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.
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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Mark Knopfler’s ‘Studio Albums 2009–2018’: Review
The subject matter and musical approaches are all over the place, but the albums feel cohesive and the performances are first-rate.
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Pink Floyd ‘Animals’ Deluxe Edition: Review
The LP feels almost like a Waters solo project, but owes a debt to Gilmour’s dynamic guitar work, and to Wright and Mason.
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