Yesterday Rules [Enhanced]

Mr. T Experience | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 13, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Lookout Records
• ASIN: B00013MX06
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,682 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

I have worked closely with Dr. Frank and the MTX (stands for The Mr. T Experience) for the past six years. But years before that, as a fan in the early 1990s, I saw the band play live, along with their peers Green Day, at the now-defunct X Ray Caf=E9 in Portland, Oregon. Over time, the two bands--friends, touring partners, pop-punk creators, Lookout/Gilman/East Bay cornerstones, went their separate ways. Green Day set new standards for alt-rock songwriting, while Dr. Frank went in a quirkier direction. With a playful, personal vocal style, and a band name that reflected the silly, ironic time in which it was chosen (the mid-'80s), MTX has labored for almost 20 years making brilliant, strange, artful records treasured by a loyal cult of fans. An heir of Robyn Hitchcock and the Swell Maps, as much as the Ramones and Beach Boys, MTX is a uniquely pioneering band.     Frank Portman grew up in Mill Valley and San Francisco in the 1960s and '70s. His great-grandparents, old San Franciscans, ran a house of ill repute at one point, while his father's life work was the restoration of the state's Spanish Missions. In fact, Mission Dolores, one of San Francisco's greatest landmarks (made famous to millions via Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo), bears the senior Frank Portman's name and face on a plaque commemorating this work. The son of a learned man who subsequently left the seminary for true love, =46rank inherited his father's intellect and romanticism. A chess prodigy, he discovered his love of music at an early age. By age 10, he was collecting records on the Chiswick Records label (including bands such as Motorhead, and the 101ers, Joe Strummer's first group), as well as collecting records from bands like The Undertones and Television Personalities. At age 13, Frank got his father to drive him into San Francisco so he could attend punk shows like the final Sex Pistols concert with the Avengers at the Winterland.     Growing up Catholic under Vatican II in the Bay Area, Frank's leftist social/political/religious upbringing was in keeping with the Berkeley of the 1980s that he found while attending the University of California. Throwing over tradition for progressivism has, in large part, been the self-righteous mission of the baby-boomer generation, and Frank has sardonically reflected on this in his music. Because of the often oppressive, pseudo-revolutionary environment in the Bay Area, the burgeoning East Bay pop-punk scene of the late-1980s was largely apolitical. It celebrated a radical return to '60s-influenced, romantic pop songwriting and the travails of the nerdy, wimpy, queer-friendly narrator (in opposition to the hoary, anti-Reagan/Bush chants and  testosterone-fueled frat antics of late-'80s hardcore bands).     Outside of his songwriting, though, Frank was a founder of Berkeley's pioneering all-ages club Gilman Street, and also contributed to ultra-political Maximum RocknRoll fanzine. After writing his Cal thesis on "The History of The Concept of The Soul" (also a tongue-in-cheek MTX song title), Frank was accepted into Harvard's Ph.D. history program, but he deferred to focus on his songwriting. After their start in1985, the Mr. T Experience has since released12 albums, as well as one Dr. Frank solo record. From the birth of pop-punk forward, MTX has created a deep catalog of unexpected, literate, irreverent, optimistic songs. In the early to mid-'90s, the band released several classic albums, including the sublime Love is Dead, a title derived from Frank's beloved P.G. Wodehouse story, "Very Good, Jeeves." In the later '90s, Frank took the band in a new direction-- records like ALCATRAZ were characterized by more experimental pop rock.     For the past three years, Frank has been building a home studio and demo-ing hundreds of songs. With the new album, YESTERDAY RULES, he's been able to tinker with compositions for months before laying down final arrangements, and this is by far his most fully realized work. It's as if he's moved full circle through 1960s and '70s pop, into punk, then all the way through punk and back into timeless pop. He's even started to filter his political thoughts into songs like "Institutionalized Misogyny," and the web-released "Democracy, Whisky, Sexy." YESTERDAY RULES is the culmination of a life in punk.  - Tristin Laughter, Swell PR/Lookout Records

Product Description

MTX ( also known by the long-form The Mr. T Experience) has been a pop-punk powerhouse since their 1986 self-released debut album, "Everyone's Entitled To Their Own Opinion." For their tenth(!) studio album the band, led by eminently witty and talented Doctor =46rank, have once again teamed up with producer Kevin Army (Operation Ivy, Sweet Baby) because if it isn't broke, don't fix it. The resulting album, "Yesterday Rules" is a whip-smart 13 song pop-punk affair. This is the band's first new full-length since 1999's "Alcatraz" and marks the debut of new members Bobby on bass and Ted on second guitar and keyboards. Fans of MTX and fans of great melodic punk rock will love "Yesterday Rules." This album contains a crafted mix of fast pop-punk songs, melodic mid-tempo rock-pop, a ballad or two and a few surprises. Some songs are too much fun, some are slightly dark, but they are all great!     Lookout Records has sold over two hundred thousand MTX records and this album will once again confirm that Doctor Frank and Co. are masters of their craft. "Yesterday Rules" is the first MTX album to include special enhanced materials. The bonus features are available to fans when they put the CD in the CD-ROM drive of their PC or Mac. These materials include a special website with behind-the-scenes text, photos and video footage from the making of "Yesterday Rules," links to other exclusive MTX content on the web, tour dates, special offers on MTX merchandise and more - all only accessible to those who buy the CD!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Punk-rock Pet Sounds, January 23, 2004

By 

Matt Welch (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yesterday Rules (Audio CD)

This is my early favorite for 2004 album of the year. Delivers the hook-heavenly pop-punk MTX is famous for, blended with intricate Byrdsy and Kinksy arrangements & Beach Boys backing vocals, all to tell emotional and articulate and true stories about love and, um, crucifiction. "Big, Brave Beautiful Hammer" will tear your happy heart out, "London" will remind you of being defiantly heartbroken in a faraway land, "F*cked Up on Life" will shout across the hills that great rock music is still being made in 2004.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MTX at their best!, January 21, 2004

By 

mike (pittsburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yesterday Rules (Audio CD)

You cannot really go wrong in the hands of the Good Doctor. The Mr T Experience, MTX for short are back, pumping out what could be their most inspiring work. This smile inducing, head bobbing treasure rocks out from the first chord, and continues to hold you in throughout. Dr Franks Elvis Costello-ish delivery is quite brilliant, not to mention the fact that that delivery always comes with sharp, witty and unmatched lyrics. If you have never been a fan of, or never even heard of MTX, this album is a great time to become a little more aware of waht could possibly be the best band on earth!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dumb little band, October 3, 2004

By 

Rockn'roller - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yesterday Rules (Audio CD)

MTX continues to impress. Another top-notch collection of songs from Dr. Frank. Not exactly "pop punk" at this point, but Frank's songwriting skills seem to transcend musical genres. More of the hooks and clever lyrics you've come to expect from this band. Slightly more rocking than "Alcatraz," but still basically a pop album. Not as consistent as their best efforts, but still very good. And "London" is one of Frank's best songs ever.