Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power
Heavy metal has produced countless albums that claim to be aggressive, but only a handful genuinely redefine what heaviness can sound like. Pantera’s Vulgar…
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Latest Reviews
U2 – Achtung Baby
Very few bands survive becoming the biggest rock group in the world. Even fewer reinvent themselves at the height of their success. After the…
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L.L. Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
By the end of the 1980s, many critics believed LL Cool J’s best days were behind him. After helping define hip-hop’s first wave with…
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Madonna – Like a Prayer
By 1989, Madonna had already conquered pop music. She had become one of the biggest stars in the world through a string of blockbuster…
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Fishbone – Truth and Soul
Some bands defy categorization so completely that trying to assign them to a single genre becomes an impossible task. Fishbone has always been one…
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Michael Jackson – Bad
Following the biggest-selling album in history is an impossible task. After Thriller rewrote the record books and transformed Michael Jackson into the world’s biggest…
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Paul Simon – Graceland
Few albums have reinvented an artist’s career as dramatically as Graceland. By the mid-1980s, Paul Simon was already recognized as one of America’s greatest…
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The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
If The Smiths’ self-titled debut announced the arrival of one of Britain’s most distinctive bands, Meat Is Murder confirmed they were far more than…
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Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
Few albums have ever been so commercially successful while being so widely misunderstood. Released in 1984, Born in the U.S.A. transformed Bruce Springsteen from…
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Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
Some debut albums arrive with polished professionalism and years of major-label refinement. Others explode onto the scene with raw energy, youthful anxiety, and an…
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Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message
Hip-hop changed forever in 1982. Before The Message, rap records were largely built around party anthems, boasts, and dancefloor energy. They celebrated DJs, MCs,…
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Go-Go’s – Beauty and the Beat
When Beauty and the Beat was released in 1981, few expected an all-female band that had emerged from Los Angeles’ punk scene to dominate…
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Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
The late 1970s and early 1980s were overflowing with musical movements. Punk was evolving into post-punk, new wave was finding its commercial footing, and…
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Michael Jackson – Off the Wall
Long before Thriller became the biggest-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson made the record that truly announced his arrival as an adult artist.…
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Blondie – Parallel Lines
Punk rock was never meant to be polished, and disco certainly wasn’t supposed to coexist with it. Yet in 1978, Blondie managed to bridge…
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Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
Rock albums rarely arrive with the confidence to sound like nothing else on the radio. Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, was exactly…
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Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life
Every generation has a handful of albums that transcend the boundaries of genre and become cultural landmarks. Songs in the Key of Life is…
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Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger
Sometimes the boldest artistic statement comes not from doing more, but from doing less. At a time when country music was dominated by the…
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Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard
After years of personal turmoil, addiction, and a lengthy absence from the spotlight, Eric Clapton returned in 1974 with an album that surprised nearly…
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Bob Marley & The Wailers – Catch a Fire
Before Catch a Fire, reggae was largely viewed outside Jamaica as a regional curiosity. Within a year of its release in 1973, that perception…
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Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
Movie soundtracks often exist to support the story on screen, but every once in a while an album becomes larger than the film it…
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Don McLean – American Pie
Some albums become cultural landmarks because of a single unforgettable song. Others endure because the music surrounding that hit proves just as compelling. American…
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Derek and The Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Some albums become legendary because of their commercial success. Others achieve greatness because they capture an artist at an emotional breaking point. Layla and…
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The Stooges – The Stooges
The late 1960s produced some of rock’s most ambitious and elaborate recordings. Bands were filling albums with orchestras, extended solos, philosophical lyrics, and increasingly…
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Sly & The Family Stone – Stand!
By 1969, popular music was becoming increasingly fragmented. Rock, soul, funk, psychedelic music, and rhythm and blues were all evolving in different directions, each…
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Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Psychedelic rock evolved at an astonishing pace during the late 1960s, with bands constantly searching for new ways to stretch the boundaries of popular…
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The Monkees – Headquarters
The Monkees spent much of their early career fighting a reputation they didn’t entirely deserve. Created for television and initially relying heavily on session…
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The Mama’s and The Papa’s – If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
Few debut albums have captured the spirit of an era as completely as If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. Released in 1966,…
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Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
Popular music was changing at a breathtaking pace in 1965, and no artist was driving that transformation more aggressively than Bob Dylan. Having already…
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Dusty Springfield – A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield’s arrival as a solo artist could hardly have been more impressive. After finding success as a member of the Springfields, she stepped…
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Ray Price – Night Life
Ray Price had already established himself as one of country music’s finest vocalists by the time Night Life arrived in 1963, but this album…
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Ray Charles- Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Few albums have challenged musical boundaries as boldly—or as successfully—as Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Released in 1962, Ray Charles took a…
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Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Few live albums have captured the fragile magic of musical conversation as completely as Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Recorded on June 25, 1961,…
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Miriam Makeba – Miriam Makeba
Some debut albums introduce a talented new performer. Others introduce an entirely new musical world. Miriam Makeba accomplished both. Released in 1960, the album…
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Muddy Waters – Muddy Waters at Newport 1960
Electric blues had already transformed Chicago’s music scene by the time Muddy Waters stepped onto the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960,…
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Joan Baez – Joan Baez
When Joan Baez released her self-titled debut album in 1960, the American folk revival was still gathering momentum. Coffeehouses were beginning to fill with…
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Elvis Presley – Elvis Is Back!
Military service temporarily interrupted Elvis Presley’s meteoric rise to superstardom, but it did nothing to diminish his talent. When he returned to the recording…
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The Everly Brothers – A Date With The Everly Brothers
Rock and roll was barely five years old when the Everly Brothers released A Date with The Everly Brothers in 1960, yet Don and…
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Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Some albums define a genre. Others redefine what music itself can be. Kind of Blue belongs firmly in the latter category. Released in 1959,…
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Dave Brubeck – Time Out
Jazz was evolving rapidly during the late 1950s. Bebop had already rewritten the rules of improvisation, hard bop was flourishing, and artists like Miles…
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Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
Western music had been a cornerstone of American culture for decades before Marty Robbins released Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in 1959, but few…
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Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
The Great American Songbook has inspired countless recordings, but very few have achieved the artistic ambition and enduring brilliance of Ella Fitzgerald Sings the…
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Ray Charles – The Genius of Ray Charles
By 1959, Ray Charles had already transformed rhythm and blues with a string of groundbreaking hits that blended gospel, blues, jazz, and country into…
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Ravi Shankar – The Sounds of India
By the late 1950s, Indian classical music remained largely unfamiliar to Western audiences. While jazz, classical, and folk traditions had begun crossing cultural boundaries,…
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Billie Holiday – Lady in Satin
When Lady in Satin was released in 1958, Billie Holiday was nearing the end of a career that had forever changed the art of…
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Count Basie and His Orchestra + Neal Hefti Arrangements The Atomic Mr. Basie
By the late 1950s, Count Basie had already secured his place among the giants of jazz. His original orchestra had defined the Kansas City…
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Sarah Vaughan and Her Trio At Mister Kelly’s
Live jazz albums often reveal an artist more completely than even the finest studio recordings. Without endless retakes or carefully edited performances, the singer…
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Machito – Kenya
Machito & His Afro-Cubans: Kenya — The Album That Redrew the Map of Jazz Released 1957 (Roulette Records) | Genre: Afro-Cuban Jazz / Mambo…
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