‘Rides Again,’ released in July 1970, found Joe Walsh and the James Gang gorging on chunky chords but also visiting other musical dimensions.

‘Imaginos’ went on a long, strange odyssey before finally arriving in July 1988 as Blue Oyster Cult’s most consistent album.

Crowded House made one of the best albums of the 1990s. Unfortunately, ‘Woodface’ started all wrong.

Released this summer five years ago, Crowded House’s ‘Intriguer’ ended with the words “sweet dreams, make waves, find bliss.” They’d done just that.

Released in July 1968, the embryonic ‘Shades of Deep Purple’ already underscored the novel and industrious path that Deep Purple would take.

An enjoyable compilation capturing a specific time, ‘Heavy Metal: Music From the Motion Picture’ arrived just before rock and pop became mechanical.

Over the years since Lou Reed released ‘Metal Machine Music’ in July 1975, many others have followed him into noise, distortion and atonality.

There’s no denying that Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny” is the strongest track here, but ‘Tommy Tutone 2’ had more than that that going for it.

Jeff Lynne’s ‘Armchair Theatre,’ released this month in 1990, struggled to live up to its opening track’s promise – but often charmed us, anyway.

Alan Parsons Project’s prophetic ‘I Robot,’ issued this month in 1977, focused on the uneasy relationship between human and machine.