Giving sights and sounds

Buying a gift for that music lover on your list should be easy this year. There's no shortage of new books, DVDs and CDs out there.
By JOHN PATRICK GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
OU'VE GOT TO HAND IT TO the music industry. Faced with revolt from a younger demographic that would rather download music for free than move away from their computer screen, hop in a car, step into a record store and buy a CD instead of an Xbox game, it's attempted to make compact discs more desirable by including loads of bonus material. For everyone else, it's a matter of throwing a bit of everything out there -- new studio albums, repackaging older titles, compilations, greatest hits and box sets -- in an attempt for a ripple effect of sales.
At least the saying that music is the gift that comes in just the right size still applies. Here's a taste of music-related goods that came out in 2003. Hopefully, you find something for that person who is hard to shop for. Or maybe this will give you an idea of what to do with your holiday bonus.
BOOKS
It's been a relatively quiet year with no major releases, but some interesting choices are out there.
Coffee table books are available for fans of very different styles.
"According to the Rolling Stones" is a large collection of quotes from Stones members, minus Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor. Similar to the Beatles "Anthology," the book allows readers to catch a glimpse of the group's history and inner conflicts.
"Tupac: Resurrection" coincides with the Tupac Shakur CD and film of the same name, which documents the rap star's life in his own words.
"Lennon Legend" is a lovingly produced hard-bound book with slipcase and photos of rare artifacts of John Lennon's life pre- and post-Beatles. It's written by Jim Henke, chief curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and contains a CD with Lennon's quips and stories.
"Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip" chronicles not just the legendary San Francisco band in a heavily illustrated manner, but it also sheds light on the psychedelic era and more.
Released last year, Dennis McNally's history of the band, "A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead," is now out on soft cover. So is the biography of Neil Young, "Shakey," as well as Nirvana's doomed front man Kurt Cobain's "Journals," which includes additional pages from his private notebooks.
Just out is "Jambands: The Complete Guide to the Players, Music and Scene," which acts as an easy reference for fans of the improv-heavy musical genre as well as providing a glimpse for the uninitiated. It also includes a CD representing some of the bands discussed in its pages.
For those looking for a classic rock fix, there's "KISS: Behind the Mask: The Authorized Biography" and an intellectual musing on the Boss, "Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, The Poet Singing." Also out are biographies "In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr." and "Me and Bobby D.: A Memoir," about a pre-solo success Bobby Darin.
Akron writers David Giffels and Jade Dellinger concentrate on their hometown new wave heroes in "Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!"
DVDS
With compact disc sales dipping and DVD sales rising, it made sense that 2003 would offer more opportunities to see and hear your favorite artists.
The PBS series, "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues -- A Musical Journey" has been packaged in a seven-disc set, telling the story of the very American genre, its metamorphosis into new styles thanks to new locations and players, influence on the British scene of the 1960s and continuing validity in the 21st century on the equivalent of seven feature length films and more than three hours of special features. More than a dozen compact discs were released in conjunction with the series, covering individual artists as well as a five-disc audio box set featuring various acts.
Documentary may not be the appropriate word to describe "The Kids Are Alright." Basically, it's a joy ride following the career of the Who just before drummer Keith Moon's death, made by a fan with the good fortune of procuring rare treasures (an excerpt from the Rolling Stones' unreleased "Rock and Roll Circus") to recording some of the last performances of the original lineup.
"Led Zeppelin" is filled with nothing more than performances throughout the '70s. It doesn't matter that the two-disc set doesn't follow one complete show. The rare footage shows why the quartet was frequently referred to as the greatest band in the world. (A double-live CD, "How the West Was Won," emphasizes the group's highly regarded status as a live act.)
There could be arguments that one of these three acts currently reigns as the greatest band in the world. The Rolling Stones' is a four-disc set that compiles shows from the band's Forty Licks Tour at different venues (theater, arena and stadium). It's available only at Best Buy. Bruce Springsteen & amp; the E Street Band give fans "Live in Barcelona," an interesting choice of location, although, similar to the early part of his last tour, the material relies heavily on "The Rising." It may not have the impact of its Red Rocks concert, but "U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle Ireland" does provide enough emotional leaps to overcome the hyperactive editing and direction. Fans should read the liner notes before viewing to understand some of the jokes and subtext.
