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
Neil Young’s ‘Comes a Time’: Direct From The Heart
He became mostly restrained and melancholy for this 1978 release, drawing on folk and country idioms. It includes recordings made over several years.
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Kansas’ ‘Leftoverture’: A Prog/Arena Rock Magnum Opus
Their fourth album made Kansas one of the top U.S. mainstream rock bands and helped pave the way for the style now known as “arena rock.”
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Billy Joel: ‘The Stranger’—The Breakthrough
The album could be considered a greatest hits, given the fact that several of the songs are still considered essential Joel standards.
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‘Smiley Smile’: The Beach Boys Album That Wasn’t Supposed to Be
Their followup to ‘Pet Sounds’ was a quick replacement for an abandoned masterpiece-to-be. Some fans didn’t love it, but in time its reputation has grown.
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Cheap Trick ‘In Color’: The LP That Put Them on the Map
Cheap Trick broke musical and lyrical boundaries, even defying the look of a rock band with a couple of rock stars and a couple of nerds.
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Mott the Hoople ‘All the Young Dudes’ Generated Some Hoopla
The album, with its Bowie-written title track, emphasized the band’s bravado, and helped lay the foundation for the ’70s glam movement.
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R.E.M.’s ‘Document’: Not the End of the World, But the End of an Era
The Georgia band’s fifth studio album was the mark of a group spreading its wings, but also leaving something behind.
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Aerosmith ‘Permanent Vacation’: A Rejuvenation
They’d lost their way as the ’80s lumbered along. Then, the Boston rockers remembered just who Aerosmith was. We take a look back at their classic comeback
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Warren Zevon’s Recovery Through ‘Sentimental Hygiene’
The 1987 album signaled more than a bid for a career reset. Now sober and focused, and with help from R.E.M., he was clearly back on track.
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The Kinks’ Masterful ‘Everybody’s in Show-Biz’
The Kinks returned to America in 1972 after a ban to become the arena rock band they deserved to be.
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