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
Pete Townshend’s ‘Empty Glass’: The Who Album That Wasn’t
Although it’s fully satisfying on its own, the album, the most successful of Townshend’s solo releases, has been called a Who record that never was.
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Jimi Hendrix @ Fillmore East (Nearly) Complete: Review
The Fillmore shows were the new group’s first live gigs, and they produced the first and only concert LP authorized by Hendrix during his lifetime.
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Badfinger Straight Up: A Power Pop Masterpiece
They began as proteges of the Beatles, then became power pop heroes. The story behind one of the classic Apple Records albums.
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Alice Cooper’s #1 Breakthrough: Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper was still a band, not just one guy, and this was the album that took started their transition from novelty act to classic rock legends.
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‘Slowhand’ Revisited: Eric Clapton’s 1977 Platinum Balancing Act
‘Slowhand’ offers a lucid balance of technical mastery and artistic modesty. It became his best-selling studio album to date upon its release.
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The Band’s 2nd Album: A Rustic Masterpiece
Following up their debut Music From Big Pink, Dylan’s former backup band made a transcendent, self-titled masterpiece in 1969. Here’s the story.
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‘Running on Empty’: Jackson Browne’s Romance of the Road
The 1977 LP was Browne’s most surprising, least typical album, a game-changer that updated his identity from folk-rock troubadour to rock headliner.
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Band on the Run: The LP That Saved McCartney
The recording sessions were plagued with problems, but Paul McCartney and Wings made the best of it. The result: one of his most beloved LPs.
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The Doors’ ‘Soft Parade’ @50: Still Rockin’
The album’s pop leanings notwithstanding, the Doors were still very much a rock and roll band at the time of its release.
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Gene Clark’s ‘No Other’: An Underrated Country-Rock Gem
The album by the former Byrds member, over the years, has attracted enough of a cult following to prompt the recent release of a boxed set.
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