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21 items by John Mendelsohn

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  The Razor's Edge | ALBUM REVIEW

  Since the heyday of Little Richard, one of the things that teenagers have liked most about rock & roll is that it can provoke parents to pull out fistfuls of their hair and bellow, "God, what is...

  November 15, 1990 12:00 AM ET
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  A Soap Opera | ALBUM REVIEW

  It isn't only because I received this album gratis that I won't take the safe way out and coo something glib like, "To hear Ray Davies intone such lines as 'You'd better come to bed, darling' (in...

  July 3, 1975 12:00 AM ET
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  Autobahn | ALBUM REVIEW

  Not to take anything away from Ralf, Florian, Klaus or even Wolfgang — who are probably real nice geezers once you get to know them — but dis ist nicht so gut as Walter Carlos, who hasn't...

  June 19, 1975 12:00 AM ET
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  Tommy (Original Soundtrack Recording) | ALBUM REVIEW

  Will I ever succeed in figuring out my all-time number-one rock hero? Here Pete Townshend plays some stunning synthesizer stuff and then allows most...

  June 5, 1975 1:45 PM ET
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  Katy Lied | ALBUM REVIEW

  Steely Dan sound like a million dollars not only next to at least 26 of their coresidents of the Boss 30 when they're in it, but also in comparison to three-quarters of the stuff with which they...

  May 8, 1975 12:00 AM ET
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  The Jeff Beck Group | ALBUM REVIEW

  Should you ever find yourself in the mood to be bored comatose, simply hop on the next jet to Hollywood, where this writer will gladly spend an afternoon with you explaining why — on the basis of...

  June 8, 1972 12:00 AM ET
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  Harvest | ALBUM REVIEW

  At the end of this, five'll getcha ten, most of you are going to be exclaiming lividly, "O what vile geeks are rock critics! How quick are they to heap disapproval on one whose praises they once...

  March 30, 1972 12:00 AM ET
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  Wild Life [US Bonus Tracks] | ALBUM REVIEW

  Like Paul McCartney's first two post-Beatles albums. Wild Life is largely high on sentiment but rather flaccid musically and impotent lyrically, trivial and unaffecting. It lacks the exhilarating highs of Ram (which highs I, as one who...

  January 20, 1972 12:00 AM ET
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  Hunky Dory | ALBUM REVIEW

  David Bowie, the swinging/mod Garbo, male femme fatale, confidante to and darling of the avant garde on both sides of the Atlantic, and shameless outrage, is back, and with a bang, although bearing little resemblance to the...

  January 6, 1972 12:00 AM ET
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  Who's Next | ALBUM REVIEW

  The Who's Next, regardless of what you may have been led to believe to the contrary, is neither the soundtrack to the realization of...

  September 2, 1971 12:00 AM ET
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  Every Picture Tells A Story | ALBUM REVIEW

  He has it in him, has Rod Stewart, to save a lot of souls, to rescue those of us who are too old for Grand Funk but not old enough for those adorable McCartneys from being nearly...

  July 8, 1971 12:00 AM ET
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  Love It To Death | ALBUM REVIEW

  [It came on the radio in the late afternoon and from the first note it was right: Alice Cooper bringing it all back home again. God it's beautiful it is the most reassuring thing that has happened...

  April 15, 1971 12:00 AM ET
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  Long Player | ALBUM REVIEW

  Being one of the few English bands left willing (nay, all too happy) to flaunt their Englishness, and moreover ranking no lower than third on the current faverave list of such heavy critics as John Mendelsohn, Faces...

  March 18, 1971 12:00 AM ET
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  The Man Who Sold The World | ALBUM REVIEW

  "Some say the view is crazy/But you may adopt another point of view. So if it's much too hazy/You can leave my friend and me with fond adieu," sings David Bowie in The Man Who Sold The...

  February 18, 1971 12:00 AM ET
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  Elton John | ALBUM REVIEW

  Given that his voice combines the nasal sonority of James Taylor with the rasp of Van Morrison with the slurry intonation of M. Jagger with the exaggerated twang of Leon Russell; that, in this age during which...

  November 12, 1970 12:00 AM ET
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  Let It Be | ALBUM REVIEW

  To those who found their work since the white album as emotionally vapid as it was technically breathtaking, the news that the Beatles were about to bestow on us an album full of gems they'd never gotten...

  June 11, 1970 12:00 AM ET
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  "The Seeker" | SONG REVIEW

  With "The Seeker" Pete Townshend and the Who take that proverbial one step backwards. A subdued (for the Who) rock and roller that...

  April 30, 1970 12:10 PM ET
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  Led Zeppelin II | ALBUM REVIEW

  Hey, man, I take it all back! This is one fucking heavyweight of the album! OK — I'll concede that until you've listened to the album eight hundred times, as I have, it seems as if it's...

  December 13, 1969 12:00 AM ET
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  Abbey Road | ALBUM REVIEW

  Simply, side two does more for me than the whole of Sgt. Pepper, and I'll trade you The Beatles and Magical Mystery Tour and a Keith Moon drumstick for side one. So much for the prelims. "Come Together"...

  November 15, 1969 12:00 AM ET
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  With A Little Help From My Friends | ALBUM REVIEW

  Joe Cocker and the Grease Band were ending a performance they gave recently at the Whiskey in Los Angeles. As they went into their explosive version of "With A Little Help From My Friends," a nubile young...

  August 23, 1969 12:00 AM ET