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Classic Albums. Hosted by Stevie Nix
Not all albums stand the test of time, but plenty do and Australian music critic Stevie Nix will bring one to you each week. He'll cover all eras and most genres and tell you why each record is so revered and, equally, why it deserves to be. And he only uses six songs to do it.
Episodes
106 episodes
Locked Down by Dr John
The album's sonic palette draws from a diverse range of influences. Elements of swamp blues, voodoo funk and Afrobeat coexist alongside garage rock snarl and gospel fervour. Yet these disparate ingredients never feel forced together — they flow...
Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
The album represents a stunning artistic maturation for an artist who had already established herself as one of pop music's most distinctive voices. Where her earlier work sometimes veered into stylized melodrama, Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Folk Singer by Muddy Waters
This album is Muddy Waters as you’ve rarely heard him: intimate, vulnerable and devastatingly powerful. It’s the sound of a man returning to his roots — not out of nostalgia, but with full awareness of how far he’s come since first recording wi...
Tea For The Tillerman by Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam
What ultimately elevates Tea For The Tillerman to classic status is how it articulates a particular historical consciousness while speaking to enduring human concerns. In giving voice to his own spiritual journey with honesty and artis...
Sour by Olivia Rodrigo
Yes, Sour is gloriously teenage — Rodrigo was just 18 when she recorded it. It’s riddled with insecurity and melodrama. But that’s exactly why it works. In embracing the undignified mess of a first heartbreak — without shame or apology...
Coat Of Many Colors by Dolly Parton
When Parton made this album she was not the megastar we came to know — she was still seen as Porter Wagoner's blonde sidekick. But Coat of Many Colors sits right at the point where Dolly Parton is becoming Dolly Parton.You can h...
London Calling by The Clash
London Calling arrived at a moment when punk was at risk of becoming rigid and formulaic. By expanding the definition of what punk could be, The Clash helped ensure the movement's lasting influence. Their willingness to embrace musical...
Wildflowers by Tom Petty
Wildflowers is not Tom Petty’s tightest album, nor his easiest to listen to. There’s hopelessness and anger; disappointment and regret. Its disparate modes — blues, country, folk, power-pop, torch songs — are connected by the roads, bo...
When The Pawn... by Fiona Apple
Part of what makes When The Pawn so enduring is how it captures a specific moment in Apple's artistic development. After the raw, sometimes unpolished brilliance of Tidal, but before the more experimental sounds of Extraor...
The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths
What elevates The Queen Is Dead to classic status is its synthesis of seemingly contradictory elements. The juxtaposition of Morrissey's mordant, often devastating lyrics against Marr's shimmering, melodic guitar creates a tension that...
Catch A Fire by Bob Marley & The Wailers
Catch A Fire captures Marley at a crucial moment in his artistic development—already a great songwriter and performer, but still hungry and relatively unknown outside Jamaica. There's an urgency and raw energy to these recordings...
A Night At The Opera by Queen
By the mid-1970s, the idea of "rock opera" had already been explored by bands such as The Who, but Queen's approach was distinctly different. Rather than telling a single narrative across an album, they created a kind of musical theatre where e...
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen
What elevates the album beyond mere tribute is how Springsteen connects these traditional songs to his own artistic identity. The political dimensions of the album cannot be overlooked either. Springsteen had become increasingly outspoken in hi...
Jaydiohead by Max Tannone
What's most striking about Jaydiohead is how naturally the two artists' aesthetics merge. On paper, this should have been a train wreck. Radiohead's anxious art-rock and Jay-Z's confident hip-hop swagger represent opposing poles of con...
Waking Hours by Del Amitri
What makes Waking Hours particularly notable is its emotional maturity. While many of their contemporaries were trading in either dance-floor escapism or political sloganeering, Del Amitri focused on the intimate struggles of everyday ...
Coming Home by Leon Bridges
It would be a mistake to view Coming Home purely through the lens of retrospection. What makes it a classic album rather than a skillful homage is how Bridges creates something new within established forms. His vocals — smooth yet subt...
Too-Rye-Ay by Dexys Midnight Runners
What makes Too-Rye-Ay a classic is how it stands at the intersection of multiple musical traditions while creating something entirely original. It respects the past – drawing from American soul, Irish folk, and British pop – while push...
Saint Dominic's Preview by Van Morrison
What makes Saint Dominic's Preview so compelling is not just its musical ambition but its position at the intersection of Morrison's various artistic impulses. The album balances radio-friendly cuts with extended spiritual explorations...
Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 by Traveling Wilburys
This album contains effortless songwriting, camaraderie and pure musical joy, but it’s not an artistic statement. It isn’t an album to take seriously, but that doesn’t mean it’s not infectiously enjoyable. What makes the Wilburys' d...
Cuz I Love You by Lizzo
Cuz I Love You is a record that doesn’t whisper — it roars. It’s unapologetically loud, bold and full-throttle, drenched in saturated colour and volume. Lizzo leans into classic soul, doo-wop, and old-school romance, yet the r...
Gold by Ryan Adams
Gold represents a creative peak for Adams. While he would continue to release prolific and often excellent work in the decades that followed, this album captured him at a moment of perfect equilibrium — his youthful exuberance tempered...
The Great Escape by Blur
If Parklife was a celebration of British life in all its eccentric glory, The Great Escape took a darker turn. Behind the brash, satirical pop of Country House and Charmless Man lay a more cynical and world-w...
Walk Through Fire by Yola
Walk Through Fire is a breathtaking fusion of country, soul, folk, and Americana. Produced by Dan Auerbach, these 12 songs present a fully realised artistic vision, one that embraces both joy and pain, light and shadow – and t...
