2024 holiday gift guide for music lovers

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 (many of which debuted on previous packages) and this set’s highlight, a punchy previously unreleased 1977 concert at CBGBs. 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 songs “American Idiot” and “Letterbomb” (titled “Cluster Bomb” as a demo) with notably different lyrics, and 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.

Gallery • 6 Photos

The cover of David Bowie's "Rock 'N' Roll Star."

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 become one of Canada’s biggest bands gets quite the expanded reissue. The outtakes and demos yield a half-dozen solid unreleased songs, while the concert, “Live at the Misty Moon,” shows that 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 Ziggy Stardust era. The set is bookended by a disc of demos and a disc of alternate versions and outtakes from various recording sessions, most of which had been 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.

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.

Faces: “Faces At The BBC” – The Faces made themselves a regular presence on BBC radio broadcasts. This eight-disc set collects all of the various BBC appearances from 1970 to 1975, providing ample evidence of the Faces’ songcraft and live swagger.

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 original hit album and 1983 concert. But the meat of this set are three discs of unreleased demos, alternate versions of the “Synchronicity” songs, outtakes and bonus tracks.

Weezer: “Weezer 30” (Anniversary Super Deluxe) – This band’s breakthrough release, known as the “Blue Album,” gets expanded to a three-disc box set. Additions include a disc of full-band demos with several songs that didn’t make the album and a slew of live cuts.

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 and more.

Frank Zappa: “Apostrophe (‘) 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe” – Zappa’s first album to hit the top 10 in the U.S. 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.