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

‘Disraeli Gears’: When Cream Rose to the Top

On their second album, the trio honed their virtuosic interplay to a sharper edge and added a more modern sensibility spiked with psychedelia.

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‘Ringo’: His 1973 Solo Breakthrough, With a Little Help From You Know Who

Although he’d had a couple of solo hits post-Beatles, the albums just weren’t happening. Then he reached into his phone book and made a few calls.

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‘Wildflowers’: Tom Petty’s Heartbroken Solo Masterpiece

Petty called it his favorite album. Its generous song list only hinted at the virtual torrent of material he was creating during this period.

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‘Forever Changes’: A Brilliant Landmark From Love

The deeper complexity and nuance that had lurked under the surface came to the forefront in the L.A. band’s classic 1967 third album.

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Stevie Wonder’s ‘Talking Book’: Passion, Pain & Love

Said the Motown great of the groundbreaking 1972 album, “I wanted to express various things that I felt…the passions, emotion and love.”

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‘The Who By Numbers’: Back to Basics

After an eight-year odyssey of releasing concept albums, the original quartet put together a set of unrelated songs that found favor with their fans.

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Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson’s ‘Pancho & Lefty’: Masters at Work

Austin met Bakersfield on this meeting of consummate country stars in the early ’80s, produced with Chips Moman, designed to look backward and forward at the same time.

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Neil Young’s ‘Comes a Time’: Direct From The Heart

Young became mostly restrained and melancholy for this 1978 release, drawing on folk and country idioms. It includes recordings made over several years.

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Kansas’ ‘Leftoverture’: A Prog/Arena Rock Magnum Opus

Their fourth album made Kansas one of the top U.S. mainstream rock bands and helped pave the way for the style now known as “arena rock.”

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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn the Torpedoes’: Full Speed Ahead

The LP was the band’s long-awaited breakthrough, the Heartbreakers now matching the caliber of their front man’s writing with their focused musicianship

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