Let It Be
Artist: The Beatles
Community Score: 7.60

The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. First off, several facts need to be explained: although released in May 1970, this was not their final album, but largely recorded in early 1969, way before Abbey Road. Phil Spector was enlisted in early 1970... Read More

On Stage: February 1970
Artist: Elvis Presley

Elvis' second live album, partly cut at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in early 1970 , is one of his most unfairly underrated releases. In its original form, it did seem a bit cheap, offering ten songs that weren't necessarily associated with Elvis Presley. By this time, he was adding covers of other artists' contemporary hits to his set,... Read More

Jo Jo Gunne
Artist: Jo Jo Gunne

From the ashes of the multifaceted jazz/psych/rock combo Spirit rose Jo Jo Gunne. The band's personnel included Jay Ferguson (keyboards/lead vocals), Mark Andes (bass/vocals), his brother Matthew Andes (guitar/vocals), and Curly Smith (drums/vocals). Their self-titled debut would be the only release from this lineup as well as arguably the... Read More

The Tin Man Was a Dreamer
Artist: Nicky Hopkins

Nicky Hopkins' finest solo album, the memorably titled The Tin Man Was A Dreamer is a solid piece of engagingly edgy pop-rock -- picture Elton John's early '70s work with more variety, a few rough edges, and a bit less ego. As one would expect, Hopkins' piano playing (augmented by the organ in spots) dominates most of the songs, but there's... Read More

Seven
Artist: Bob Seger
Community Score: 7.65

With his seventh album, appropriately titled Seven, Bob Seger delivered one of his strongest, hardest-hitting rock records -- the toughest since the days of the Bob Seger System. Not to say that he ever abandoned rock & roll, since Back in '72 was filled with fantastic rockers, but it was tempered with reflective singer/songwriter material. Not... Read More

Elvis' Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits, Vol. 1, Part 1 & Part 2
Artist: Elvis Presley
Community Score: 10.00

This two-disc deluxe set supplants the earlier vinyl and compact disc versions of this series. Here we have all of Elvis' singles that sold a million copies, from "Heartbreak Hotel" to "Suspicious Minds," with a bonus track thrown in from his best-selling interview EP Elvis Sails. The first 26 tracks on disc one are in the original mono, while... Read More

He Touched Me
Artist: Elvis Presley
Community Score: 8.00

As if to make up for not recording in the studio for all those Hollywood years, Elvis took the first few years of his comeback dead serious. As it stands, He Touched Me blends the earthiness of the 1960 gospel album with a bit of the preternatural churchiness of the 1966 recordings. This is a fine record and you don't need to be a Christian to... Read More

The Kink Kronikles
Artist: The Kinks

Strictly speaking, the double-album compilation The Kink Kronikles isn't a greatest-hits collection. Covering the years 1966 through 1970, The Kink Kronikles may not be packed with hits -- out of the album's 28 tracks, only nine were hits in the U.K. or the U.S. -- yet it's a definitive overview of this era, which was one of Ray Davies' most... Read More

Muswell Hillbillies - BONUS TRACKS
Artist: The Kinks
Community Score: 10.00

How did the Kinks respond to the fresh start afforded by Lola? By delivering a skewed, distinctly British, cabaret take on Americana, all pinned down by Ray Davies' loose autobiography and intense yearning to be anywhere else but here -- or, as he says on the opening track, "I'm a 20th century man, but I don't want to be here." Unlike its... Read More

Daltrey
Artist: Roger Daltrey
Community Score: 6.00

Although Roger Daltrey was by no means the first member of the Who to take the solo plunge (both John Entwistle and Pete Townshend beat him to the punch), he was the first to make any kind of commercial impact. While "Giving It All Away" peeled off his self-titled debut album to hit the U.K. Top Five, the album itself went Top 50 in America and,... Read More

Elvis: A Legendary Performer, Vol. 1
Artist: Elvis Presley

The Legendary Performer series -- there were four on Elvis -- collected hits, non-hits, and previously unreleased studio and live recordings with snippets of interviews. While their importance has been diminished by the various collections that have been released since, many of which robbed the "rare" tracks from here, the albums are essential... Read More