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 Fogerty’s ‘Blue Ridge Rangers’: One-Man Band
With CCR having called it a day, he entered the studio alone and put together an album’s worth of tributes to his country, gospel and bluegrass heroes.
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‘Electric Mud’: When Muddy Waters Went Psychedelic
While the album would find itself the object of critical scorn, it served its purpose: introducing a new generation to blues.
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Bill Withers, ‘Live at Carnegie Hall’: Soul Preachin’
He’d never even planned for a career in music. Before long, he found himself on stage at one of the most prestigious performance venues in the world.
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Dr. John’s ‘Gumbo’: A New Orleans Master’s Thesis
For the sessions, instead of his own new material, he breathed authentic life into lively new versions of hometown classics.
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The Paul McCartney Solo Debut: His Declaration of Independence
The 1970 album, his first outside of the Beatles, is a picture of Paul in transition, a historical document of quiet beauty.
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Ray Charles’ Soulful Country Music: ‘It’s Got to Move Me’
The 1962 album astonished pop consumers with the quality of the chosen songs, the intensity of Charles’ vocals and the amazing arrangements.
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Jim Croce ‘You Don’t Mess Around With Jim’: An Everyman Arrives
With more time, he might have taken his place as an equal of James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Simon, etc.
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Loggins and Messina ‘On Stage’: The Peak of a Formidable Partnership
The album marked a successful coda in terms of a catalog that’s forever inscribed in the annals of radio-ready music and mainstream Americana.
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The Lifesaving Eric Clapton ‘Rainbow Concert’
It’s widely believed that Pete Townshend’s successful efforts to bring the guitarist out of his self-imposed musical exile marked a turning point.
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Ian Hunter ‘You’re Never Alone w/a Schizophrenic’: Dynamic Duo
Teaming with his favored guitar sidekick Mick Ronson, plus members of the E Street Band, the former Mott the Hoople leader created his best solo effort.
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