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
‘The Great Lost Kinks Album’: Revisiting an Overlooked 1973 Delight
Although compiled to satisfy a contractual obligation, the collection of stray tracks is “a corner of the room worth spending some time in.”
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The Allman Brothers Band’s ‘Brothers and Sisters’: A New Family
With both Duane Allman and Berry Oakley now deceased, the ABB had to decide how to move forward. The answer: their biggest album yet.
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‘Who’s Next’: Plan B Yields a Career Blockbuster
Born from the ashes of an abandoned project Pete Townshend called ‘Lifehouse,’ the band’s 1971 masterwork triumphed through songcraft and performance.
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Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Hasten Down The Wind’: Right Songs, Right Singer
The 1976 release became Ronstadt’s third platinum album in a row, and earned her the second of her eventual 13 Grammy awards.
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Vanilla Fudge’s 1967 Debut: Maximum Psychedelia
It was rock music pushed to its limits, with a radical use of soft-loud-soft dynamics and the emotional drama of rhythm and blues and soul
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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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Maria Muldaur’s Solo Debut: Smart, Sassy and Seductive
The album, which included the top 10 hit “Midnight at the Oasis,” is a potent blend of country, blues, folk and pop, and it still sounds fresh
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‘The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions’: When Clapton, the Stones, Winwood & Starr Helped Out a Blues Hero
When Eric Clapton was asked in 1970 if he’d like to record with a blues legend, it took him seconds to say yes. And so it began.
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John Mellencamp’s ‘Scarecrow’: The Turning Point
The album marked a turning point, and served as an overture for how he would bring his music into the world from that point forward.
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Pat Benatar’s ‘Crimes of Passion’: Her Best Shot
She has remained the thing she set out to be, an artist who made her own seat at the table and turned it into a remarkable rock music legacy.
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