Items15The creator’s order
- 1
Both Sides Now (2000)Released Jan 1, 2000Joni Mitchell
Hear what happens when Mitchell sings “Both Sides Now” again. The orchestra gives her time to weigh words that moved past more quickly in her earlier recording. The new version closes a sequence that runs from flirtation through disillusionment. “A Case of You,” the other Mitchell…0 - 2
Laughter In Summer (2026)Released Feb 6, 2026Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Listen to “Harbour” for what the record makes of memory. Glenn-Copeland wrote it for Elizabeth’s birthday, then found his way back to it through improvisation after memory loss. The album they made together also revisits “Ever New” in a recording at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango.…0 - 3
Older Than My Old Man Now (2012)Released Apr 17, 2012Loudon Wainwright III
The title song puts three generations into one recording. Wainwright reads his father’s words, then his son Rufus sings on the track. “I Remember Sex,” with Barry Humphries, finds the joke in a different sort of looking back. The record leaves plenty of room for getting older…0 - 4
The Hard Truth (2026)Released Oct 2, 2026Wynonna
“Everything” remembers being in the spotlight at eighteen and learning to look and sound the way people expected. On “Am I Missing Out,” she can still wonder how much life there might be beyond what she knows. Put this on if you want to hear a country singer look back on a long working…0 - 5
4:44 (2017)Released Jan 1, 2017Jay-Z
On “Family Feud,” Jay-Z asks what older and younger rappers gain by turning on each other. “Legacy” brings the question home. His daughter asks him what a will is, and the track gives him room to think aloud about what a parent passes down. The change in scale from the wider culture to a…0 - 6
Last Leaf on the Tree (2024)Released Jan 1, 2024Willie Nelson
Nelson sings the Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan song “Last Leaf” like someone who knows what it costs to be the one still here. His son Micah produced the album, and the two cowrote “Color of Sound.” Hear them together for the way one song measures what’s gone while the other leaves…0 - 7
Seven Psalms (2023)Released Jan 1, 2023Paul Simon
Set aside half an hour for this one. Simon made it as seven movements meant to be heard together, with his guitar and voice at the center. By the time Edie Brickell sings with him, the questions about what comes after this life have another voice in the room. Listen when you want to…0 - 8
Negative Capability (2018)Released Jan 1, 2018Marianne Faithfull
Faithfull brings “As Tears Go By” back in a voice that sounds as if it knows the people it’s lost. She also returns to “Witches Song,” which has a more incantatory feel here than it did on Broken English. The two tracks let you hear different things a singer can still discover…0 - 9
Meu Coco (2021)Released Oct 21, 2021Caetano Veloso
“Autoacalanto” grew from listening to his grandson sing himself to sleep. The boy’s father, Tom, plays guitar with Veloso on the track. Elsewhere, “Enzo Gabriel” takes its cue from a popular baby name. Put this on if you want a record that treats grandparenthood as a chance to pay…0 - 10
12 (2023)Released Jan 17, 2023Ryuichi Sakamoto
While recuperating, Sakamoto recorded small piano and synthesizer sketches and thought of them as a diary. He kept the dates as track titles, including the entry marked “20220302 – sarabande.” Try a few in sequence. The record makes the changing sound of a few notes feel worth…0
