The gift of song: Books, boxed sets and DVDs for audiophiles
There is always an oddity, a rehearsal take or an unheard anecdote that comes to light and is packaged for the first time every Christmas season.
For the music fan, box sets, coffee-table tomes and DVDs provide additional windows into their favorite artists plus others they may have known little about in the first place.
Here is a look at the best new offerings available this season for the savvy music consumer.
Box sets
Frank Sinatra, "A Voice in Time 1939-1952" (Sony Legacy)
Like Elvis Presley, Tupac Shakur and other lamented icons, there seems to be an endless supply of repackaged product from Frank Sinatra. The singer's six decades of music continues to be sliced, diced and re-introduced from the vaults in varying formats. This season delivers this four-CD box collecting his formative years at RCA Victor and Columbia. Sinatra became today's equivalent of a rock star in that period, not just for teenage bobby-soxers but to the generation of servicemen located overseas hungry to hear what hope sounded like at home. Starting as the vocalist for bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey and later becoming the standard bearer for American classics, Sinatra in these years helped transition American popular music from jazz elegance to pop buoyancy. This box set makes that change obvious through its timeline; it also includes unreleased radio airchecks and a few alternate takes.
U2, "The Joshua Tree: Re-mastered" (Island/Universal)
Twenty years ago U2 entered the sports stadiums with this career-defining album, now honored over four separate deluxe editions. "The Joshua Tree" turned the Irish band into highbrow entertainers, serving the world American blues, country and gospel with cinematic depth. The luxurious sound of the album is the result of a perfect marriage between the evocative soundscapes of collaborator-producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno and Bono's weighty lyrical passages. The result was commercial bliss: "The Joshua Tree" won an album of the year Grammy and sold more than 20 million copies. Before the excesses and misfires of future albums, the naivete of this music is what makes it perfect.
This reissue features a re-mastered album available over four formats. The first is a standard CD including unseen photographs from tasteful cover shooter Anton Corbijn. A vinyl addition features the album across two 180-gram discs. A two-CD version includes B-sides, live versions and demos from the "Joshua Tree" sessions, most of which is already previously released.
The fourth is the motherlode -- the two previous CDs plus a DVD that includes a band documentary, 90-minute 1987 outdoor concert in Paris and videos for "Red Hill Mining Town" and "With Or Without You." The visuals demonstrate exactly why U2 was the perfect band in the waning days of MTV. The documentary is the most egregious, as it features Bono and the boys slumming it in dive bars, trying on western wear, strolling the streets of Las Vegas and generally aping American desolation with tourist curiosity. The band's self-importance feels like a sham all these years later. No doubt the Southwest has been mythologized by its share of poets, novelists and destitute songwriters. But for a mega-successful rock band to pose as miners (the "Red Hill Mining Town" video), pretend to hitchhike along a desert highway or play Hank Williams covers to Houston rubes, exercises video exploitation in the name of authenticity. Couldn't the music be enough?
The real bounty of this edition is the live concert where the band delivers only that. Despite the outdated fashion -- Bono's mullet, Edge's braided ponytail -- the band shows why the live stage is where the band thrived.
Luther Vandross, "Love, Luther" (Epic/J Records/Legacy)
This soul music giant died of a stroke in 2005 and left behind almost four decades of recordings that, despite the shiny synthesizers and outdated drum sounds, showcase one of music's most elegant voices, ever. This four-CD box set surveys his earliest days, including his times front bands Luther and Charme to unreleased demos, sublime for their stripped-down, piano-voice setting. Time is not linear as this box shifts back and forth, through various styles (disco, jazz, some funk) and production techniques, but the remaining constant is the vocal, which transmits everlasting love with softness and class. Included in this box are the duets with Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Beyonce and others. But the best moments are the ballads, particularly when covering Burt Bacharach's "A House is Not a Home" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart."
R.E.M., "Live" (Warner Bros.)
R.E.M. lost the fire in its belly with the departure of original drummer Bill Berry in 1995. For an overview of what the band turned into since then is this live two CD/DVD set, the band's first in its 17-year career. The 22 tracks on the CD cover the band's entire year, from its murky jangle pop origins ("Don't Go Back to Rockville") to the monster hits of the 1990s ("Man on the Moon").
David Bowie, "David Bowie" (ISO/Columbia)
Most David Bowie fans cling to the classic rock staples from the glam rock era and tend to ignore anything after. Which is too bad considering that Bowie's late career has been a revival of sorts, with music just as provocative. This new box set collects his last five albums -- "Outside" (1995), "Earthling" (1997), "'…hours'" (1999), "Heathen" (2002) and "Reality" (2004) -- and couples them with companion discs of respective outtakes, remixes, soundtrack fodder and rarities. The back-to-back uncovering reveals obvious standouts ("I'm Afraid of Americans," "Thursday's Child," "New Killer Star") that hold up with his most familiar hits. Bowie's reunion with past collaborators Brian Eno and Tony Visconti results in heavy electro-beats married to pop melodies that are big and swooning. Moby, Nine Inch Nails, Beck and others try their hand at remixes and they have good source material: These criminally ignored songs show Bowie at his epic best.
