4 Way Street
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Community Score: 8.85

This 1992 expanded version of the original double live album (originally released on April 7, 1971) by CSN&Y is now an indispensible part of any collection, with additional Neil Young and Graham Nash material (and even a version of "King Midas in Reverse," the old Hollies tune) that any serious listener will want. Some of the extended guitar... Read More

Graham Nash/David Crosby
Artist: Crosby & Nash

This self-titled release is one of -- if not arguably the -- most impressive side project to arise from CSN. Taken beyond face value, Graham Nash/David Crosby is a direct reflection, if not an extension, of the musical and personal relationship between its co-creators. Likewise, the results remain true, enhancing rather than detracting... Read More

Aztec Two Step
Artist: Aztec Two-Step

A pleasing example of soft singer-songwriter folk-rock from the early '70s, Aztec Two-Step is a consistent effort from the duo of Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman that might appeal to fans of James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, and Seals & Croft. Sometimes their pretensions get the better of them (as on "The Persecution & Restoration of Dean Moriarty... Read More

Stephen Stills
Artist: Stephen Stills
Community Score: 9.25

Talk about understatement -- there's Stephen Stills on the cover, acoustic guitar in hand, promising a personal singer/songwriter-type statement. And there is some of that -- even a lot of that personal music-making -- on Stephen Stills, but it's all couched in astonishingly bold musical terms. Stephen Stills is top-heavy with 1970... Read More

Leon Russell
Artist: Leon Russell

Leon Russell never quite hit all the right notes the way he did on his eponymous debut. He never again seemed as convincing in his grasp of Americana music and themes, never again seemed as individual, and never again did his limited, slurred bluesy voice seem as ingratiating. He never again topped his triptych of "A Song for You,"... Read More

Veedon Fleece
Artist: Van Morrison
Community Score: 9.25

The final album of Van Morrison's remarkably prolific and innovative 1968-1974 period (followed by three years of silence), Veedon Fleece brings the singer full circle, returning him to the introspection and poignancy of Astral Weeks. Composed following his sudden divorce from wife Janet Planet and subsequent retreat from the U.S., the songs are... Read More

It's Too Late to Stop Now
Artist: Van Morrison

While Van Morrison is, to be kind, an erratic and temperamental live performer, he's in stellar form throughout the double album It's Too Late to Stop Now, a superb concert set that neatly summarizes his career from his days with Them (represented by scorching renditions of "Gloria" and "Here Comes the Night") through 1973's Hard Nose the... Read More

Stoneground Words
Artist: Melanie
Community Score: 8.00

Sadly, "Brand New Key" had sounded the death-knell on Melanie's commercial prospects. Stoneground Words was in another class altogether -- a mature, intelligent and ambitious work, easily as good as most singer/songwriter fare of its time. Building on Gather Me's better moments, Melanie effectively shed her cuteness but didn't get cynical... Read More

The Good Book
Artist: Melanie
Community Score: 10.00

Another surprising record, most notably Melanie's wonderful cover of Phil Ochs' "Chords of Fame," which is superior in many ways to Ochs' own, good as that is. The packaging, which includes a cover photo and small-size booklet with lyrics in the center of the jacket, makes this a difficult record to find completely intact two or three decades... Read More

Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)
Artist: Melanie
Community Score: 9.00

Melanie always sang about the '60s like she meant it, with passion and fervor -- that's one of the reasons why she's taken a little more seriously than a lot of other rock survivors of the later part of that decade; one had a sense that the sensibilities were genuine, and that she was (and is) the real article. "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)"... Read More

Mind Games
Artist: John Lennon
Community Score: 9.39

After the hostile reaction to the politically charged Sometime in New York City, John Lennon moved away from explicit protest songs and returned to introspective songwriting with Mind Games. Lennon didn't leave politics behind -- he just tempered his opinions with humor on songs like "Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)," which happened to... Read More

Emitt Rhodes
Artist: Emitt Rhodes

Although this probably wasn't meant to be, this album is Emitt Rhodes' definitive statement. Soon after disbanding the Merry Go Round (of "Live" fame) Rhodes scored a solo deal with Dunhill. Rather than recording with a band or using studio musicians (which he did with his first "solo" album American Dream), the multi-instrumentalist decided to... Read More