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
‘Disraeli Gears’: When Cream Rose to the Top
On their second album, the trio honed their virtuosic interplay to a sharper edge and added a more modern sensibility spiked with psychedelia.
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‘Ringo’: His 1973 Solo Breakthrough, With a Little Help From You Know Who
Although he’d had a couple of solo hits post-Beatles, the albums just weren’t happening. Then he reached into his phone book and made a few calls.
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‘Wildflowers’: Tom Petty’s Heartbroken Solo Masterpiece
Petty called it his favorite album. Its generous song list only hinted at the virtual torrent of material he was creating during this period.
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‘Forever Changes’: A Brilliant Landmark From Love
The deeper complexity and nuance that had lurked under the surface came to the forefront in the L.A. band’s classic 1967 third album.
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Stevie Wonder’s ‘Talking Book’: Passion, Pain & Love
Said the Motown great of the groundbreaking 1972 album, “I wanted to express various things that I felt…the passions, emotion and love.”
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Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson’s ‘Pancho & Lefty’: Masters at Work
Austin met Bakersfield on this meeting of consummate country stars in the early ’80s, produced with Chips Moman, designed to look backward and forward at the same time.
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Neil Young’s ‘Comes a Time’: Direct From The Heart
He became mostly restrained and melancholy for this 1978 release, drawing on folk and country idioms. It includes recordings made over several years.
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Kansas’ ‘Leftoverture’: A Prog/Arena Rock Magnum Opus
Their fourth album made Kansas one of the top U.S. mainstream rock bands and helped pave the way for the style now known as “arena rock.”
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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn the Torpedoes’: Full Speed Ahead
The LP was the band’s long-awaited breakthrough, with them now matching the caliber of their front man’s writing with their focused musicianship
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Pure Prairie League: ‘Bustin’ Out’—Persistence Pays Off
Left for dead by their record label, and with musicians using the group as a revolving door, the band nearly packed it in. Then they got lucky.
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