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
Van Morrison: His Finest Live Album
The enhanced original ‘It’s Too Late to Stop Now’ and the added three discs and DVD are a treasure trove of live in-concert gems.
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Jefferson Airplane ‘Surrealistic Pillow’: The LP That Fed Your Head
The Summer of Love landmark sounds like a sonic experiment, drenched in echo and reverb, with poetic lyrics that often flirt with the totally irrational.
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Warren Zevon ‘Excitable Boy’ LP: Werewolves and Lawyers, Oh My
With songs like “Werewolves of London,” “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and the title track, it was not only his greatest work but a singer-songwriter classic
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Steppenwolf, The Debut Album: Heavy Metal Thunder
If it had given us nothing more than “Born to Be Wild,” it would still be a classic. But there was a lot more to the mostly Canadian band’s first LP.
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Jackson Browne: The 1st Album, An L.A. Troubadour’s Debut
Several of his songs, written when he was still in his teens, had already been recorded by others by the time Browne entered the studio to cut his debut.
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Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’: An Epic, Massive Swan Song
By the time ‘Bridge’ swept the 1971 Grammy Awards, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had effectively parted ways professionally.
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‘Dixie Chicken’: Little Feat, Secret Southern Sauce
The group drew on Lowell George’s versatile command of blues, country, folk and R&B for its third—and many feel finest—studio album.
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Pretenders Debut Album: Chrissie Hynde Takes No Prisoners
Released at the edge of the ’70s punk and new wave assaults, ‘Pretenders’ traded on Chrissie Hynde’s substantial punk bona fides—but there was more to it.
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The Dusty Springfield Pop-Soul Pinnacle: ‘Dusty in Memphis’
Nearing 30, the British vocal great was intimidated by the soul power at Atlantic Records, her new home. She overcame it and turned out a masterpiece.
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Joni Mitchell ‘Court and Spark’: A Significant Pivot
Her 1974 best-seller was adorned by a sophisticated sonic sensibility that would define her career from that moment forward.
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