Thoughts of Yesterday: 1981–1982

The original T.S.O.L. lineup of singer Jack Grisham, guitarist Ron Emory, bassist Mike Roche, and drummer Todd Barnes released their debut EP, T.S.O.L., in 1981 through Posh Boy Records.[1][2] According to Grisham, the band had already written most of the songs that would end up on their first full-length album, but were distrustful of Posh Boy owner Robbie Fields and chose to put out an EP through the label instead: "We knew Posh Boy was gonna burn us, but we wanted to put out a record. So it was like 'Let's give him these [songs], and we'll save the good stuff for later.'"[3] Shortly after the EP's release the band moved to Frontier Records for their first studio album, 1981's Dance with Me.[1][2] This caused a dispute with Fields, who claimed the band had not honored their contractual commitment to record a second EP for his label.[2] "That chameleon [Grisham] had me drink the sweetest wine of fraternal love," said Fields, "and with my next breath I tasted the bitter bile of betrayal as he unleashed the running dogs of hatred upon me."[4] The dispute culminated in Grisham punching Fields in the nose in 1982 outside a roller rink in Fullerton, California.[4][5][6][7]

Several years later, Fields and the four original members of T.S.O.L. (Grisham and Barnes had left the band in 1983) worked out a settlement in which the band received back payments of royalties from the label, and Fields purchased the master recordings and publishing rights to T.S.O.L.'s 1982 EP Weathered Statues, originally released through Alternative Tentacles.[2] Fields considered this "perhaps [my] greatest business coup" because a decline in popularity of 7-inch records during the mid-1980s allowed him to acquire "what [the band's] manager thought was essentially worthless material, that from the 7-inch EP. It had never occurred to the manager that I, too, knew that [7-inches] were no longer viable. Within a few weeks we had re-packaged all of the old and new T.S.O.L. masters, including 'Peace Thru' Power' from Posh Hits Vol. 1, and combined them in the new long play record, 1987's Thoughts of Yesterday."[2]

The compilation was originally released as an LP. When it was reissued on compact disc the following year, the tracks from another Posh Boy release, Pariah's 1983 album Youths of Age, were added to it as bonus tracks.[2] It was reissued again in 1992 by Rhino Records with the Pariah tracks replaced by Tender Fury, the eponymously titled 1988 debut album of Grisham and Barnes' post-T.S.O.L. band, which was also originally released by Posh Boy.[2] In the liner notes of the Rhino release, Fields described encountering Grisham at a party in March 1987, their first meeting since Grisham had punched him in 1982: "This time, he shook my hand vigorously and told me how pleased he was to see me again. I spent most of my time at the party explaining the liner notes for Thoughts of Yesterday, which Jack hadn't read yet. As it turned out Jack did take those comments of mine as a tribute of sorts. I even offered to let Jack write his side of the story for this compact disc."[4] In 1997 Nitro Records purchased the master tapes of the two EPs from Posh Boy, remastered them, and re-released them as the compilation T.S.O.L. / Weathered Statues.[2][8]

Greg Prato of Allmusic gave the 1992 Rhino Records release of the compilation a 4½ star rating out of 5, remarking "It was in Tender Fury that the band played loose and bluesy rock & roll, and singer Jack Grisham sounds like the big brother of The Cult's Ian Astbury. But it's the T.S.O.L. punk material that they're best known for."[9] He singled out "Thoughts of Yesterday" as "One of their best songs ... a surprisingly low-key and melodic number, which sticks out like a sore thumb amidst all the other furious thrashers."[9]

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