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
Todd Rundgren ‘A Wizard, A True Star’: Brilliant & Baffling
Was Todd’s against-the-grain psychedelic album a masterpiece or a slab of unintelligible self-indulgence? We look back at a ’70s classic
Read More
Van Morrison and ‘Moondance’: A Brand New Day
Always singing as if his life depends on a good take, the 1970 album is a lesson in musical brilliance, flexibility and hard work.
Read More
Rickie Lee Jones’ Debut: Hipster Chic, Beyond Laurel Canyon
She reached beyond folk, rock and blues influences then dominant among Los Angeles’ singer-songwriters, looking to earlier generations of songsmiths.
Read More
Genesis’ ‘A Trick of the Tail’: A New Beginning
The album proved that Genesis was set to achieve commercial and artistic successes beyond what they’d accomplished during the Peter Gabriel years.
Read More
Alice Cooper #1 Breakthrough: Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper was still a band, not just one guy, and this was the album that started their transition from novelty act to classic rock legends.
Read More
John Prine ‘The Missing Years’: With the Heartbreakers
The album, with its great lineup won him the first of his four Grammys.
Read More
Yes’ ‘The Yes Album’: Brilliance Under Pressure
Their record label was looking for commercial progress in order to justify keeping them under contract. This 1971 classic put the band on the prog map
Read More
Doobie Brothers—’What Were Once Vices…’: The End of an Era
The LP took the Doobies to heights previously unreached, even as no one could know how close the band was to the end of its first era.
Read More
Boz Scaggs’ ‘Silk Degrees’: Game-Changer
Looking back at the recording of the album, Scaggs said that while listening to the playbacks in 1975 he had the sense that something special had happened.
Read More
Mark Knopfler—’Local Hero’ Soundtrack: A Musical Homecoming
Knopfler delivered a score that was integral to the film’s enduring appeal, launching a successful second career as a film composer.
Read More