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
Daryl Hall & John Oates: ‘Abandoned Luncheonette’—2nd Chances
The soul-influenced duo was still finding their way when they recorded their second album. Superstardom would soon find them.
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George Harrison ‘Cloud Nine’: Back at the Top
With friends Jeff Lynne and Eric Clapton aboard, and songs like “When We Was Fab” and “Got My Mind Set on You,” the 1987 album was a huge hit.
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The Van Morrison Masterpiece: ‘Astral Weeks’
A “feverish poetic intensity persists” throughout the cycle of songs that comprise his 1968 work, even as those songs shift in pace and tone.
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Randy Newman ‘Sail Away’: The Big One
The 1972 album proved a breakthrough for his career both in terms of quality and box-office appeal as singers of many genres competed to record its tunes.
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When Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen Were ‘Lost in the Ozone’
There was much more to this genre-defying band than “Hot Rod Lincoln.” Here is the back story of a truly versatile and unique group.
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Traffic ‘The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys’: Rock on the Fusion Frontier
What had begun as post-‘Sgt. Pepper’ psychedelia turned toward a darker, more idiosyncratic synthesis of jazz, blues, world music and English folk elements.
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‘Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful’ & The Evolution of Their Good-Time Music
For their third studio album, the band knew that it wanted no two songs to sound alike. The result: no two songs sounded alike.
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Queen ‘A Night at the Opera’: A Fancy Blockbuster
Their fourth album was “a showy spectacle that revels in its bombastic production” and gave us “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s also an indisputable classic.
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Don Henley ‘Building The Perfect Beast’: Don’t Look Back
The 1984 album, recorded with ace musicians, yielded four hit singles, making the Eagles’ drummer/singer even more ubiquitous on the AM and FM radio dials.
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The Moody Blues’ ‘Seventh Sojourn’: A Journey All Its Own
Whereas their earlier albums were bathed in day-glo tones, imagery, Mellotrons and mystique, their eighth release was decidedly down-to-earth in comparison.
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