Recordings
Best Classic Bands offers smart, informed and unbiased assessments of the latest rock album releases and reissues to offer readers guidance on what sounds they might enjoy.
The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Lovable Catalog Gets Boxed: Review
This 170-track, seven-disc set packs in eight remastered albums, most in both stereo and mono, plus a ton of bonus tracks.
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The Monkees Find Greatness with ‘Good Times!’
Nearly 50 years after their debut album, the 1960s pop music and TV stars returned with what may be their best and truest LP yet. It was expanded in 2026.
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A More Affordable Edition of the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds Sessions’: Review
The new ‘Highlights’ release includes a cappella versions of many of the original album’s songs and assorted other oddities.
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Mudcrutch ‘2’ Review: Tom Petty & Friends Making Great Music Together
The American rock band, Southern division, from the ’70s, also included future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.
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The Great Dan Penn (and Why You’ve Probably Never Heard of Him)
‘Smoke Filled Room’ is an 11-track collection of demos selected by the singer-songwriter from his archives.
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Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart’s ‘Bongo Fury’ Expanded: Review
Besides a version of the original LP that was remastered in 2012, the set includes songs that didn’t make the 1975 album.
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‘American Dream’ Recalls When John Mellencamp Was Johnny Cougar: Review
Mellencamp compositions predominate in the anthology, and they suggest where he might be headed. In some of his songs.
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A Revelatory Edition of Buddy Holly & the Crickets’ Classic LP: Review
The “Chirping” Crickets, their debut, turned out to be the only album they would make together.
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Talking Heads’ Earliest Years Explored in ‘Tentative Decisions’: Review
The performances collected here are somewhat less polished and forceful than the ones on their debut and sophomore LPs.
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‘This Can’t Be Today: American Psychedelia & the Paisley Underground’: Review
You don’t have to be hugely successful to be hugely influential. Paisley Underground groups had an impact on numerous performers who emerged later.
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