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
John Prine ‘The Missing Years’: With the Heartbreakers
The album, with its great lineup won him the first of his four Grammys.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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