In late 2006, The Strokes announced they were going to take a break from recording and touring. There had already been three studio albums – Is This It (2001), Room On Fire (2003) and First Impressions Of Earth (2005) – while 2006 itself had seen them play almost 150 live shows between January and October, many of which had been at festivals and arenas. The proposed break was probably in everyone’s best interests.
Somehow, in among all this activity, the band’s rhythm guitarist Albert Hammond Jr found time to go into a studio and record his debut solo album. Yours To Keep was released in the UK by Rough Trade on 9 October 2006. It was a strangely low-key release, with no single issued in advance, and indeed the release date coincided with The Strokes finishing off a tour in the USA, meaning that Albert wasn’t around to do anything in the way of promotion.
The reviews were fine, but not gushing with praise, which I thought were a bit harsh. I had bought the album having heard it being played in a record shop as I browsed, without me actually knowing who it was. I certainly felt it was a more consistent and tuneful effort than the recent output of his band. But if the hope had been that many fans of the Strokes would shell out for Yours To Keep, then it proved to be a bit misguided, as it barely made a dent in the charts, coming in on its week of release at #74 before dropping out of the Top 100 altogether.
A month or so later, Albert brought a band came over to Europe for a short tour to further promote the album, including a Glasgow show at the 300-capacity ABC2. I was there along with Rachel, and to be fair, it proved to be a lot more enjoyable a night that we probably anticipated, probably as much to do with the fact he was genuinely enjoying playing such a small venue.
One of the tracks most mentioned positively in the reviews was given a belated release to coincide with the tour
mp3: Albert Hammond Jr – 101
It failed to really do anything, selling only enough copies to be logged at #76 in its first week.
The b-side was a cover
mp3: Albert Hammond Jr. – Postal Blowfish
The original was written and recorded by Guided By Voices in the 1990s. One of Albert’s favourite bands who were incredibly prolific throughout that decade, but I’m sorry to say I know nothing about them….I’ve one track of theirs in the collection, courtesy of it being included on a compilation CD given away by one of the monthly magazines.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 