Yo - I Meant To Tell You
Yo - Sun and Moon
From the Restless/Deadbeat Records LP Once In a Blue Moon, 1986
Gary Lucy reminded me of this oddball LP from my year in the dormitory. Once In a Blue Moon has held up quite well; though the strongest track might be the cover of Cat Steven's "Hard-Headed Woman" (which our legal counsel has advised us against posting), I count at least five others that appeared on mix tapes in my angsty early 20s. Yo were a San Francisco band who had some 7" action which you can sample on Hyped To Death's Homework series, plus at least two long players. Starting with some fine songs written by singer Bruce Rayburn, they added elements of trad folk and a healthy punk roar, as well as a dash of the then de rigueur "new sincerity" sound (see The Wild Seeds, Zeitgeist) to create something that was rather unique, well-crafted, and roundly ignored outside the Bay Area.
posted by Jon Harrison at 7:05 PM
11 Comments:
How funny! I was just about to send in my favorite song from Yo's OTHER album, "Heard It All Before." It's the best song Husker Du never wrote.
YO must be in the air. I was thinking about asking if you had any. This album is a favorite of mine, of the kind where very little info could be found. And the the other day, I did a little web search and someone had posted two earlier LPs they had called "Charm World" and "Good Tidings."
They were more from the East Bay/Oakland, and apparently lived on for awhile as a band called El Sob.
To me, their finest tune, which got a good deal of play on WREK Radio in Atlanta, is the powerful "Broken Mirror."
Yo got played a bit on WMBR back in the day as well. "The Plough" and "Pot O' Gold" from the first LP were my picks.
The successor band El Sob weren't bad. They released a CD three years ago, but apparently are broken up: http://www.normanfamous.com/elsob.htm
Too strange. I, within the last month, got tired of waiting for some of my favorite 80s college-rock LPs to ever get released as CDs, so ripped my vinyl of all 3 Yo albums, Swallow The Bird's eponymous LP (who WERE they, anyway?), D. Webb & The Other Side's only known (by me, anyway)LP, Leaving Trains' "Well Down Blue Highway", the 3.5 LPs by Jet Black Berries, and the pre-CD output of Perfect Disaster, Dancing Hoods, and Full Fathom Five. But I started with the three Yo albums.
Is that the Gary Lucy who used to make my favorite comic strips? I never looked around on the web, but I used to seek him out in whatever weeklies or tabloids I thought would publish his work. If so, say hi, and wish him the best. I loved those goddamn things.
These are some brutal vocals, but this feels like an R.E.M. album from the golden era. I will have to check out the albums
http://anothersunnydayinpop.blogspot.com
Yo stayed at my apartment when the played Chattanooga in 1986.
One of the other tenants called in the band's van as a suspicious vehicle because somebody was sleeping in the back. The police ran a check on the tags and found out that the owner of they van (nobody in the band - they borrowed it) had outstanding warrants.
Yo almost didn't get to leave town.
Several phone calls and one sympathetic police supervisor later, the band was cleared but with a warning not to sleep in a van in downtown Chattanooga. Remember that next time you are in Chattanooga.
Got to see them in the fall of '86 at TT the Bears Place in Cambridge, MA. Midweek show, hardly anyone there, but it was a good show nonetheless.
Great, great band and sorely missed. I burned "The Plough" from Good Tidings from my LP for a mix CD I made just a couple of years ago.
Just got my turntable working again, and Yo albums were the first 3 I pulled to listen to. I also have a two song cassette of the last two songs they ever recorded that are awesome..I love this band..worked at Enigma when Charm World cam out, and Enigma had no idea what to do with them..just awesome..saw themplay at the Music Machine (I think) or maybe Hop Singhs with Cindy Lee Berryhill..still one of my all time faves
Can anyone hook me up with cd's or mp3's of YO ? I love this band , saw them much in SF in the early / mid 80's .. thx !~
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