Yesterday's Children

You have to wonder if the members of Yesterday’s Children had any idea that their sole album would influence a population of bands playing heavy psychedelic rock nearly 40 years after its 1969 release. “Paranoia” opens this eponymous debut LP with a balance of garage rock and proto-metal; there’s a palpable tension between guitarist Denis Croce and his brother, singer Richard Croce. But it’s the bluesy biker rock of the outstanding second song, “Sad Born Loser,” which has resonated with 21st-century bands like The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Raconteurs, and Dead Weather. There’s a continuous tug-of-war throughout Yesterday’s Children—songs like the overtly trippy “What of I” and the nearly eight-minute “Sailing” fully embrace late-'60s stylistic trappings: lysergic leads, congruent vocal harmonies, and wah-wah guitars. But then songs like “Providence Bummer” contain a harder attack in musicianship and a darker type of songwriting that urges listeners to break from the era’s flower power and join the ranks of metal-leaning bands like Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer.