Top 6 noteworthy music box sets perfect for gifting this holiday
With the holidays fast approaching, we help you sort through this year’s notable box sets for the most devoted music lovers in your life.
The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 — Collector’s Edition
There are a couple of versions of this collection available for the timid, but true Dylan-ophiles will opt for the comprehensive 18-CD “Collector’s Edition” that includes every note, word and sneeze recorded from January 1965 through March 1966 during the sessions for the singer-songwriter’s classic albums “Bringing It All Back Home,” “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Blonde on Blonde.”
Along with a full disc dedicated to various incarnations of “Like a Rolling Stone,” the set also packs in mono singles, hotel room demos and a few actual frames of film from director D.A. Pennebaker’s 1965 Dylan documentary, “Don’t Look Back.”
The Atlantic Albums Collection
During the 1970s, the Queen of Soul explored everything from gospel to hard funk, and there are plenty of gems here worth rediscovery, from the stomping “Rock Steady” to her blues-infused cover of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life.”
Springsteen’s 1980 double album, “The River,” which includes live favorites “Hungry Heart” and “Out in the Street,” serves as the centerpiece of this lavish box that includes 22 outtakes (11 never before released), a concert DVD, coffee table book and new documentary.
[...] the real prize is the original 10-song album the New Jersey singer-songwriter recorded and shelved a year earlier.
The Grateful Dead
Missed the Grateful Dead’s much-heralded 50th anniversary shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field earlier this year or just want to relive every single spaced-out moment?
The 180-gram vinyl versions of the troubled British pop singer’s better-than-you-might-expect 2003 debut, “Frank,” and her breakthrough 2007 release, “Back in Black,” along with companion LPs featuring rarities and live tracks that illustrate her quick rise and fall, along with the posthumous Lioness:
While the extras don’t necessarily justify the price tag, each one serves as an uneven reminder that the world lost a great talent far too soon.
Music fans will pay particular attention to the soundtrack album (both on CD and retro cassette) that features 31 of the tortured Nirvana front man’s home recordings.
Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition, five CDs and one audio DVD for about $70 on Atlantic Records.
[...] “The Complete Matrix Tapes,” four CDs for $44 on Polydor/Universal.
Bob Marley and the Wailers, “The Complete Island Recordings” (Island Records/UME), $235 for standard edition, $650 for collectors’ edition.
Alice Cooper, “The Studio Albums 1969-1983” (Rhino), $79.99.
Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic.
