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
Yes’ ‘The Yes Album’: Brilliance Under Pressure
Their record label was looking for commercial progress in order to justify keeping them under contract. This 1971 classic put the band on the prog map.
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The Byrds’ ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ LP—A Folk Rock Manifesto
With worthwhile covers, solid originals and no filler, the LP sustained a level of quality that invited favorable comparison with their heroes, the Beatles.
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Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris’ ‘Trio’: Soaring Sisterhood
Their partnership is among the purest, boasting a celestial vocal blend, rooted in mutual admiration and the sheer joy of making music.
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Delaney and Bonnie’s ‘Accept No Substitute’: White Soul Born in Turmoil
A beautiful album, close to perfection in the playing and singing, it was helmed by a married couple whose own relationship was falling apart at the seams.
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Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ ‘Imperial Bedroom’: Multi-Colored Delights
The 1982 album is generally considered one of Costello’s best, with 15 exceptional songs and some of the best work by the Attractions.
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Steely Dan’s Aja: A Digestible, Dazzling Listen
Previously a collective yet to realize its most effective means of transforming ideas into finished art, Becker and Fagen coalesced on this 1977 classic
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The Band’s Pioneering ‘Music From Big Pink’
The album offered quiet songs of experience bathed in a rustic glow, with no hints of the futurism and none of the kilowatt drama then prevalent elsewhere in rock.
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‘Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1’: Just Your Basic Dylan-Petty-Harrison-Orbison-Lynne Supergroup
Their unexpected union was a landmark combining an array of distinctive voices into something no individual could create alone.
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Paul McCartney’s Solo Debut: Declaration of Independence
The 1970 album, his first outside of the Beatles, is a picture of Paul in transition, a historical document of quiet beauty.
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Free’s ‘Fire and Water’: More Than Just All Right
The album featured one of rock’s all-time classics in “All Right Now,” but there was much more to Free’s ferocious-yet-controlled ethic.
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