Area Code 615
Artist: Area Code 615

This is a legendary record recorded by a legendary group of musicians. Area Code 615 was, as the name implies, the location of Cinderella Studios in Nashville (Madison, to be exact). The session players who recorded there are some of the greatest unsung heroes in popular music: Weldon Myrick (pedal steel), Bobby Thompson (banjo), Buddy Spicher... Read More

Buffalo Springfield - COLLECTION
Artist: Buffalo Springfield

Not to be confused with their self-titled debut album, this double LP, which can still be found without too much hassle, is clearly the best Springfield compilation, at least until the overdue day when a box set appears that includes everything recorded by this superb band. It does miss some good songs, especially from the first album, but... Read More

The Grateful Dead Movie
Artist: Grateful Dead

This feature-length film was shot during the Grateful Dead's so-called "retirement run" of shows at Winterland Arena in San Francisco during mid-October 1974 -- after which the band was to take an extended sabbatical from touring North America. Under the direction of the band's lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia, and cinematographer, Leon Gast, The... Read More

Don't Look Back
Artist: Bob Dylan
Live/Dead
Artist: Grateful Dead
Community Score: 10.00

The Grateful Dead's fourth title was likewise their first extended concert recording. Spread over two LPs, Live/Dead (1969) finally was able to relay the intrinsic sonic magnificence of a Dead show in real time. Additionally, it unleashed several key entries into their repertoire, including the sidelong epic and Deadhead anthem"Dark Star" as... Read More

Pickin' Up the Pieces
Artist: Poco
Community Score: 7.40

The group went into the studio with a sudden loss of one member (Randy Meisner), an engineer who didn't quite get what they were trying for, and a lot of pressure for a first album -- and came up with this startlingly great record, as accomplished as any of Buffalo Springfield, and also reminiscent of the Beatles and the Byrds. Pickin' Up the... Read More

Hot Tuna
Artist: Hot Tuna

When Hot Tuna's self-titled debut album was released in May 1970, it seemed like the perfect spin-off project for a major rock group, Jefferson Airplane's lead guitarist and bass player indulging in a genre exercise by playing a set of old folk-blues tunes in a Berkeley coffeehouse. The music seemed as far removed from the Airplane's acid rock... Read More

New Morning
Artist: Bob Dylan
Community Score: 6.76
Nashville Skyline
Artist: Bob Dylan
Community Score: 8.35
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
Artist: Bob Dylan
Community Score: 8.39
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Artist: The Byrds
Community Score: 5.00

The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo was not the first important country-rock album (Gram Parsons managed that feat with the International Submarine Band's debut Safe at Home), and the Byrds were hardly strangers to country music, dipping their toes in the twangy stuff as early as their second album. But no major band had gone so deep into the... Read More

Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield
Artist: Buffalo Springfield

Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield may not be definitive, but it's a good, basic overview of the group's career, containing most of the group's biggest hits and signature songs. Yes, several worthy album cuts are missing, but as a sampler, this works quite well, offering a nice introduction to the group. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,... Read More

Buffalo Springfield Again
Artist: Buffalo Springfield
Community Score: 7.75

Due in part to personnel problems which saw Bruce Palmer and Neil Young in and out of the group, Buffalo Springfield's second album did not have as unified an approach as their debut. Yet it doesn't suffer for that in the least -- indeed, the group continued to make major strides in both their songwriting and arranging, and this record stands as... Read More

Music from Big Pink
Artist: The Band
Community Score: 8.16

None of the Band's previous work gave much of a clue about how they would sound when they released their first album in July 1968. As it was, Music from Big Pink came as a surprise. At first blush, the group seemed to affect the sound of a loose jam session, alternating emphasis on different instruments, while the lead and harmony vocals passed... Read More

Danko/Fjeld/Andersen
Artist: Rick Danko

Danko is Rick Danko, vocalist/bassist with the Band, Fjeld is Norwegian folksinger Jonas Fjeld, and Andersen is American folksinger Eric Andersen, who spends a lot of time in Norway these days. The album by this casual triumvirate is a sort of late night song swap that finds Danko taking a shot at Andersen's classic "Blue River," and Andersen... Read More