Posts From Sam Sutherland
Graham Parker & the Rumour’s ‘Heat Treatment’: When Pub-Rock Met New Wave
When the Village Voice unveiled its 1976 Pazz & Jop Poll winners, an unknown English musician commanded two of the top five entries from the influential poll’s panel of music critics
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Dire Straits’ ‘Making Movies’: Mark Knopfler’s Widescreen Ambitions
The album restored the band’s platinum stature with a more expansive style verging on prog rock while retaining retro accents
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Paul Simon ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’: A Solo Triumph
His only #1 LP, and an Album of the Year Grammy winner, this 1975 release offered definitive proof that he was not going back to the past.
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‘John Prine’: A Debut for the Ages for a Songwriter’s Songwriter
The album is a quiet masterpiece, a portrait of a young singer-songwriter already fully formed and crafting songs for the ages.
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The ‘Swinging’ Dire Straits Breakthrough Debut Album
“Sultans of Swing” was immediately distinctive in both sound and story. The album proved the band to be one of the most refreshingly creative of its day.
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‘Graceland’—The World Music Reset From Paul Simon
The album that would become Simon’s grandest statement came into view when he was gifted with a tape of South African music.
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‘Who’s Next’: Plan B Yields a Career Blockbuster
Born from the ashes of an abandoned project Pete Townshend called ‘Life House,’ the band’s 1971 masterwork triumphed through songcraft and performance.
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‘Countdown to Ecstasy’: Musical Adventures From Steely Dan
If the songcraft displayed on the first album reflected their Brill Building apprenticeship, the new material proved more open-ended—and more sophisticated
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The Souther Hillman Furay Band’s Debut LP: Less Than the Sum of its Parts
The Souther Hillman Furay Band accomplished its commercial mission and displayed the stylistic DNA of the Byrds, Poco and, yes, the Eagles.
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‘John Barleycorn’: From Winwood Solo Project to Traffic Reunion
The 1970 album morphed into a full-blown Traffic reunion with the addition of Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood to the fold.
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