Hip-hop fans have "OutKast: The Videos" available. It's a compilation of clips from the duo's decade-long career. It includes an extended version of "Hey Ya," from its multiplatinum 2003 album, "Speakerboxxx -- The Love Below."
Applying a sense of historical perspective, there's "The Central Park Concert" featuring the Dave Matthews Band's recent benefit concert there in September. A three-disc CD is also available. Guitarist Warren Haynes was a special guest that night. He and his band, Gov't Mule, are featured on the two-CD, one-DVD set "The Deepest End." It's a long musical celebration with more than a dozen guest artists, including Roger Glover of Deep Purple, Bela Flecck of the Flecktones, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, joining them onstage.
"Concert for George" presents an all-star tribute to George Harrison, which took place one year after his death. Coordinated by Eric Clapton, it highlights Harrison's solo career and supplies emotional moments by ex-bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and others. A two-disc CD is also available.
Offering a musical and visual synopsis of the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the highly successful 3 1/2-day event that took place in Manchester, Tenn., last June is "270 Miles from Graceland -- Live from Bonnaroo." Besides magnificently edited clips that match the ebb and flow of the material by such diverse acts as the Allman Brothers Band, the Flaming Lips, Medeski Martin & amp; Wood, the Polyphonic Spree, Sonic Youth and more, there is a second disc featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with a select number of the more than 80 artists on the bill. A two-disc CD also offers an aural sampling of the event's participants.
Finally, there's "The Closing of Winterland," a document of the final night of the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, which was run by promoter Bill Graham, who is deceased. It contain a four-hour-plus set by the Grateful Dead, live performances by the Blues Brothers and New Riders of the Purple Sage and interviews that took place that night, plus new ones discussing that moment.
CDS
Some new releases did come out this year, but it seems as if a large amount of product focused on repackaging past goods with bonus material and putting out artist compilation and greatest hits discs.
If they weren't one of the millions who bought it earlier this year, rap fans should be happy with 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin," which is ending up on a number of year-end best of lists. Then there's Jay-Z's pre-retirement release, "The Black Album," Ludacris' latest "Chicken N Beer" and Eminem's prot & eacute;g & eacute; Obie Trice's debut ("Cheers").
"Speakerboxxx -- The Love Below" by OutKast and Missy Elliott's collection "This Is Not a Test!" proved that you don't have to play by the rules to create something that's a creative and commercial hip-hop success.
Mixing hip-hop with their R & amp;B, Ashanti ("Chapter II"), Mary J. Blige ("Love & amp; Life") and Beyonce ("Dangerously in Love") found success earlier this year. Multiple Grammy winner Alicia Keys offers her second album, "The Diary of Alicia Keys." Not gaining as much attention was the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin and her latest, "So Damn Happy," and Al Green with "I Got to Stop."
Rod Stewart made a concerted effort to strike gold (again) with "As Time Goes By ... The Great American Songbook: Volume II," the sequel to his easy listening disc covering American standards such as the title track, a duet with Queen Latifah and "I Only Have Eyes For You." Other crooning competitors include Michael Buble's self-titled debut, Josh Groban's (opera-meets-Michael Bolton styled) "Closer." Then, there are holiday contributions from Harry Connick Jr. ("Harry For the Holidays") and Buble's "Let It Snow."
The pop world tried in vain to revive its place in the music world with divas such as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears adhering to the idea that any publicity is good publicity to push their respective releases "Stripped" and "In the Zone." Then there are several singles and various artist releases based on the "American Idol" program with Clay Aiken ("Measure of a Man") and Ruben Studdard ("Soulful") putting out solo discs.
Fans of a more sophisticated brand of pop may find satisfaction in the latest by Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan ("Afterglow"), Dido ("Life For Rent") and Barenaked Ladies ("Everything to Everyone").
Classic rockers should seek out the much-undervalued releases by Steve Winwood ("About Time") and the Allman Brothers Band ("Hittin' the Note"). Also available are new studio albums by Styx ("Cyclorama") and Boston ("Corporate America"), a triple live release from Rush ("Live in Rio") and "Let It Be ... Naked," a trimmed down version of the Beatles album minus the lavish contributions by producer Phil Spector.
