Memory Lane Music

A triple album released in 1970, All Things Must Pass turned years of songs held in reserve into a sweeping statement about change, faith and letting go. Put the record on, or find the song on a playlist, and give it one uninterrupted listen before reading further. The first hearing is the one that matters … Read more

A quieter Croce song about returning, in memory, to a love that has already ended, “Dreamin’ Again” rewards listeners who look beyond the big hits. Put the record on, or find the song on a playlist, and give it one uninterrupted listen before reading further. The first hearing is the one that matters most, because … Read more

Released in 1973, Life and Times gathers Croce’s character sketches, love songs and road weariness into a short, remarkably complete portrait of a songwriter at full stretch. Put the record on, or find the song on a playlist, and give it one uninterrupted listen before reading further. The first hearing is the one that matters … Read more

Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Written by Lightfoot and released in 1972 as the title track of the album Don Quixote, this song uses Cervantes’s knight as a figure for idealism in a practical world. Lightfoot’s Don Quixote … Read more

Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Released in 1985, High Country Snows was Fogelberg’s bluegrass album, recorded with some of Nashville’s finest acoustic musicians. It was a deliberate step away from the polished pop-rock of his hits, toward the … Read more

Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Released in 1981 as a double album, The Innocent Age was Fogelberg’s commercial and critical peak, containing “Leader of the Band”, “Hard to Say”, “Run for the Roses” and “Same Old Lang Syne”. … Read more

Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Released in 1976, Leftoverture was the album that saved Kansas’s career and made them stars. It contains “Carry On Wayward Son” and “The Wall”, and it balances progressive complexity — long arrangements, shifting … Read more

Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Written by Livgren and John Elefante and released in 1983 on Drastic Measures, “Fight Fire with Fire” became Kansas’s last American Top 40 hit of the classic era. With Elefante now singing, it … Read more