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.
Bob Weir’s ‘Ace’ Revisited: ‘It Sounds Like a Dead Album Because It Is One’
The original 1972 LP featured most of the Grateful Dead members, and the new bonus live version recaptures the energy of that classic.
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Frank Zappa’s ‘Waka/Wazoo’ Box: The Jazz-Rock Side of the Master
Along with ‘Hot Rats,’ the recordings in this box underscore Zappa’s strengths as a jazz-rock fusion composer, arranger and bandleader.
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A Hot Concert Highlights the Beach Boys’ ‘Sail on Sailor—1972’ Box
Six years removed from their last big hit, the group was unsure how to move forward. A new collection focuses on what they came up with.
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Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1970 Royal Albert Hall Show Finally Surfaces: Review
Though the group would begin to splinter less than a year after the Royal Albert Hall show, you’d never know it from that performance.
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Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Alternate Collection’: Fascinating Variations on 6 Best-Selling Albums
Some of the recordings (especially many of the concert tracks) are as good as—or arguably even better than—the familiar ones.
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Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Only the Strong Survive’: A Soulful Side Trip
The new album—more a heartfelt tribute to the music Springsteen grew up with than an attempt to reinvent it—is a home run.
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience Heats Up the L.A. Forum: Review
Throughout the well-recorded album, which draws from their first three albums, the guitar pyrotechnics range from excellent to astonishing.
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Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Use Your Illusion’ (Super Deluxe): A Big Statement Gets Bigger
In his best moments, Axl Rose sings up a storm and is a compelling stage presence. And the rest of the band is on fire.
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Billy Joel ‘Live at Yankee Stadium’ Hits Some Homers
Performing in the city of his birth to more than 50,000 admirers, Joel exudes a sense of triumph and validation—and understandably so.
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The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ Box Set: Was It Their Most Ambitious Adventure?
The music sounds noticeably brighter and sharper than before, and the vocals and instruments can be distinguished more clearly.
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