a fan ever since.
"Dreams of Egypt" is my all time favorite Y& T tuen and I can't wait to get this in the mail. The album wa slost years ago.
"Road" is also cool because it features Cherie Currie from The Runaways on vocals as well.
There is a lot of use of phasing which was a big trick back then. I hjad a Dirty Tricks album where they did the same thign. It does date it a little but this is my favorite Y&T album.

Y&T may not be the flavour of the month! Their earlier stuff reminds of a time when music was more than a beautiful face and a sexy video for the MTV audience... On this album there are really great songs that have been kinda lost in time.

The album starts off with the title track which is representative for the whole record although it's far from the album's highlights. The second tune "Pleasure in my heart" (probably one of their best song ever) begins with a riff that comes close to Van Halen's "Little dreamer", and shows that Y&T have the ability to write melodic tunes without ending up in the "power-rock-anthem-style". Then comes "Road" (kind of Blackfoot-like) with a clear rock 'n' roll approach. The verse is great but when the refrain comes along I think the guys should have been a little less into sound effects. Track number four is "Nasty Sadie", a typical rock song from the seventies that has connections to Kiss as well as to Whitesnake. "Dreams of Egypt" is a song you easily can imagine Ronnie James Dio singing, since it has the vocal structure typical for Dio. Next up is "Tried to show you" (one of the albums best songs) which has both the drive and the melody that is so rare today. "I'm lost" is one of the faster tracks with great vocal arrangement. The album closes with "Stargazer", a song that is slightly different from the rest. Sometimes it makes me think of Bowie's earlier stuff.

If you like rock from the seventies I don't think you'll be disappointed, and these guys can really play and sing. I wouldn't be surprised if you wanna be a drummer after listen to the way Haze handles the drums. Just don't let the album cover fool you - it's not "saturday night fever"!!

This didn't blaze up the charts at the time but it doesn't keep it from being one of their best cd's. It is a must have if you like y and t. Definitely the best songs on here are On the Road, Dreams of Egypt and Nasty Sadie but all of the tracks are worthy on ths cd. It does rival their better cd's earthshaker, black tiger and in rock we trust. Several songs on this cd could have been on the best of cd easily.

Those that have heard the debut release of Yesterday And Today (1976), know well the power and delightfully raw sound that made for such a great album...coupled with the excellent playing, of course. Fans of that first effort were expecting that kind of energy and sound for the follow up, and were for the most part disappointed. So, what happened? We weren't the only ones that were asking that question. The band had just recorded a powerful sounding collection of tracks, with all the intensity of their first album, and were highly surprised and dismayed to hear a final product, absolutely saturated with added-on studio effects and a weak mix.

The band (and probably you, as well) were thinking "whoa...what the #^#$! did you do to the songs" and "Ok, get back in there and re-mix the tracks"...but the unthinkable had happened. The knucklehead engineer had sequestered himself in the booth, and taken it upon himself to "improve" the sound, resulting on what we hear now. He didn't add all those effects onto one mix...but onto the master tracks themselves (a big studio no, no), so there was no way to undo what he had done...it was a colossal and permanent screw up.

Those that were present during the recording phase will attest that the sound was every bit as heavy and urgent (if not more so) as the debut...but only the band (and those lucky enough to have been there) were ever to hear it. I can imagine that this incident did not improve the band's relationship with London records, as the record that should have helped propel the band forward, instead cost them most of their momentum. It's with a certain sadness that I listen to this pale shadow of what once was a powerful work, and I can't help but think of the terrible disappointment the boys were subjected to, after all their hard work. The band views this album as a painful write off. What a shame. :(

Still working in relative obscurity and under their original name, the band later known as Y&T released their second LP in the summer of '78. By this time, a certain fellow California band had also released their debut and while `Van Halen' was a smash from day one, `Struck Down' is one of the cult hard rock records of the late `70's. The album builds on the promise of the 1st record and though shorter, album number 2 makes up for its abbreviated running time with some seriously heavy tunes. The title track is as heavy as anything VH did, period! "Pleasure in My Heart" has a very cool reggae vibe to it and the chorus is dynamite. "Nasty Sadie" along with "Pleasure" is probably my favorite with its killer heavy groove and bluesy hook. "Dreams of Egypt" is probably the epic of the LP though it is considerable shorter than what would constitute epic length; I guess it's the subject matter and the music that make "Egypt" sound like the work of greater bands. Both of Y&T's Yesterday and Today albums are worth searching out even if they like much of the rest of their classics are hard to come by for a reasonable price.

This is another must have for a y& t fan. Another straight forward, good early rock album. Its also not as polished as their newer stuff but packs a punch. I was amazed that they never had a bad album. For sure the best band ever, Rick

Dave Meniketti, and Company unleashed more of their groundbreaking style of early heavy metal with Struck Down. This 2nd album still has the blistering guitar pyrotechnics as does the first album. Unfortunately, after this album Y&T decided to head down the bubblegum rock abyss. There is still the raw energy left on this album. Highly recommended for those who love early guitar heros!

These were early days for Y&T. Although there are a few good songs on this album, most are forgettable. If anything, this album is not as strong as the debut. However, the seeds were being sown for the glorious albums to follow, and these signs are there on this record. Dave Meniketti's voice and guitar playing are in place, as is Leonard Haze's solid drumming. That is why it is such a pleasure to own this CD - to have a chance to hear a great band in development. So - this CD is for hardcore Y&T fans only - but if you are one, this is an essential purchase.