Prince: ‘1999’ Box Set
The Purple One crossed over to the pop chart in a big way with the highly successful “1999,” which featured top 20 singles in the title track, “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious.” The five CD+DVD super deluxe box set contains the first-ever main album remaster, 35 previously unreleased tracks, promotional mixes, B-sides, a 1982 Detroit concert recording and an unseen Houston show filmed the same year.
Cost: $53.38; standard CD, LP configurations available
Live: ‘Throwing Copper: 25th Anniversary’ Box Set
One of the biggest rock releases of the 1990s, the Pennsylvania band’s hard-hitting second major label album sold 8 million copies and topped the Billboard 200 chart. It spawned five top-20 hits on alternative radio (including “Lightning Crashes,” “Selling the Drama,” “I Alone”) and was a mainstay at stations like KROQ and X103.9 FM for more than a year. The deluxe box set edition features the original running order and three bonus tracks on two LPs and one CD. A second CD adds the band’s incendiary set from Woodstock ’94.
Cost: $89.99; single CD, LP, colored vinyl collector configurations available
‘Country Music — A Film by Ken Burns: The Soundtrack’ Box Set
If you’ve ever gone to the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, seen some old timers perform in the Palomino or Mustang tents and wanted to examine their roots, this box set is a good place to start. Taken from “Country Music,” the fascinating multi-part PBS documentary and history lesson on the genre, this box set is divided into five CDs relating to each segment.
Cost: $54.55; two CD, two LP configurations plus DVD combo packs available
Information: amazon.com, pbs.org
STOCKING STUFFERS
STOCKING STUFFERS
‘Playing Back the ’80s: A Decade of Unstoppable Hits’ Book
Author Jim Beviglia adeptly reveals the origin stories to 65 hit singles and radio faves from the 1980s via interviews with artists, producers, session players, writers and others. Presented in chronological order by chart peak, this fun book features pop and rock tunes like Gary Numan’s “Cars,” Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Pina Colada Song),” Devo’s “Whip It,” Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” Metallica’s “One” and Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” among others.
Cost: $37 hardcover; $35 eBook
Information: amazon.com, rowman.com
‘Yesterday’ Blu-ray, DVD
This charming, underrated 2019 feature stars newcomer Himesh Patel as a struggling U.K. musician who suddenly wakes up after a worldwide power outage to find that nobody has ever heard of The Beatles. So, he passes off the Fab Four’s songs as his own and becomes an overnight sensation. Kate McKinnon, Lily James and actual hitmaker Ed Sheeran co-star.
Cost: $17-$23
Information: amazon.com
B-52’s: ‘Cosmic Thing: 30th Anniversary Edition’ CD
“Tin roof! Rusted.” Anyone vaguely aware of 1980s pop music will recognize that lyric from the major B-52’s hit “Love Shack.” This newly remastered edition of the zany Athens, Georgia party band’s most successful album — also including top-30 charters “Roam” and “Deadbeat Club” — comes with some B-sides and remixes. Disc 2 has a previously unreleased 1990 concert recorded in Texas.
Cost: $19
Bruce Springsteen: ‘Western Stars — Songs From the Film’ CD, LP
As seen in the magnificent recent motion picture release, The Boss performed all the songs from latest solo album “Western Stars” in his New Jersey barn with an orchestra and band (including E Streeter wife Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell on a few songs). Since the studio album was inspired by the pop music of Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell, it’s only fitting that Springsteen shot a cover of the latter’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” especially for the film.
Cost: $12-$27
Information: amazon.com
A version of this article originally appeared in the Orange County Register, LA Daily News, Press Enterprise and other SCNG (SoCal News Group) newspapers last month.
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