Released 50 years ago today, Steely Dan’s ‘Pretzel Logic’ remains a pinnacle achievement for the premier jazz-pop rock band. Here’s a handful of reasons why.

Released 50 years ago this month, ‘What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits’ found the Doobie Brothers at a near-peak of their early-era powers.

Relaxed yet articulate, it’s easy to see why Deelee Dube is the first European to win the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.

This album will always be defined by its lead-off moment, as the Temptations take a kid’s song and transform it into a funked-out Yuletide hoot.

Let’s take one more warped spin through ‘Back to the Bars,’ an album Todd Rundgren released 45 years ago that still feels brand new.

‘Life Love and Hope’ arrived 10 years ago this week with what appears to be Boston’s last studio recordings featuring late frontman Brad Delp.

Released 40 years ago this week, ‘90125’ reshaped Yes as a modernized best-selling ’80s band. That wasn’t a bad thing.

For all of the wailing from college-radio hipsters (ahem!), ‘Green’ arrived 35 years ago today with some of R.E.M.’s most durable individual songs.

Best described as “acoustic soul,” Hall and Oates’ underrated ‘Abandoned Luncheonette” arrived 50 years ago today.

The Who’s platinum-selling Top 5 hit ‘Quadrophenia’ arrived 50 years ago as the rock-opera successor to ‘Tommy,’ and somehow never left its shadow.