20 extraordinary albums turning 50 this year

4. I Want to See Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson

Richard had been in the seminal English folk rock band Fairport Convention. Linda occasionally sang with him and his mates in The Bunch. Their voices blended nicely, and they got along well enough to get married. I Want to See Bright Lights Tonight was their first of six albums over the next decade. It features Richard’s elite guitar and songwriting skills, elevated by Linda’s extraordinary voice. She is only in the background on the first two songs, but when she sings “Withered and Died,” there is a delicacy that is absolutely hypnotic.

The lower-pitched "Down Where the Drunkards Roll” shows off her power. And “Poor Little Beggar Girl,” which returns to Fairport Convention roots, is further proof of her remarkable range. And you also get the title track, a duet which is among Richard’s catchiest pop compositions.

3. Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan

Pretzel Logic is Steely Dan’s best album. From the opening engrossing strains of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” to the blues funk of “Monkey in Your Soul,” you get eleven tight songs in just over a half hour. The lesser songs are good. The highlights – and there are a lot of them – are some of the most complex pop song compositions of the decade. “Barrytown” is a remarkably prescient political commentary.

“Don’t believe I’m taken in by stories that I’ve heard – I just read The Daily News and swear by every word” is more incisive fifty years later. “Through With Buzz” indulges Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s jazz impulses in the confines of a tight song. The title track is a mystifying journey with the slinkiest of grooves, while “With a Gun” is a western movie in just over two minutes. “Charlie Freak,” hidden just before the end of the album, is one of the most underrated tracks of the ‘70s. They even throw in some Duke Ellington in a quick, jazzy “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo.”