On Second Thought

Mark Knopfler Touched on Both His Past and Future With ‘Get Lucky’

Mark Knopfler Touched on Both His Past and Future With ‘Get Lucky’

Released 10 years ago this week, Mark Knopfler’s ‘Get Lucky’ offered us a compelling distillation of his thematic and musical storytelling.

How ‘The Chair In the Doorway’ Became Living Colour’s Heaviest Album

How ‘The Chair In the Doorway’ Became Living Colour’s Heaviest Album

Released 10 years ago this week, ‘The Chair In the Doorway’ found Living Colour taking on darker themes.

Why You Should Have Celebrated Tears For Fears’ ‘Everybody Loves a Happy Ending’

Why You Should Have Celebrated Tears For Fears’ ‘Everybody Loves a Happy Ending’

Released 15 years ago this week, Tears For Fears’ reunion on ‘Everybody Loves a Happy Ending’ for some reason went largely ignored.

Vinyl

How Muse’s ‘The Resistance’ Gloriously Lived Up to Their ‘Derivative’ Tag

The Muse returned 10 years ago this week with a fun album that paid tribute to their many influences. Does anybody remember fun?

Vinyl

How Mike Keneally’s Comeback on ‘The Universe Will Provide’ Fulfilled All of His Promise

‘The Universe Will Provide’ arrived 15 years ago this week at a career crossroads for Mike Keneally. He somehow managed to take everything to the next level.

Vinyl

Greg Brown’s ‘In the Hills of California’ Finally Reproduced His Nervy Live Sound

‘In the Hills of California,’ released 10 years ago today, was culled from various Greg Brown performances at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival.

Vinyl

Jan Garbarek Surged Out of a Quieter Era With the Explorative ‘Dresden’

Released 10 years ago today, the live-recorded ‘Dresden’ was the most essential Jan Garbarek album in a long time.

Bjork’s Vocal-Focused ‘Medulla’ is Still Filled With Countless Surprises

Bjork’s Vocal-Focused ‘Medulla’ is Still Filled With Countless Surprises

Issued 15 years ago today, Björk’s ‘Medulla’ jettisoned every-day instruments in favor of the purest one: the human voice.

Why ‘Wakafrika’ Should Have (Finally) Made Manu Dibango a Huge Star

Why ‘Wakafrika’ Should Have (Finally) Made Manu Dibango a Huge Star

The star-packed ‘Wakafrika,’ released 25 years ago, somehow didn’t raise Manu Dibango’s profile in the U.S.

Vinyl

How Bachman-Turner Overdrive Pushed Back Against Prog With ‘Not Fragile’

‘Not Fragile’ hurtled Bachman-Turner Overdrive to stardom 45 years ago this month with an old-fashioned recipe of hard rock rooted in the blues.