Posts From Sam Sutherland
Manassas: Stephen Stills’ Finest (Solo) Hour
Stills’ third full-length as leader showcased a collaborative ensemble flexible enough to cover a broad stylistic palette.
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‘Katy Lied’ @ 50—Steely Dan Retreats to the Studio
Stepping off the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium stage on July 5, 1974, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen closed the books on Steely Dan as a live band. An earlier tour had left both exhausted and Fagen’s voice shredded, prompting an
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When Classic Rockers Rocked the Classics
Classical themes have found their way into rock since the earliest days of the music. We look at some of the best, from ELO to ELP and beyond.
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The Byrds’ ‘Younger Than Yesterday’—An Ambitious Studio Flight
Expanding beyond their trademark jingle-jangle folk-rock, the band created their most diverse, experimental recording to date.
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Elvis Costello & The Attractions ‘Trust’: A Dark Masterwork
The album, Costello’s fifth overall, captures the quartet at a potent but troubled peak, its title a loaded, ironic signifier
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Finding a ‘Pearl’–Janis Joplin’s Last Hurrah
It remains her most fully realized record, fronting the best band she would ever lead on her strongest set of material.
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Elvis Costello ‘Armed Forces’: What’s So Funny?
The band’s third album was a leap forward in songcraft and sonic ambition, a song cycle weaving the personal and political.
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The Band ‘Rock of Ages’: Their Live Pinnacle?
It belongs on any short list of the best live albums ever, while serving as a coda to the group’s groundbreaking influence.
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Bob Marley and the Wailers’ ‘Live!’ Album: Reggae Rocks Babylon
The 1975 London concert provided validation that they had breached the rock market with their potent strain of reggae.
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‘Buffalo Springfield Again’: An Embattled Creation
A volatile mix of talent and dysfunction percolates beneath the surface of the California band’s second and best album, cobbled together amidst rivalries
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