Album Rewinds
Given the test of time and the wisdom of hindsight, how do significant albums from the past sound and play today? Our critics take a second look from a fresh perspective
Rolling Stones Ya-Ya’s Still Unrivaled
The late Lester Bangs had “no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.” Decades later, our writer feels that’s still true
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Van Morrison at His Finest Live
The enhanced original ‘It’s Too Late to Stop Now’ and the added three discs and DVD are a treasure trove of live in-concert gems.
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Aerosmith Permanent Vacation: The Rejuvenation
They’d lost their way as the ’80s lumbered along. Then, the Boston rockers remembered just who Aerosmith was. We take a look back at their classic comeback.
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The Byrds’ ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’ @50
Their most consequential stylistic stroke since their pioneering folk-rock debut three years earlier, it ushered in country-rock and Americana.
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‘Let It Bleed’: The Rolling Stones’ Turbulent Masterpiece
The album captures the band at its creative apogee through a dark masterpiece that mirrors the violent ’60s milieu in which it was created.
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Van Halen’s Debut Album @40: A Turning Point for Rock
It didn’t sound at first listen like something to change the course of rock music, but they opened doors for any number of rock acts.
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Big Brother’s ‘Cheap Thrills’: Behind R. Crumb’s LP Cover
It would be the only rock album for which the cartoonist would do the art. It continues to serve as a psychedelic timestamp of one crazy summer.
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The Flying Burrito Bros.’ Seminal Country-Rock Debut
Gram Parsons had envisioned the Burritos as “his” band, but ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’ underscores the partnership between Parsons and Chris Hillman.
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Steely Dan’s ‘Countdown to Ecstasy’ @ 45
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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‘Astral Weeks’: Van Morrison’s Masterpiece @ 50
A “feverish poetic intensity persists” throughout the cycle of songs that comprise Morrison’s 1968 work, even as those songs shift in pace and tone.
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