Once, all albums were collections of covers. Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley didn’t just record songs written by other people. They had hits with songs that other acts had already recorded. Then came the Beatles. Performers were now expected to write their own songs, and songs were meant to be authentic reflections of the performers, especially in rock music, where passion trumped technical competence. The cover song declined in value — not least to the performers, who could now earn some of the real money from composers’ royalties. Yet the all-cover album did not disappear.

In 1970, Booker T. & the MGs released McLemore Avenue, an all-instrumental redo of the entire Abbey Road album, and George Benson released The Other Side of Abbey Road, with orchestra and vocals. In the summer of 1973, David Bowie, unable to write the new songs that his record company demanded, recorded Pinups, a collection of 1960s British rock tunes that he had enjoyed as a teenager. Two years later, John Lennon, busted for lifting “Come Together” from Chuck Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me,” made penance by recording a similar exercise in nostalgia, Rock ’n’ Roll.