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.
Eric Clapton’s ‘The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions’: Still Superlative, But…
If you ignore the controversy that has landed Clapton in the news during the pandemic, and just listen to the music, it’s clear that he hasn’t lost a thing.
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Bruce Springsteen’s ‘No Nukes’ Concert: The Boss Proves It All Night
If anyone has doubts that this is one of the greatest live bands in the history of rock, ‘The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts’ should decimate them
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Joni Mitchell’s ‘Archives Vol. 2’ Review: Artistic Growth at a Rapid Pace
This 122-track set showcases one of Mitchell’s most creative periods, including early versions of such classics as “Both Sides Now” and “The Circle Game.”
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The Rolling Stones’ ‘Tattoo You’ Expanded Edition: Review
Though not as focused or satisfying as their 1960s-’70s classics, the recording is often cited as the group’s last great album.
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David Crosby’s Contemplative, Guest-Filled Debut LP Reconsidered: Review
‘If I Could Only…’ is a contemplative, folk- and jazz-tinged record, characterized by subtle, melancholy music and understated, layered vocals.
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‘Next Stop is Vietnam’: A Colossal Box Set Collects the Music of a Controversial Era
The box is loaded with memorable music and food for thought about the war. No other collection on the subject comes anywhere near it.
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Chrissie Hynde Covers Dylan on ‘Standing in the Doorway’: Review
It appears we must make room at the top of the Dylan interpreters heap for the Pretenders’ frontwoman, whose covers are sublime.
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Bob Dylan’s ‘Springtime in New York’ Mines His 1980-1985 Archives
It’s amazing to think that these are virtually all recordings Dylan discarded, given that many of them outshine everything in lots of artists’ catalogs.
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‘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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