Various, "The Brit Box: U.S. Indie, Shoegaze and Brit-Pop Gems of the Last Millennium" (Rhino)
The British Invasion certainly has been well documented in film and through countless reissues, this British-themed box takes several steps forward to survey the U.K.'s indie music scene from 1984-2000. While Americans were immersed in MTV metal and later grunge, the British were producing forward-thinking bands that incorporated big house beats, noise and psychedelic textures. Although all the well-known hitmakers are here, this box also pays attention to those who only earned cult status in the U.S., particularly Suede, Swervedriver, Happy Mondays and Ride. Also featured are interviews and essays from monster producers Stephen Street (Smiths, Blur) and Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, U2) among others.
Various, "Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration (Stax/Atlantic)
The legendary Memphis soul label Stax enjoyed a bit of rejuvenation this year, thanks to the opening of a new museum and studio, a PBS documentary and a reunion of some of the label's founding artists at the South By Southwest Music Festival in March. The music is captured on this handsome two-CD set featuring all the essential hits from rostermates Rufus Thomas, Isaac Hays, Otis Redding, The Staple Singers and others plus rediscovered gems from lesser-known artists (Jean Knight, Linda Lyndell) known best for the songs they immortalized ("Mr. Big Stuff," "What a Man").
Genesis, "Genesis 1983-1998" (Rhino/Atlantic)
The companion to the first cube-packaged collection of Genesis albums released earlier this year this year, both timed to accompany the band's recent reunion tour. This set surveys the band's years as a commercial powerhouse, which ultimately petered out starting with "Genesis" (1983), one of their best albums, followed by a blockbuster "Invisible Touch" (1986), the MTV-friendly but irritating "We Can't Dance" (1991) and the nominal post-Collins album "Calling All Stations" (1997) featuring unknown Ray Wise on lead vocals. Each CD is packaged with an accompanying DVD of rarities, tour footage, television appearances and interviews. A fifth CD collects eight unreleased songs plus a 40-minute live performance from 1983 and an acoustic reunion performance in 2000.
Books
Jim Walsh, "The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting" (Voyageur Press)
The Replacements, one of the most beloved bands in rock history, need a proper biography and this isn't it. Instead, Twin Cities music writer Jim Walsh assembles a 267-page oral history, in which band associates, family, fans, critics and the band itself, comment on what made The Replacements such a lovable, enduring band and why, perhaps rightly so, they never achieved commercial momentum.
His book is an entertaining, quick read of passionate testimony from insiders competing for who was there earliest and which show was the drunkest -- revelations that, for the rest of us who didn't live in the area in the early 1980s, will bore of soon enough. But the book matters when the fan love is set aside and the talking heads discuss what makes a rock band great may be the same things that makes them impermanent. Clearly, the Replacements, who made seven albums between 1981 and 1990, influenced many lesser bands in their wake, a frustrating but too often scenario that has both destroyed lives and immortalized others.
For the Replacements, it was the latter. Like any band gone mythic long after finishing time, their songs executed the private thoughts, dreams and desires of a wider public, which, despite the sloppy shows and desire for destruction, made the band underdogs. Perhaps the most revealing moment in the book is in Walsh's beautifully written introductory essay. He remembers calling up Westerberg when both of them were teenagers and living at home. When he asks Westerberg what he'd been up to, he replies he was listening to Joni Mitchell's "Blue." After the noise, the fights and the alcohol, it sums up why everyone still champions the Replacements: They were punks with sensitive hearts.
Ken Mansfield, "The White Book: The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider's Look at an Era" (Thomas Nelson)
Another Christmas season, another book on the Beatles. This newest is penned by Ken Mansfield, the U.S. manager of the band's Apple Records label and one of the few people who can claim he stood on the same London rooftop while the band played their farewell performance in 1969, captured in the film "Let It Be." Although the writing tends to overdue the Beatles clichés ("Capitol had just handed me a first-class ticket to ride on a long and wonderfully winding road …), Mansfield lends an insider perspective into the financial grappling that would eventually lead to Paul McCartney suing the rest of the band, the unconventional business climate at Apple, his informal job escorting the Beatles through L.A. nightlife and the recording sessions behind "The White Album." For long-suffering Beatles fans managing their way through towers of books, this one offers fresh stories right from the source.
