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
Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ ‘Get Happy!!’: Stack of Tracks
The album is packed with “20 original hits by the original artist,” some of the most intense, gut-wrenching, clever and joyfully sad songs he ever wrote
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The Kinks’ ‘Sleepwalker’: The Comeback
The album kept selling to teenagers who barely remembered the Kinks of the previous decade, or thought they were a new band
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Joe Walsh ‘The Smoker You Drink…’ Album: Barnstorming
Cut with his new group Barnstorm, his debut solo album became his commercial breakthrough.
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Little Feat ‘Waiting for Columbus’: The End of the Beginning
How they pulled off one of the best live albums of all time is a heartening story of persistence and a sad, cautionary tale.
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The Van Halen Debut Album: A Turning Point for Rock
It didn’t sound at first listen like something to change the course of rock music, but they opened doors for any number of rock acts.
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Review—James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’: Fire and Rain
It ushered in the singer-songwriter era and has endured as a beacon to listeners and like-minded musicians for half a century.
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Stray Cats’ Debut Album & the Rockabilly Revival
The Long Island trio had to go to England to find success playing American rockabilly. By the time they returned home, they were stars.
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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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