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
Queen’s A Night at the Opera: A Fancy Blockbuster
Their fourth album was “a showy spectacle that revels in its bombastic production” and gave us “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s also an indisputable classic.
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Dr. John’s ‘Gumbo’: A New Orleans Master’s Thesis
For the sessions, instead of his own new material, he breathed authentic life into lively new versions of hometown classics.
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Genesis’ ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’: Peter Gabriel’s Theatrical Exit
For their 1974 prog opus, Gabriel and the band came up with a complicated and somewhat opaque ‘urban odyssey’ tale set in New York City.
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Traffic’s ‘The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys’: Rock on the Fusion Frontier
What had begun as post-‘Sgt. Pepper’ psychedelia turned toward a darker, more idiosyncratic synthesis of jazz, blues, world music and English folk elements.
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Van Morrison Grooves With the Street Choir
Morrison’s third official solo album in 1970 is largely about the spirit of soul/R&B, the feel and his singing. It features his biggest U.S. hit, “Domino.”
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U2’s ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ Deluxe Edition: Review
Two decades after its release, it still sounds great. There’s more terrific music in this one box than in many artists’ entire catalogs.
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The Sex Pistols’ Era-Defining ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’
They only released one album but it sparked a musical revolution. We look back at a punk-rock game-changer four decades after its release
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Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ Breakthrough
After her first four albums, followers of country-rock knew there was something special about her. On her fifth, they found out what it was.
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The Moody Blues’ Masterpiece, ‘Days of Future Passed’
It was a new concept: a rock band would play its new songs, read some poems and be backed up by an orchestra. Today it’s considered a landmark recording.
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Beach Boys Party! – Fun Time and Lots (and Lots) of Covers
Capitol Records wanted a new LP for the ’65 holiday shopping season. Brian was busy with Pet Sounds. So they recorded plenty of their contemporaries’ songs
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