Metal fans were treated to a lot of goodies from major label artists such as Metallica ("St. Anger"), Iron Maiden ("Dance of Death"), Linkin Park ("Meteora" and "Live in Texas"), Korn ("Take A Look in the Mirror"), Marilyn Manson ("The Golden Age of Grotesque") and Limp Bizkit ("Results May Vary"). For those who wanted something a little rougher, they were probably tuned to MTV2's "Headbangers Ball" to check out the likes of Hatebreed ("Rise of Brutality"), while those who seek something a little more adventurous could find pleasures from Voivod's "Voivod" and KMFDM's "WWIII."
Pearl Jam whet fans' appetites with the rarities and b-sides double-disc collection, "Lost Dogs." Jane's Addiction resurrected with "Strays" and revived Lollapalooza. The tour also featured Audioslave, promoting its self-titled debut.
Emocore and pop punk artists continued to thrive with Dashboard Confessional ("A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar"), Brand New ("Deja Entendu") and Thursday leading the way for emotional rockers, while blink-182's self-titled major label debut and MXPX ("Before Everything & amp; After") knocked out short but sweet numbers.
Garage rock still made an impression with Detroit's the White Stripe's "Elephant" winning over more fans on both sides of the Atlantic, which is not to be confused with the band Elefant and its debut disc, "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid," that takes influences from the '80s such as U2 and the Cure and cultivates them in an inspired manner. The Strokes' sophomore effort ("Room On Fire") showed few drastic stylistic changes, just more hooks on more songs, and Jet ("Get Born") mastered the formula to a predictable yet memorable result.
Releases by artists with Northeast Ohio connections offered a variety of approaches to rock, metal and jazz. They included Youngstown's the Infidels ("All for Nothing"), Cleveland's Michael Stanley ("The Ground"), O.A.R. ("In Between Now & amp; Then") featuring Liberty's Jerry DePizzo on saxophone, Howland's Joe Augustine (both on his "Jazzscapes" and "Home for the Holidays" with Youngstown Symphony Orchestra), Kent's Party of Helicopters ("Please Believe It"), Akron's the Black Keys ("Thickfreakness"), Cleveland heavy metal acts Mushroomhead ("XIII") and Chimaira ("Impossibility of Reason"), Youngstown's Glass Harp ("Hourglass") and the "Leonardi Legacy" CD by Youngstown State University jazz studies alumni in memory of department founder Tony Leonardi.
In country music, you were either for or against the Dixie Chicks, which means you are or are not interested in the trio's two-disc live set, "Top of the World Tour." Toby Keith took his macho patriotism to the top of the charts, even co-opting the military term for the Iraq war on "Shock'n Y'all." Johnny Cash's posthumous box set, "Unearthed," gathered four CDs of unreleased goods, one a compilation of his past American recording discs and displayed the depth and power of his final music sessions.
The year brought out a list of high-powered artists putting a knife into their catalog sales by releasing best of collections -- R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, Steve Miller, No Doubt, Counting Crows and Rod Stewart. Most of them spiced things up with one or two new songs or packaging that included a bonus DVD.
Bruce Springsteen put out another compilation to sit next to his "Greatest Hits" on record store shelves. "Essential" is a two-disc retrospective that includes on its initial pressing a third disc of rarities.
Sony records made a major push this year with its "Essential" series, offering single and two-disc albums encapsulating an artist's career. For those hard to please types who are interested only in the familiar, the music series presents the "hits" plus a little more to feed the brain. While the concentration of releases was centered on the rock genre (the Clash, Janis Joplin, the Byrds, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Heart and Bob Dylan), it included country (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Mary Chapin Carpenter), R & amp;B (Earth, Wind & amp; Fire and Luther Vandross), folk (Leonard Cohen), easy listening (Tony Bennett and Barbara Streisand) and jazz (Miles Davis).
MCA records whittled down an artist's career further by presenting many more of its midline priced 20th Century Masters series of discs.
At the same time, that label and others associated under its corporate umbrella expanded a few older titles with demos, live tracks and unreleased goods Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Sonic Youth's "Dirty," Joe Jackson's "Night and Day," Donna Summer's "Bad Girls," John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Diana Ross' "diana."