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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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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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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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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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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