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

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

There Goes Rhymin' Simon
Artist: Paul Simon
Community Score: 8.20

Retaining the buoyant musical feel of Paul Simon, but employing a more produced sound, There Goes Rhymin' Simon found Paul Simon writing and performing with assurance and venturing into soulful and R&B-oriented music. Simon returned to the kind of vocal pyrotechnics heard on the Simon & Garfunkel records by using gospel singers. On "Love Me Like... Read More

Leon Russell And the Shelter People - BONUS TRACKS
Artist: Leon Russell

Leon Russell's accolades are monumental in a number of categories, from songwriting (he wrote Joe Cocker's "Delta Lady") to session playing (with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, just to name a few ) to his solo work. Unfortunately, it's the last category that never really attracted as much attention as it should have, despite a multitude of... 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

Son of Schmilsson
Artist: Harry Nilsson

Emboldened by a huge hit and hanging with Lennon and Ringo, Harry Nilsson was ready to let it all go when it came time to record a follow-up to Nilsson Schmilsson. The very title of Son of Schmilsson implies that it's a de facto sequel to its smash predecessor but, as always with Nilsson, don't take everything at face value. Yes, he's back with... Read More

Nilsson Schmilsson
Artist: Harry Nilsson
Community Score: 9.00

Nilsson had a hit, a Grammy, and critical success, yet he still didn't have a genuine blockbuster to his name when it came time to finally deliver a full-fledged follow-up to Nilsson Sings Newman, so he decided it was time to make that unabashed, mainstream pop/rock album. Hiring Streisand's producer Richard Perry as a collaborator, Nilsson made... 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

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

Imagine
Artist: John Lennon
Community Score: 8.23

After the harrowing Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon returned to calmer, more conventional territory with Imagine. While the album had a softer surface, it was only marginally less confessional than its predecessor. Underneath the sweet strings of "Jealous Guy" lies a broken and scared man, the jaunty "Crippled Inside" is a mocking assault at an... 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