The 15 best gifts for music fans this holiday season

This year's best CD and vinyl box sets feature artists such as David Bowie, Blondie, Madonna and The Beatles. Or just grab one of these Elton John figurines...

By Stephen Thomas Erlewine  |  November 16, 2022 | 1:00pm
Music Features Madonna
The 15 best gifts for music fans this holiday season
Graphic: Libby McGuire

Try as you may, it’s difficult to keep up with the flood of box sets and collectibles that wash over the music marketplace in a given year—and 2022 has brought more than its share of desirable items for all kinds of fans. Whether you’re shopping for an unrepentant rocker, a new wave refugee, an indie dad, or an amateur guitarist, the perfect gift is waiting out there. Here, The A.V. Club picks the cream of the crop that will suit the needs of the music fanatic in your life…even if that fanatic is you.

Need more help picking out a gift? Check out our TV fans’ gift guide, and our film lover’s gift guide

The Beatles: Revolver
The Beatles: Revolver
Image Amazon

Price: $108.99A strong contender for the best Beatles album, Revolver certainly sports one of the best Super Deluxe Editions from the band. The new Giles Martin stereo remix preserves the feel of the original mono mix (also on the box) while the outtakes provide a revelatory glimpse into the creative process of the Beatles.

Beastie Boys Figures
Beastie Boys Figures
Image Super7

Price: $50Earlier this year, Series 7 released a set of Beastie Boys action figures based on their characters from the “Sabotage” music video. Those sold out quickly—you might be able to scrounge a few up on various retail sites—but this set of figures depicting the feuding robots from “Intergalactic” is no mere substitute: they’re a delightful in-joke of their own.

Blondie—Against The Odds
Blondie—Against The Odds
Image Amazon

Price: $98.99Every note recorded during their trailblazing peak at Chrysalis Records is collected in this handsome box from Numero. All the hits are here, of course, but the real story lies in the unreleased material, ranging from early demos to a cover of the Doors’ “Moonlight Drive.”

David Bowie: Divine Symmetry
David Bowie: Divine Symmetry
Image Amazon

Price: $119.98Hunky Dory is where found his footing as a recording artist, delivering such early masterworks as “Changes” and “Life On Mars?” Over the course of four CDs and one Blu-ray, Divine Symmetry traces Bowie’s journey to Hunky Dory by running through songwriting demos, live performances, and remixes, including the rare BowPromo, a promotional record released in the hopes of stirring record label interest.

The Cure: Wish (30th Anniversary)
The Cure: Wish (30th Anniversary)
Image Amazon

Price: $19.56The Cure’s poppiest album, bearing the hit single “Friday I’m In Love,” is given a generous 13th anniversary overhaul. Fittingly, it’s a triple disc set, containing a new remaster of the album, a full disc of 21 demos—nine of which are previously unreleased songs—then a collection of remixes and oddities from the time, including the Lost Wishes EP, which was previously available only as a mail order cassette.

Guns N Roses: Use Your Illusion I & II [Super Deluxe]
Guns N Roses: Use Your Illusion I & II [Super Deluxe]
Image Amazon

Price: $202.99The twin albums Guns N Roses delivered as their sequels to Appetite For Destruction in the fall of 1991 are given an appropriately overblown Super Deluxe Edition filled with re-created tour memorabilia and a weighty hardcover book. The main attraction are two complete concerts from the Use Your Illusion tour: a warm-up gig at the relatively intimate the Ritz in New York City and a splashy stop in Las Vegas a few months later.

The Kinks: Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s In Showbiz
The Kinks: Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s In Showbiz
Image Amazon

Price: $17.39 [CD] | $161.79 [Vinyl]Individually, the first two albums the Kinks released under their RCA contract in the early 1970s are distinctive, rewarding records. Paired together on this gorgeous, gigantic box set, their idiosyncrasies are illuminated and deepened with a wealth of bonus material, videos, a hardcover book, and assorted tchotchkes.

Lego Fender Stratocaster
Lego Fender Stratocaster
Image Amazon

Price: $99.90You don’t need to be a luthier to build your own Fender Stratocaster thanks to this ingenious Lego set which allows you to construct a miniature re-creation of a 1970s Strat complete with whammy bar and six distinct strings. To complete the effect, the set also offers a mini 65 Princeton Reverb amp with removable panels.

Madonna: Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones
Madonna: Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones
Image Amazon

Price: $23.01Warner’s comprehensive reissue campaign kicks off with Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, a triple-disc collection chronicling all of the singles she took to the top of the Billboard dance charts. This presents a different portrait of Madonna than The Immaculate Collection, showcasing a fearless artist who stayed on top of trends through her long career.

Joni Mitchell—The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)
Joni Mitchell—The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)
Image Amazon

Price: $37.93 [CD] | $108.99 [Vinyl] hit her creative stride once she signed with Asylum Records in 1972. The stately For The Roses arrived that year, followed by the sumptuous smash Court and Spark in 1974, the double-live album Miles Of Aisles and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, the 1975 record where she fully embraced jazz. All are newly remastered and housed in a handsome box, available either as CDs or vinyl LPs.

NECA: Elton John Live in 1975 Figure
NECA: Elton John Live in 1975 Figure
Image NECA

Price: $99.99Elton John’s dazzling pinnacle of stardom preserved in the form of a doll: NECA’s limited edition figure captures Captain Fantastic decked out in his custom Los Angeles Dodgers uniform that he wore during his two night stint at Dodger Stadium in 1975. The doll comes complete with a piano and piano bench, along with a bat, microphone stand and interchangeable heads and hands to allow for a full range of expression.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers—Live At The Fillmore, 1997
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers—Live At The Fillmore, 1997
Image Amazon

Price: $49.99After the solo excursion of Wildflowers, Tom Petty returned to the Heartbreakers in grand fashion, setting up shop at the Fillmore in San Francisco for a 20-night residency. This box—available either as a 4-CD or 6-LP set—captures the Heartbreakers at a mid-career peak, hauling out rarities and playing covers, while inviting such heroes as Roger McGuinn and John Lee Hooker to share their stage.

The Rolling Stones: At The El Mocambo
The Rolling Stones: At The El Mocambo
Image Amazon

Price: $19.59 [CD] | $77.33 [Vinyl]Portions of Live At The El Mocambo leaked out over the years, either on bootlegs or on Love You Live, but the full 1977 captures at the pivotal moment when Ronnie Wood joined as their second guitarist. It’s exciting to hear the Stones figure out to fold Wood into their sound, particularly on an extended set of classic blues covers.

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Image Amazon

Price: $88.63 [CD] | $147.94 [Vinyl]Few albums of the 21st Century have been as well-documented as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the album that got Wilco dropped from their record label only to find a second life on the internet where it provided a weary soundtrack in the days after 9/11. This Super Deluxe Edition adds new wrinkles to this well-told story through 84 unreleased tracks that span demos, alternate tracks and a full live concert given in St. Louis in July 2002.

 
Join the discussion...