Album Reviews: Records Worth a Full Listen

Sade in 2000, spare and warm and unhurried; a record that asks for low lamps, a mellow red and someone…

A 1959 ballad record of rare warmth from Dinah Washington; play it low after dinner and keep the floor clear…

A hushed, close record about a mother and a stepfather; play it whole, late and low, and keep the room…

A dark, patient 1998 album; play it after midnight, whole, and let Angel and Teardrop set the temperature.

A spare, intimate debut; play it at dusk, low, and let Suzanne and So Long, Marianne do their quiet work.

A cold rain record of longing and smoke; play it whole, late and low, and let Beth Gibbons do the…

A farewell made with grace and wit; play it whole, late, with the lights off.

Dark, vast and quietly tender, the definitive record for the first cold night, played whole with someone close.

Roxy Music’s Avalon is the sound of sophistication itself. A review of the lush, twilit album that perfected the art…

Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks is the great album of a marriage coming apart. A review of his most…

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