TOP PICK
U2: The Unforgettable Fire (25th Anniversary
Edition)
(Mercury)
U2’s atmospheric 1984 album celebrates its silver anniversary with a
three-disc set that adds a CD of leftovers and a DVD filled with videos
and live footage. It’s aged well. Once seen as a moody and pretentious
misstep, Fire — which includes “Pride (In the Name of
Love)” and “Bad” — today sounds like the band’s bridge to world
domination.
CD
AC/DC: Backtracks
(Columbia)
This three-CD, two-DVD box gathers a bunch of live and studio
rarities that span the veteran rockers’ entire career. The “Family
Jewels Disc 3” DVD — which includes a bunch of videos and
in-concert songs — is cool, but it’s the outtakes that will have
fans shaking all night long. Best are songs from the original
Australian albums with Bon Scott that were left off U.S. releases.
CD
Fela: The Best of the Black
President
(Knitting Factory)
Over the next year and a half, nearly four dozen albums by the
Afrobeat star will be released as part of a new reissue campaign.
That’s a lotta Fela. This two-disc, 13-track intro pulls some of the
most essential cuts from those records. Best of all, it includes a DVD
featuring fiery live performances by the politically active Nigerian
(who died in 1997). You’ll eventually want to dig deeper.
CD
David Bowie: Space Oddity (40th Anniversary Special
Edition)
(Virgin/EMI)
Bowie’s 1969 freak-out is the first of many albums where he would
adopt a persona. Here it’s a psychedelic folkie who sat through Stanley
Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey way too many times. To celebrate
the record’s 40th anniversary, this two-disc reissue adds 15 songs,
including demos and BBC performances. The legend begins here.
CD
Genesis Live 1973-2007
(Rhino)
This 11-disc box mixes live albums from both the Peter Gabriel and
Phil Collins eras, indulging in the band’s storied stage history. Even
though they transformed into a pop machine after Gabriel left, Genesis
remained a prog-rock powerhouse in concert. The box includes fan faves
like Seconds Out and Three Sides Live plus previously
unreleased bonus tracks.
CD
Dolly Parton: Dolly
(RCA Nashville/Legacy)
This four-disc box gathers nearly 100 songs from Parton’s long
career, going all the way back to a single she recorded in 1957. But
it’s her evolution during the ’70s — from country-music hitmaker
to Top 40 superstar — that gets to the heart of this great set.
Classics like “Coat of Many Colors” and “Jolene” continue to
influence.
CD
Nirvana: Bleach (Deluxe Edition)
(Sub Pop)
Nirvana’s debut celebrates its 20th anniversary with an expanded
reissue that tags on a complete 1990 live show from Oregon, where they
cover and own the Vaselines’ “Molly’s Lips.” You can hear traces of the
band that would revolutionize music a couple years later on the best of
Bleach‘s messy punk ramblings, like “Blew” and “About a
Girl.”
CD
Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert —
40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set
(ABKCO)
The Stones’ 1969 Madison Square Garden concerts (which were released
on record a year later) celebrate their 40th anniversary with a
four-disc set that includes previously unreleased performances by the
band plus a live DVD. There’s also a CD featuring music by B.B. King
and Ike & Tina Turner, who opened the shows. The Stones never made
a better live album.
CD
The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998
(Warner Bros.)
Before he started making music for your grandma, Stewart was one of
the planet’s greatest rock singers, which he proves repeatedly on this
four-disc box. There’s plenty of previously unreleased material from
his peak ’70s period. Best: early and alternate versions of “Maggie
May,” “You Wear It Well” and “The First Cut Is the Deepest.”
CD
Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets
1965-1968
(Rhino)
The fourth Nuggets box zeroes in on L.A., spotlighting a bunch of
bands freaking out on the garage- and psych-rock scenes. There are tons
of groups you probably never heard of (Penny Arkade? London Phogg?),
and many you should know (like the Standells, Love and the Bobby Fuller
Four). The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Doors also show up.
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2009.