Music Lovers 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

This year hasn’t been quite as prolific for box sets and other special deluxe reissues, especially compared to last year’s bounty of such sets. Still, if you’re looking for Christmas gifts for music fans on your list, 2024 produced several good options. Here are the sets that stood out.

Elvis Costello: “King Of America & Other Realms” -- This six-CD set documents Costello’s fruitful long-running partnership with producer T Bone Burnett, anchored by his 1986 album “King Of America.” That excellent album marked Costello’s foray into Americana music before it was called by that title. The set supplements “King Of America” with unreleased solo demos, and a full 1987 concert featuring “King Of America” songs and some cool covers performed by Costello and his backing band, the Confederates (which included guitarist James Burton and bassist Jerry Scheff from Elvis Presley’s TCB Band, drummer Jim Keltner, keyboardist Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and T-Bone Wolk on accordion and mandolin). Then three more discs compile songs -- both released and unreleased -- that come from later Costello projects that fit stylistically with the “King Of America” material, much of which was produced by Burnett. Taken together, this set suggests that Costello’s roots in blues, country and soul run considerably deeper than even his fans may realize, and his command of these styles is every bit as strong as his signature talent for punkish rocking pop.

Talking Heads: “77” -- This three-disc reissue of the Talking Heads’ debut album goes well beyond the 2005 reissue, adding a disc of alternative versions of songs from that early period of the band’s career and this set’s highlight, a punchy previously unreleased 1977 concert at CBGBs. As for the outtakes, most have been released on other packages. But the alternate versions of “Pulled Up” (supplemented with a lively horn arrangement) and an edgier, slightly extended version of “Psycho Killer” with a different second verse are new to this set. This is a good document of the album that introduced one of the most unique bands to the rock world.

Green Day: “American Idiot - 20th Anniversary Edition” -- Green Day’s best and most ambitious album is celebrated over four discs with this deluxe edition. In addition to the original 22-song conceptual opus, it includes a concert on the “American Idiot” tour from Irving Plaza in New York, 14 previously released outtakes, bonus songs and b-sides and 15 “American Idiot” full-band demos. There are some revelations among the demos, starting with alternate versions of the song “American Idiot” and “Letterbomb” (titled “Cluster Bomb” as a demo) with notably different lyrics, a very surprising and very different version of “Homecoming” that sounds even more like a “Tommy”-era Who track than the version on the album. Plus, there’s a trio of worthy tunes -- the snappy “Everyone’s Breaking Down,” the anthemic “Just Another Year” and the amped-up “Lowlife” -- that didn’t make the original album. 

The Tragically Hip: “Up To Here” -- The 1989 debut album that introduced the Hip’s taut straight-ahead rock sound and launched the group’s rise to becoming one of Canada’s biggest bands gets quite the expanded reissue. In addition to the original album, this three-CD set yields a half-dozen solid songs that hadn’t surfaced before -- including the potent outtakes “She’s Got What It Takes,” “Rain, Hearts and Fire” and “Wait So Long” and the full-band demos “When The Weight Comes Down” and “Hailstone Hands Of God.” Topping things off is a full concert, “Live at the Misty Moon,” that shows even early on, the Hip were a formidable live band. 

David Bowie: “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star!” -- This five-CD/1 Blu-Ray set explores Bowie’s creation of his Ziggy Stardust persona and music. The set is bookended by a disc of demos and a disc of alternate versions and outtakes from various recording sessions, most of which were unreleased. Three other discs compile various radio, TV and concert performances and contain some shining moments. If you’re a fan of the Ziggy era, this is a deep dive you’ll want to take.  

Faces: “Faces At The BBC” -- One of the greatest bands of the 1970s, the Faces made themselves a regular presence on BBC radio, which broadcast a bunch of concerts and live performances. This eight-disc set collects all of the various BBC appearances in studio and concerts from 1970 to 1975, providing ample evidence of the songcraft and live swagger of the band led by Rod Stewart and Ron Wood.

Joni Mitchell: “Archives Vol. 4: The Asylum Years 1976-1980” -- Mitchell continues her unpacking of unreleased material from her vault. This set covers the period during which the studio albums “Hejira,” “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter” and “Mingus” -- on which Mitchell explored a fusion of jazz and her established folk sound -- were released. “Archives Vol. 4” has a healthy number of solo demos and studio outtakes and is heavy on live material. It all makes for another excellent collection from Mitchell’s back pages.

Miles Davis: “Miles In France 1963 & 1964 -- The Bootleg Series Vol. 8” -- The latest dive into the deep vault of Davis concert recordings showcases the trumpeter’s newly formed “second great quintet” -- saxophonist George Coleman, bassist Ron Carter, keyboardist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams -- at three concerts in 1963 and two more concerts in 1964 in Paris after Wayne Shorter had replaced Coleman. The ensemble shows dazzling musicianship and a melodic jazz sound that both entertained and challenged audiences.

The Police: “Synchronicity” (Super Deluxe Edition) - This 6-CD set includes the previously released original hit album and a 1983 concert from Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. But the meat of this set are three discs of unreleased demos, alternate versions of the ‘Synchronicity” songs, outtakes and bonus tracks (including a cool different version of “O My God” and a stinging and clever transformation of “Every Breath You Take” into “Every Bomb You Make”). 

Weezer: “Weezer 30” (Anniversary Super Deluxe) -- This band’s breakthrough release, known as the “Blue Album” hits the 30-year mark with a three-disc box set. Highlights include the original album, a disc of full-band demos that includes several songs that didn’t make the album (the frenetic “Paperface,” the scruffy “Thief, You’ve Taken All That Was Me” and the heavy and slightly chaotic “I Can’t Forget This Way”) and a slew of live cuts, some of which are surprisingly raw and rough.

John Lennon: “Mind Games” (The Ultimate Collection) -- This immersive six-CD set follows similar treatments of Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band” and “Imagine” albums, with multiple mixes of the songs, alternate takes from the recording sessions and more.

Frank Zappa: “Apostrophe (‘)” (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe) -- Zappa’s first album to hit the top 10 in the U.S. -- and featuring the famous single “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” -- gets the deluxe treatment with session outtakes and two concerts from 1974.

The Rascals: “It’s Wonderful: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings” -- This seven-disc package includes all of the albums the Rascals released on Atlantic Records between 1966 and 1971 -- the peak years of this underrated band’s career -- plus a handful of outtakes.

The Yardbirds: “The Ultimate Live at the BBC” -- This set compiles three discs of performances from the Jeff Beck lineup, while a fourth features Beck’s replacement, Jimmy Page. It serves as a pretty comprehensive alternate anthology of the Yardbirds output from 1965 to 1967, while illustrating the group’s growth as a live act.