LITTLE ROCK — Record labels roll out their most expensive products this time of year, tapping their archives to re-release older recordings or issue performances that haven’t been available.
The higher the price tag, the more they try to sweeten the deal with memorabilia, a DVD or two, a fancy booklet with essays and detailed credits and more.
Here’s a look at boxed sets aimed for gift-giving:
Louis Armstrong, The Okeh, Columbia & RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933, Legacy, 10 CDs, $79.99
Few artists are as important to American music as Louis Armstrong. This set’s contents underscore Armstrong’s brilliance beautifully and his profound influence on jazz, blues and popular music.
Focusing on his music as a bandleader, the set includes his work with the Hot Five, the Hot Seven and sessions with pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines. Each disc has replica covers, and there’s superb recording info and an essay by Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi in the booklet.
Two albums capture his work with his orchestra as well as Chick Webb’s; and the box includes a disc of alternate takes - though nothing that hasn’t been released before.
Country fans will want to hear Armstrong and Jimmie Rodgers on a 1930 version of Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel No. 9,” with the composer accompanied by Armstrong on trumpet and his second wife, Lil Armstrong, on piano.
The Rolling Stones, Charlie is my Darling, ABKCO, $24.99 or $99.99; and
The Rolling Stones, Grrr!, ABKCO, three CDs, $29.99
The Stones are celebrating 50 years with two boxes.
Charlie is a 1966 documentary of the Stones’ tour of Ireland, when “Satisfaction” was climbing the charts and the group was hitting superstar status. Director Peter Whitehead captures the band in concert, in motels and with fans.
The film, which was in legal limbo for years, was only briefly released. It has been restored, and additional footage has been found and added. Charlie is available on a single Blu-ray and DVD, both with the new 65-minute version, the original director’s cut and a documentary on the restoration. The boxed set has Blu-ray and DVD discs, two CDs (one a 1965 United Kingdom concert), a 10-inch vinyl record, a poster, a 40-page hardback book of rare photos, essays and reprints of magazine and newspaper articles. For diehard Stones fans, probably a must-have.
Grrr! is a new compilation of Stones hits, with a couple of new tunes. While the material is certainly exceptional rock ’n’ roll, it’s hard to shake the feeling fans are getting a bit soaked here with another repackaging of songs they already own. Do you need it? Only if you don’t have a greatest hits collection.
Heart, Strange Euphoria, Legacy, three CDs, one DVD, $49.99
Heart’s Wilson sisters - Ann on lead vocals, Nancy on guitar - assembled this fascinating collection with an abundance of demos, live recordings and some unreleased material. Ann Wilson may well have been the best female rocker since Grace Slick; Wilson’s vulnerability shows even with the anthemic production.
Some highlights include a live “Never” with John Paul Jones, a demo of “Desire Walks On” and a blistering “Barracuda” from a BBC concert. The DVD is a wonderful 1976 concert.
Michael Jackson, Bad: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Legacy, three CDs and one DVD, $49.98
Thriller was the commercial triumph of Michael Jackson’s career, but some feel Bad surpassed it in terms of his singing. Now, 25 years later, Bad still sounds formidable.
Contents include a remastered version of the album and a live CD and DVD from the Bad tour’s Wembley Stadium show. Extras? Demos and unfinished recordings are a welcome respite from the sheen of the final productions. The spare arrangements of “I’m So Blue” and “Don’t Be Messin’ Round” shine, while the very dark “Price of Fame” is especially compelling. The evolution of “Al Capone” into “Smooth Criminal” engages.
Peter Gabriel, So: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Real World, three CDs, $27.99
This is a fabulous reissue of art-rocker Peter Gabriel’s best-selling album, his first that took an accessible approach to songwriting. The breakthrough single and music video, “Sledgehammer,” is powered by a Memphis soul feel; “In Your Eyes” and the tender “Don’t Give Up” (with Kate Bush) are still compelling.
What will really excite fans is the unreleased 1987 concert from Athens, Greece, that accompanies it. The two CDs are superb in performance and sound quality. The four-disc version ($134.99) of this set includes a DVD of the concert and other goodies.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 50th Anniversary Collection, Legacy, four CDs, $59.99
This veteran assembly is, in many respects, the embodiment of traditional New Orleans music. This set of well-chosen tunes is a great introduction to this vital band.
Ben Jaffe, son of longtime leader Alan Jaffe, took a nonchronological approach to sequencing this set. It’s not seamless, but there’s no arguing with the music itself, which includes wonderful renditions of “Oh Didn’t He Ramble,” “St. James Infirmary,” “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In,” “I Ain’t Got Nobody” and more.
There are some jewels in the unreleased material, including a cool “Nellie Grey” that Ben Jaffe found after Hurricane Katrina. Guest artists such as Jim James, Andrew Bird, Pete Seeger and Tom Waits enliven the set.
Paul Simon, Graceland 25th Anniversary Edition, Legacy, Columbia/Legacy, two CDs, two DVDs, $119.98
This set is a prime example of how to make a great album even better. Graceland was, perhaps, a most unlikely success, with its fusion of American pop and South Africa’s township jive. The box includes a superb book, a fine remastered version of the album, demos, a DVD of the wonderful film Under African Skies about Simon’s going to apartheid-era South Africa, and a DVD of the finale of Simon’s 1987 Graceland tour with Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela.
Various artists, Surf Age Nuggets, RockBeat, four CDs, $59.99
This box should bring out cries of “cowabunga!” from surf music fans. For most of us, that’s meant the hits of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean from the late 1950s and early 1960s. But there is another side of the genre ... instrumentals, usually with twangy guitars and lots of reverb, maybe a touch of saxophone.
Obscure? Mostly, though there’s a lot of good music here by bands outside the mainstream with names like the Rik-a-Shays, Surf Teens and Chiyo & The Crescents. E-mail:
Style, Pages 45 on 12/09/2012