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 Jimmie Vaughan Story’ Reviewed: A Big Box of Blues

The 5-CD box features music spanning five decades, including collaborations with Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons and, of course, brother Stevie Ray Vaughan

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Bob Dylan Goes to Broadway in ‘Girl From the North Country’: Review

The cast album delivers a thoroughly magical hour of music, one that will leave you in awe of the performers and the show’s creators.

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Ellen Foley Returns with ‘Fighting Words’: Review

On her fifth solo album, the singer proves that she can still come out fighting, at least when her material is up to the task.

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Beach Boys’ ‘Feel Flows’ Box Set: Review

The box proves that the band’s genius didn’t end in the mid-’60s. All six members of the group contributed fine material during this unheralded period.

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George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass Uber Deluxe’ Box Set: Review

The new edition, which adds nearly 50 previously unreleased tracks, offers numerous reminders that the album deserves its sterling reputation.

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The Rolling Stones’ ‘Live on Copacabana Beach’: Review

The Stones are in fine form at the Brazilian show as they tackle classic material, none of which should need any introduction to anyone.

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Laura Nyro ‘Live in Japan’: Previously Unreleased Concert Set Reviewed

The set embraces some of Nyro’s best-known compositions, including “Wedding Bell Blues,” “And When I Die” and “Save the Country,” plus terrific covers.

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Crowded House Returns With ‘Dreamers Are Waiting’: Review

With several personnel changes, they sound somewhat different, but the album recalls Neil Finn’s lush, richly textured, understated solo work.

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‘Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show’: A Versatile, Career-Spanning Farewell

No musician alive or dead has ever been more versatile than Zappa, and this concert set, featuring everything from classical to Zeppelin, proves it.

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Lulu’s ‘Gold’ Reviewed: More Than ‘To Sir With Love’

Her material is mostly excellent and certainly diverse. The compilation does her justice, although it skimps on the visuals and annotation.

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