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Smash Reviews
Great records. First reactions.
What critics heard when these records were new.
The Rolling Stones
Exile on Main St.
Exile on Main St.: the double album Creem's Lester Bangs hated
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition: the hostile Circus review that got ELP wrong
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Genesis
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The prog rock double album the critics slashed
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Rick Wakeman
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
The prog keyboard suite the critics told to get lost
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Deep Purple
Who Do We Think We Are
The Mark II finale the critic called tired and disconcerting
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Led Zeppelin
In Through the Out Door
In Through the Out Door: the finale Rolling Stone called its worst
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Jethro Tull
Thick as a Brick
Thick as a Brick: the opus Sounds called a hollow threat
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The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Velvet Underground & Nico
The debut that Richard Goldstein rejected
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The Beatles
Let It Be
The Beatles' Let It Be: a hostile 1970 review and chart-topping proof to the contrary
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The Doors
Waiting for the Sun
Waiting for the Sun: The Doors' number-one album dismissed by critics
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Pink Floyd
The Final Cut
The Final Cut: the 1983 Village Voice pan and the album's later reputation
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Axis: Bold as Love
The review that called it uneven and boring
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Pink Floyd
A Saucerful of Secrets
Pink Floyd's second album the critic called mediocre
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Yes
Tales from Topographic Oceans
Tales from Topographic Oceans: the 1974 Rolling Stone pan that divided prog
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The Moody Blues
In Search of the Lost Chord
In Search of the Lost Chord: the 1968 Rolling Stone pan that got the Moody Blues wrong
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Jethro Tull
A Passion Play
A Passion Play: the concept album critics called excessive nonsense
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Led Zeppelin
Houses of the Holy
Houses of the Holy: the Led Zeppelin album Rolling Stone called 'Limp Blimp'
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King Crimson
In the Court of the Crimson King
The debut Robert Christgau dismissed as 'ersatz shit'
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Paul and Linda McCartney
Ram
Ram (1971): the UK chart-topper that Rolling Stone hated
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The Who
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia (1973): hostile Rolling Stone review, chart proof to the contrary
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Cream
Wheels of Fire
Cream's platinum double album the Rolling Stone founder dismissed as weak songwriting
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Black Sabbath
Paranoid
Paranoid: the 1971 Rolling Stone pan that got heavy metal wrong
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The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The album a contemporary critic called fraudulent
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Electric Ladyland
The double album Rolling Stone panned in 1968
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The Rolling Stones
Their Satanic Majesties Request
The psychedelic detour Rolling Stone called an insecure misstep
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Brain Salad Surgery
The ELP landmark Rolling Stone called sadly uneven and pretentious
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The Velvet Underground
White Light/White Heat
The noise assault Melody Maker called pretentious and monotonous
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Iron Butterfly
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
The platinum debut Rolling Stone called dull commercial music
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Kraftwerk
Autobahn
The electronic landmark Rolling Stone dismissed as inferior to Wendy Carlos
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King Crimson
Larks' Tongues in Aspic
The prog milestone Rolling Stone hated then merely disliked
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Genesis
Selling England by the Pound
The prog classic Rolling Stone called over-referential and under-vital
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Tarkus
The prog epic Rolling Stone called a failure of imagination
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Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here
The Syd Barrett tribute Melody Maker called ponderous and unimaginative
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Black Sabbath
Master of Reality
The sludge-metal cornerstone the critic called monotonous
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Atomic Rooster
Death Walks Behind You
The proto-metal milestone the critic called hyperthyroid noise
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Tangerine Dream
Phaedra
The electronic landmark the Maker called gutless and spineless
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced
The debut the first Rolling Stone critic called violent and inane
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