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Seeing as how it is Black Friday, you are probably not reading this.
No, instead, you are snug in bed, having awoken in the wee hours of the morning to stalk the aisles of local department stores for marked-down prices and limited inventory, you canny bargain hunter, you. But if you failed to take advantage of the early morning specials, Craven is here with his annual gift advice, which may help you find the perfect presents for the obsessive music geeks in your life.
If your geek gets especially rapturous over dark, literate singer-songwriter fare, then you'll be saying “Hallelujah!” for the new box set from Leonard Cohen, the “Complete Studio Albums Collection.” Each of Cohen's 11 studio releases are included, remastered from the original analog master tapes, and packaged in “mini-LP replica” CD sleeves. The set also comes with a booklet jam-packed with liner notes and biographical and discographic information. Whether your loved one prefers the gentle introspection of early works like “Suzanne” and “Bird on the Wire” or apocalyptic later songs like “Everybody Knows” and “The Future,” he or she will find much to love in this reasonably priced package.
If it's prog-rock that floats your loved one's boat, then get ready to dish out about $125 for the new “Immersion Edition” of Pink Floyd's best-selling “Dark Side of the Moon.” Over the course of six CDs, the band that made millions glamorizing anomie and misery dole out multiple versions of their classic album, as well as various books, collector cards, prints, ticket replicas -- even coasters and a scarf! The real find here is the long-unheard quadraphonic mix of “Dark Side” that was engineered by Alan Parsons and which, in many places, is quite different from the more common stereo mix.
Almost out-prog-rocking Pink Floyd is the astonishing “Smile Sessions Box Set” from the Beach Boys. The casual pop fan will probably be surprised to hear the sort of restless psychedelia found herein coming from a band better known for its well-scrubbed “good time” persona. But Brian Wilson was never more musically bizarre — or deeply imaginative — as during the months of 1966 and 1967, when he was working on this hitherto unreleased masterpiece. This amazing five-CD collection is a revelation for Beach Boys neophytes and experts alike, and is appended with a positively daunting amount of information regarding the recording of the world's best-known “lost” album.
If it's sheer excess that excites your holiday homey, then get ready for Elvis Costello's upcoming limited edition box set, “The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook.” Although it will cost you a benjamin more than the Beach Boys' set, “Spinning Songbook” only offers a single CD, a single DVD and a single 10-inch vinyl EP, capturing two nights of Costello's “Spinning Songbook” tour in May of this year. But in addition to the music, your loved one will get a 40-page hardbound book, a poster, an Elvis autograph — and the knowledge that he or she is only one of 1,500 lucky owners of this singularly expensive package. Whether this box set brightens your Black Friday or not, it is sure to lighten your wallet — to the tune of $250.
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Notes is supported by the Gay and Lesbian Fund, committed to building a better future for all of Colorado by supporting programs that keep kids in school.
Craven Lovelace produces Notes, a daily cultural history of popular music, for KAFM 88.1 Community Radio, kafmradio.org. You can visit cravenlovelace.com for more of his musings on the world of popular culture.
No, instead, you are snug in bed, having awoken in the wee hours of the morning to stalk the aisles of local department stores for marked-down prices and limited inventory, you canny bargain hunter, you. But if you failed to take advantage of the early morning specials, Craven is here with his annual gift advice, which may help you find the perfect presents for the obsessive music geeks in your life.
If your geek gets especially rapturous over dark, literate singer-songwriter fare, then you'll be saying “Hallelujah!” for the new box set from Leonard Cohen, the “Complete Studio Albums Collection.” Each of Cohen's 11 studio releases are included, remastered from the original analog master tapes, and packaged in “mini-LP replica” CD sleeves. The set also comes with a booklet jam-packed with liner notes and biographical and discographic information. Whether your loved one prefers the gentle introspection of early works like “Suzanne” and “Bird on the Wire” or apocalyptic later songs like “Everybody Knows” and “The Future,” he or she will find much to love in this reasonably priced package.
If it's prog-rock that floats your loved one's boat, then get ready to dish out about $125 for the new “Immersion Edition” of Pink Floyd's best-selling “Dark Side of the Moon.” Over the course of six CDs, the band that made millions glamorizing anomie and misery dole out multiple versions of their classic album, as well as various books, collector cards, prints, ticket replicas -- even coasters and a scarf! The real find here is the long-unheard quadraphonic mix of “Dark Side” that was engineered by Alan Parsons and which, in many places, is quite different from the more common stereo mix.
Almost out-prog-rocking Pink Floyd is the astonishing “Smile Sessions Box Set” from the Beach Boys. The casual pop fan will probably be surprised to hear the sort of restless psychedelia found herein coming from a band better known for its well-scrubbed “good time” persona. But Brian Wilson was never more musically bizarre — or deeply imaginative — as during the months of 1966 and 1967, when he was working on this hitherto unreleased masterpiece. This amazing five-CD collection is a revelation for Beach Boys neophytes and experts alike, and is appended with a positively daunting amount of information regarding the recording of the world's best-known “lost” album.
If it's sheer excess that excites your holiday homey, then get ready for Elvis Costello's upcoming limited edition box set, “The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook.” Although it will cost you a benjamin more than the Beach Boys' set, “Spinning Songbook” only offers a single CD, a single DVD and a single 10-inch vinyl EP, capturing two nights of Costello's “Spinning Songbook” tour in May of this year. But in addition to the music, your loved one will get a 40-page hardbound book, a poster, an Elvis autograph — and the knowledge that he or she is only one of 1,500 lucky owners of this singularly expensive package. Whether this box set brightens your Black Friday or not, it is sure to lighten your wallet — to the tune of $250.
-------------------------------
Notes is supported by the Gay and Lesbian Fund, committed to building a better future for all of Colorado by supporting programs that keep kids in school.
Craven Lovelace produces Notes, a daily cultural history of popular music, for KAFM 88.1 Community Radio, kafmradio.org. You can visit cravenlovelace.com for more of his musings on the world of popular culture.
