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.
Gordon Lightfoot Goes ‘Solo’ on 1st New Studio Set Since ’04: Review
The new release, the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter’s first since 2004, occasionally sounds like a collection of demos.
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Sam Cooke’s Early Years Collected in 5-CD Set: Review
Cooke’s years at Keen found him taking his first steps away from gospel, including the session that would yield his first smash hit, “You Send Me.”
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Paul Young Live CD/DVD: Exhilarating and Exuberant
His light shone much brighter in Europe than in the U.S., but most of the performances on this set hold up well, and Young’s vocals remain exhilarating.
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NRBQ’s ‘Turn On, Tune In’ Review: Virtually Unclassifiable
Although it’s not their most diverse set, you can tell they are having a lot of fun with this music. You probably would, too.
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Woodstock ’69 Complete on 38 CDs: Review
The box is well worth considering: It gives you just about everything from the festival except the mud, the rain and the traffic jams.
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Procol Harum’s ‘Broken Barricades’ Reissue: Review
The new three-CD edition adds extensive liner notes and 36 bonus tracks (most of them previously unreleased) to a remastered version of the 1971 album.
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Rolling Stones ‘Bridges to Bremen’ Review
In this 1998 show, Mick Jagger is at the top of his stage-prancing form throughout, and the rest of the band delivers the goods as well.
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Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Western Stars’: Review
Every number on this disc is ear candy, thanks partly to indelible melodies and to the moody, perfectly attuned instrumentation.
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Dylan’s ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ Box Set: Review
Evidence of Bob Dylan’s genius is all over the place on these 14 discs. If his music means a lot to you, so will this box.
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Ritchie Valens: More Than Just ‘La Bamba’
It’s not hyperbole to say that “there can be few artists in the history of popular music who died so young but left such a significant legacy and legend.”
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