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
‘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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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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Traveling Wilburys’ Debut: Just Your Basic Dylan-Petty-Harrison-Orbison-Lynne Supergroup
Their unexpected union was a landmark combining an array of distinctive voices into something no individual could create alone.
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Pure Prairie League’s ‘Bustin’ Out’: Persistence Pays Off
Left for dead by their record label, and with musicians using the group as a revolving door, Pure Prairie League nearly packed it in. Then they got lucky.
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