Here's a selection of music and books you can pick up for the music fan in your life this Christmas.
MUSIC:
Cheap Trick’s The Complete Epic Albums Collection contains all their studio albums released between 1977 and 1990 on 14 CDs along with At Budokan and the Found All the Parts EP. The albums One on One, Standing on the Edge, The Doctor, Lap of Luxury and Busted have been remastered.
Pink Floyd’s 1995 live album, P.U.L.S.E., has been restored and re-edited and is available as a two-disc Blu-ray and two-disc DVD deluxe box sets.
Floyd also released the 2018 remix of their 10th album, 1977's Animals on CD, vinyl, Blu-ray and SACD as well as a deluxe version that includes the album on CD, vinyl, audio Blu-ray, and audio DVD and comes with a 32-page book. The Blu-ray and DVD audio include the 2018 remix in stereo, 5.1 surround and the original 1977 stereo mix.
Rush released a 40th anniversary edition of their eighth album, Moving Pictures, in six configurations, including a Super Deluxe Edition with three CDs, one Blu-ray audio disc, and five 180-gram black vinyl LPs.
Keith Richards marked the 30th anniversary of his second album, 1992's Main Offender, by reissuing it in a limited edition super-deluxe box set.
Eric Clapton's 1995 documentary Nothing but the Blues has been upgraded to 4K for re-release including a companion disc with more than an hour of previously unreleased live performances recorded in 1994 during his From the Cradle blues tour.
- The Super Deluxe Edition contains the documentary on Blu-ray, the soundtrack on both two vinyl discs and CD, a bonus CD with four extra tracks -- “Driftin’,” County Jail Blues,” “Kid Man Blues” and “It’s Too Bad” -- and an exclusive hardcover book with memorabilia, including a numbered lithograph, a 12x24 poster, a Clapton guitar string set, custom guitar picks and an exclusive bandana.
- The CD contains 17 songs; the double LP 18, and the DVD and Blu-ray 20 each. It's also available digitally.
- The documentary is available separately on Blu-ray and DVD.
Elton John - 50th anniversary edition of his fourth album, 1971's Madman Across the Water.
- Super Deluxe box set with three-CDs with 18 previously unreleased tracks; a Blu-ray disc with a 5.1 mix, and 1971 Sounds For Saturday and 1971 Old Grey Whistle Test performances; a 1971 reproduction poster and a 104-page book with photos and an essay with interviews with those who helped make the album, as well as memorabilia and artwork.
- Four-LP, 180g vinyl box set with a 40-page booklet with introductions by Elton and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
- Two-CD set
- Single vinyl limited edition remaster in blue and white-colored 180g vinyl.
Little Feat's legendary 1978 concert album, Waiting For Columbus, has been given a makeover in celebration of its 45th anniversary. It's been reissued in multiple configurations, including a Super Deluxe eight CD edition with a newly remastered version of the original double album and three unreleased concerts.
John Mellencamp released a deluxe reissue of his 1985 album, Scarecrow. It contains a remixed and remastered edition of the album, plus a second disc of 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks, and a booklet of unreleased photos and new liner notes.
Mellencamp also published a coffee table book of his artwork -- Paintings and Assemblages.
Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, captured at the legendary London venue on April 14th, 1970, is available on CD, vinyl and cassette, and digitally. It coincides with the release on Netflix of the band's documentary film, Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall. Both the album and the film are available in a Super Deluxe Edition box set.
KISS - expanded box set of their 1982 album Creatures of the Night. It's available in multiple configurations, including a five-CD + Blu-ray Audio Super Deluxe Edition with 103 tracks, 75 of which are previously unreleased, including 34 demos, rarities, live cuts and outtakes. And, naturally it contains loads of merchandise.
The Kinks - a combined deluxe box set edition of 1971's Muswell Hillbillies and 1972's half-studio, half-live Everybody’s in Show-Biz - Everybody’s a Star.
Cat Stevens - deluxe edition of his 1972 album, Catch Bull at Four.
The Beach Boys - two early 1970s albums -- 1972’s Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” and 1973’s Holland -- comprise Sail on Sailor - 1972, a multi-disc and digital box set that documents their transformative 1972 era.
Tom Petty - Live at the Fillmore (1997), captured during his 20-night residency at the legendary San Francisco venue, is available in numerous configurations -- two CDs, four CDs, three LPs, two six-LP sets that contain 58 tracks, 35 of which are covers, for more than four hours of music, or the Uber Deluxe edition that is housed in an authentic hand-made custom-sized cymbal road case that contains lots of extras.
The Beatles - deluxe reissue of their 1966 album, Revolver. The five-CD and four-LP and seven-inch single box sets come with a remix of the album, two discs of outtakes, a new transfer of the mono mix from the original master tape, and an EP of the 1966 single with "Paperback Writer" and "Rain."
Paul McCartney - The 7" Singles Box contains 80 singles -- 65 of them with restored original artwork from 11 different countries. The other 15 have never been released on seven-inch before and contain songs from 12-inch singles, picture discs, CD singles, digital downloads and music videos.
Also worth checking out:
- Blondie - Against the Odds (1974-1982)
- David Bowie - Divine Symmetry
- The Monkees - Headquarters Super Deluxe Edition
- Olivia Newton-John - If Not For You Deluxe Edition
- Neil Young - Harvest 50th Anniversary Edition
- Bruce Springsteen - Only the Strong Survive
BOOKS:
Hootie & The Blowfish drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld’s memoir - Swimming With the Blowfish: Hootie, Healing, and One Hell of a Ride
Rascals singer and keyboardist Felix Cavaliere - Memoir of a Rascal…From Pelham, NY to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Bob Dylan - The Philosophy of Modern Song. It contains over 60 essays that he wrote about songs by artists including Stephen Foster, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams and Nina Simone.
Pattie Boyd - the ex-wife of George Harrison and then Eric Clapton compiled My Life in Pictures, which contains more than 300 portraits and photographs of her taken by some of top photographers of the 20th century, as well as those taken by her during her marriages. The photos document their friends, including the rest of The Beatles, Mick Jagger and others. The book also includes photos of letters from friends, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, diary entries, artifacts, artwork and more.
Olivia Harrison, the widow of George Harrison, Came the Lightening, a book of 20 poems she wrote about her husband commemorating the 20 years since he passed -- November 29th, 2001.
Bono - Surrender - One Story, 40 Songs. There are 40 chapters, each one named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings that appear throughout the book.
Rob Halford - Biblical - Rob Halford's Heavy Metal Scriptures. He "shares his opinions, memories, and anecdotes regarding every element of the rock and roll work and lifestyle from tours to tattoos, riffs to riders, and drugs to devil horns."
Brian Johnson - The Lives of Brian
Jann Wenner - Like a Rolling Stone
The Byrds: 1964-1967 - a 400-page book compiled by Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman and David Crosby. It was published in four configurations, with the Super Deluxe Limited Edition signed by all three.
Jethro Tull - Lend Me Your Ears, an oral history, mixing hundreds of fan anecdotes with memories from the band, their collaborators and fellow musicians such as Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris, Tool drummer Danny Carey, Joe Bonamassa, and many others.
And if none of those work:
You can also check out the merchandise offered on just about every artist website, plus many have their own lines of coffee, wine, beer and spirits (Sammy Hagar, Mick Fleetwood, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffett, Rush) and some, including David Crosby and Carlos Santana, have lines of cannabis products.
I also found some interesting things HERE like Rolling Stones vodka, KISS cologne, and a Metallica ugly Christmas sweater.
Happy shopping!
Source: Society of Rock and Premiere