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 and ‘Moondance’: A Brand New Day
Always singing as if his life depends on a good take, the 1970 album is a lesson in musical brilliance, flexibility and hard work.
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Rickie Lee Jones’ Debut: Hipster Chic, Beyond Laurel Canyon
She reached beyond folk, rock and blues influences then dominant among Los Angeles’ singer-songwriters, looking to earlier generations of songsmiths.
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Genesis’ ‘A Trick of the Tail’: A New Beginning
The album proved that Genesis was set to achieve commercial and artistic successes beyond what they’d accomplished during the Peter Gabriel years.
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Alice Cooper #1 Breakthrough: Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper was still a band, not just one guy, and this was the album that started their transition from novelty act to classic rock legends.
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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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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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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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