Yank Crime

Yank Crime
Studio album by Drive Like Jehu
Released	1994 re-released 2003
Recorded	1994
Genre	Post-hardcore, math rock
Length	original: ~53:20 re-release: ~1:09:58
Label	Interscope Swami Records
Producer	Drive Like Jehu
Drive Like Jehu chronology
Drive Like Jehu (1991) Yank Crime (1994)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Pitchfork	9.0/10[2]

Yank Crime is the second and final album by the San Diego, California post-hardcore band Drive Like Jehu, released in 1994 by Interscope Records. It was the band's major-label debut and its artwork was created by singer/guitarist Rick Froberg. The band toured in support of the album but then quietly disbanded the following year as the members moved off to pursue other interests.

In later years, as guitarist John Reis found international recognition with his band Rocket from the Crypt, a gradually growing audience began to pinpoint Drive Like Jehu's music as a catalyst for the eclectic San Diego music scene and the emerging national emocore scene of the 1990s. In 2003 Reis re-released Yank Crime on his Swami Records label, including on it the songs from the band's "Hand Over Fist" / "Bullet Train to Vegas" single and the original version of "Sinews" that had appeared on the compilation Head Start to Purgatory.

Reception

Ned Raggett of Allmusic gave Yank Crime 4½ stars out of 5, calling it "as worthy and awesome as its predecessor, losing not a jot in the change from independent to major label status."^[3] Brendan Reid of Pitchfork Media rated the 2003 reissue of the album 9.0 out of 10, remarking that "Opening an album with a song as bracingly great as 'Here Come the Rome Plows' would be a shot in the foot for almost any other band, with its snakepit verses and a chorus that goes from balled-up fists to open arms and back again before you can take a breath. 'Golden Brown' does the same in almost half the time. These more straightforward songs sting like snowballs packed with rock-hard chunks of melody, and in each case, Froberg's voice abrades the solid lines down to the bare minimum, and the band fills in the resulting space with pure venom."^[2]

CD track listing

All songs written by Drive Like Jehu

1. "Here Come the Rome Plows" - 5:44
2. "Do You Compute" - 7:12
3. "Golden Brown" - 3:14
4. "Luau" - 9:27
5. "Super Unison" - 7:24
6. "New Intro" - 3:32
7. "New Math" - 4:06
8. "Human Interest" - 3:24
9. "Sinews" - 9:12
10. "Hand Over Fist"* - 4:24
11. "Bullet Train to Vegas"* - 2:40
12. "Sinews" (original version)* - 9:32

*Tracks 10-12 appear on the 2003 re-release only.

• The titles of tracks 10 and 11 are incorrectly reversed on the album sleeve.

Vinyl track listing

The album comes with one 12-inch disc and one 7-inch disc. The back of the album cover implies the 7-inch disc is to follow the 12-inch disc.

Side A:

1. "Here Come The Rome Plows"
2. "Do You Compute"
3. "Luau"

Side B:

1. "Super Unison"
2. "Golden Brown"
3. "Sinews"

Side C:

1. "Human Interest"
2. "New Intro"

Side D:

1. "New Math"

Performers

• Rick Froberg - guitar, lead vocals
• John Reis - guitar, backing vocals
• Mike Kennedy - bass
• Mark Trombino - drums
• Rob Crow - backing vocals on "Luau"

Album information

• Record label: Original CD release: Interscope Records; vinyl release: Head Hunter Records; CD re-release: Swami Records
• Recorded 1994 at Westbeach Recorders and Big Fish Studios
• Engineered by Donnell Cameron and Mark Trombino with assistance by Joe Peccerillo and Paul Waroff.
• Additional assistance Joe Kucera
• Mixed by Mark Trombino
• All songs and music by Drive Like Jehu, published by Sterno (BMI)
• Artwork by Rick Froberg.

References