Leonard Cohen · 1967 · The voice you either fall into or never understand — but the writing is beyond question.

Bob Dylan · 1963 · He was 21, wearing a corduroy cap, and about to spend the rest of the century answering for the songs he wrote in one winter.

The Millennium · 1968 · Curt Boettcher assembled a dream studio team and this is the only record they left behind.

Laura Nyro · 1969 · She married the grit of New York to the ache of gospel and called it a tendaberry.

Leonard Cohen · 1988 · He traded the acoustic guitar for a synth and somehow got darker and funnier.

Duke Ellington · 1956 · A single 27-chorus sax break turned a near-disaster into jazz immortality—and the crowd noise still gives you chills.

Rosalía · 2022 Spin it Again - She recorded engine revs on her phone and left the distortion in — and that was the least punk thing about this album.

Daft Punk · 2013 Spin it Again - Two French robots and a live band proved the human touch still beats a laptop.

Maxwell · 1996 Spin it Again - Maxwell recorded most of this in London with Sade's guitarist, and you can hear the candlelight in every track.

The Stooges · 1973 Spin it Again - Iggy Pop and David Bowie fought over the mix, and the version that won sounds like a machine gun being recorded inside a bathroom.

Jeff Buckley · 1994 Spin it Again - He had his father's genes and none of his luck. Grace is what he made of the time he had.

The United States of America · 1968 Spin it Again - Joe Byrd built a sound system that made the human voice sound like a machine from another planet.

Laura Nyro · 1968 Spin it Again - She wrote songs that other people had to sing because they couldn't believe she sang them herself.

Billie Holiday · 1958 Spin it Again - Ray Ellis thought she was finished. She proved him wrong by making the most naked record of her life.

Billy Joel · 1978 Spin it Again - Billy Joel hired the Brecker Brothers and made an album that sounds like a bottle of scotch in a booth at Patsy's.

Billy Joel · 1977 Spin it Again - Phil Woods walked into the studio, played one take on a song Billy was about to cut, and made the whole record breathe.

Bruce Springsteen · 1975 Spin it Again - An album so desperate to succeed it almost didn't, until a sax solo saved it.

Al Di Meola · 1977 Spin it Again - He was twenty-two, recording at Electric Lady, and he brought Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson, Jan Hammer, and Paco De Lucia into one room. The tape never stood a chance.

Mahavishnu Orchestra · 1973 Spin it Again - Five men in a London studio played so hard the tape almost melted.

Return to Forever · 1976 Spin it Again - Four virtuosos, no overdubs, sounding like a fantasy movie that never existed.