Rick Johnson, "The Rick Johnson Reader: 'Tin Cans, Squeems & Thudpies'" (Mayfly Productions)
Rick Johnson died in 2006 and left behind a legion of rock writers and fans mourning his passing. Like Lester Bangs and other first generation rock writers who got a free pass to rant and rave at magazines like CREEM (where Johnson wrote between 1975-88), Johnson injected his music reviews with humor and razor-edged wordplay and was not afraid to knock idols off totems and put marginalized heroes in their place. The reviews in this posthumous collection provide zippy reads, plus reveals how conservative rock writing has become in their wake. Proceeds from the book benefit a journalism scholarship fund at Western Illinois University, where Johnson learned his chops. Besides the usual online vendors, it can be purchased for $14.99 plus $2 shipping from Mayfly Productions, P.O. Box 380, Elmwood, IL, 61529.
Leslie Simon, Trevor Kelley, "Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture" (Harper Collins)
If the terms Dickies, Donnie Darko and Hot Water Music have you scratching your head, this is the book for you. Just as those preppie guidebooks simultaneously mocked and celebrated 1980s mainstream culture, this easy read, written by staffers from Alternative Press, offers eyeliner culture to readers accompanied by a smirk and a wink. Unsure how to date an emo girl? Want to remedy your blog with emo slang? What are popular emo text message abbreviations you should know? Which are the top emo eateries in New York? These questions, plus the essential emo albums, are revealed.
DVDs
Shakira, "Oral Fixation Tour' (Epic)
Her hips don't lie, live. A complete 90-minute concert, plus a bonus CD of the live performances.
Various, "Larger Than Life: A Celebration of Steve Goodman and His Music" (Red Pajamas)
Performances from a 1997 concert tribute to the late Chicago singer-songwriter, featuring covers by Iris Dement, Todd Snider, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris and John Prine.
Ramones, "It's Alive 1974-1996" (Rhino)
The title says it all -- Two discs of live performances by the late and lamented punk originators. Featuring songs from as early as 1974 at CBGB's to an Argentinean sports stadium in 1996, with globe-trotting cuts from Sweden, England, Finland, Italy and all points between.
Nirvana, "Nirvana Unplugged" (Universal)
The legendary acoustic performance from 1993 finally gets a DVD reissue, featuring two songs -- "Something in the Way" and "Oh Me" -- that were never aired originally. The DVD also features five unreleased rehearsal performances and interviews with parties who were there.
Carey & Lurrie Bell, "Getting' Up Live" (Delmark)
This brother-and-son, harmonica-and-guitar team from Chicago married the city's first and second generations of blues players. This DVD collects 2006 live performances from Rosa's Lounge, Buddy Guy's Legends and Lurrie's living room, where the duo performed acoustically, perhaps their best incarnation.
Son Seals, "A Journey Through the Blues: The Son Seals Story" (Vizztone/Sagebrush)
Son Seals was one of Chicago's most exciting and original guitar players in the 1970s and 1980s, but the following decade fell on hard times due to domestic trauma, business disputes and diabetes, which he succumbed to in 2004. This documentary follows his rise from Southern poverty to the world stage.
Eddy Clearwater, "Live" (Cleartone Records)
Chicago's most entertaining guitarist performs live from a 2006 show recorded at the Rawa Blues Festival in Poland.
Johnny Cash, "The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show 1969-1971" (Sony Legacy)
Television hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scrubs" may be the last-ditch outlets for new artists to get a break, but 30 years ago the one-hour variety show had them beat. The most star-studded was that hosted by Johnny Cash, whose weekly broadcast from Nashville's Ryman Auditorium not only showcased bluegrass icons and country music's finest, but also gave air time to Nashville outsiders who otherwise would have stayed outside the genre gates.
This two-DVD set is a treasure trove of performances that span genres, age, ethnicity and time. Credit the host for playing second fiddle to his guests, harmonizing with Joni Mitchell, singing along with Louis Armstrong's trumpet or stepping in with Derek and the Dominos. The nearly four hours of music is a historic marathon -- here you'll find Bob Dylan in his "Nashville Skyline" era, nervously conceding to father figure Cash, and Ray Charles in the midst of his groundbreaking country and western phase.
But despite the chances Cash took with his show, the DVD set is a keepsake of knockout performances, including Jerry Lee Lewis in his prime, George Jones sailing smoothly through a melody of signature hits and Neil Young delivering a stoned silent version of his junkie anthem, "The Needle and Damage Done." The collection is hosted by Cash protégé Kris Kristofferson and features interviews from show participants. Even after all the Cash tributes following his 2003 death, this is proof not just of his musical greatness, but of his generous spirit, too.