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.
Before There Was Crowded House, There Was Split Enz: Box Set Review
A new 5-CD boxed set sorts out some of the New Zealand band’s earliest material.
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An Anthology Collects Instrumental Hits of 1957-62: Review
The 3-CD set delivers “just about all” the ones that made the Top 10 in the U.S. pop and R&B charts and the U.K. chart during rock ’n’ roll’s early years.
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An Anthology Features Singer/Songwriter Bobby Charles: Review
The album’s guest list includes Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Fats Domino and Maria Muldaur.
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s ‘Bold as Love’ Expands on a Classic: Review
He could make a guitar talk, sing, dance or fly off into outer space, and he demonstrated all that in 1967.
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Jonathan Richman, Charmingly Quirky and Reflective on ‘Only Frozen Sky Anyway’: Review
On many of his albums, Richman has projected a sense of childlike innocence. On portions of this CD, however, he eschews that side of his personality.
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Willie Nelson’s ‘Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle’: Review
The program features 11 numbers written (or in two cases, co-written) by Haggard, and embraces some of his best-known songs.
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‘Dylan’s Circle’ Album Collects Seminal Folk, Rock & Blues: Review
‘Jac Holzman Presents Dylan’s Circle’ features folk, rock and blues performances by Bob Dylan and those he influenced.
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Bruce Springsteen’s Expanded ‘Nebraska ’82’: Review
His new performance of the material is stunning, with the septuagenarian singer seeming just as immersed in his material as he was when he composed it more than 40 years ago.
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John Lennon’s Massive ‘Power to the People’ Box Set: Review
Lennon lovers will find interesting material in the new collection, and even casual fans will discover some pleasures here.
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Frank Zappa’s ‘One Size Fits All’ Gets Boxed: Review
Though you might or might not like the quirky, sometimes puerile lyrics that pepper portions of this set, Zappa’s elaborate prog-rock compositions are impressive, as is the band’s musicianship.
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