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PrintMusic and movies to be treasured: Box sets, reissues, and collector’s sets
This story appeared in Buffalo Spree's Annual Holiday Shopping Guide, an annual supplement distributed to all of Spree's subscribers.
Sure, an iTunes gift card is always appreciated. (A Borders gift card, not so much.) But even in this age of Apple, Netflix, and Amazon, there is something special about receiving the physical gift of movies and music. Perhaps it’s old-fashioned, but reading liner notes and tearing off the plastic of a new DVD or Blu-ray gift set is still gosh-darn-fun. So consider these gift ideas for friends, family, and even yourself.
Paul Simon: Songwriter
The shorter half of Simon and Garfunkel is seventy now, somehow or other, and there are plenty of ways to celebrate: His latest studio album, this year’s So Beautiful or So What, scored glowing reviews; Legacy has reissued each of his early solo albums with bonus tracks; and the label has just released a new two-disc compilation of hits and deep cuts called Songwriter. Rhymin’ Simon’s appeal currently extends from grandparents to twentysomething hipsters. And for good reason: He’s responsible for an astounding five decades’ worth of outstanding music, with zero decline in quality over the years. (Sony Legacy, 2011.)—R. E.
Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection
Stanley Kubrick’s post-Paths of Glory classics have finally arrived on Blu-ray in Warner Home Video’s Limited Edition Collection. The set features Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, along with bonus features and a hardcover book. (Warner Home Video, 2011.) —C. S.
Complete Columbia Albums Collections
Sony’s Legacy Recordings has created the perfect gift for the music completist—the Complete Columbia Albums Collections. And as a Legacy fan would expect, it’s a typically fantastic list: the Byrds, Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Aretha Franklin, and more. (Sony Music Entertainment, 2011.) —C. S.
The Criterion Collection: Cul-de-sac, The Killing, Rushmore, Three Colors, and If….
Amongst the world’s cinephiles, waiting to see the announcement of a new Criterion Collection DVD or Blu-ray release is a bit like waiting for Christmas. This year sees some classics coming to Blu-ray for the first time: Stanley Kubrick’s radical heist film The Killing, Roman Polanski’s psychosexual comedy Cul-de-sac, Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy (Blue, White, and Red), Lindsay Anderson’s anarchic 1960s boarding school drama If…., and Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, a wonderfully offbeat story of friendship, rivalry, and youth in revolt starring a never-better Bill Murray. (Criterion Collection, 2011.) —C. S.
The Complete Smiths
Perhaps the Smiths were destined to end quickly, so combustible was the level of talent and personality held by both vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. And end quickly they did, releasing their self-titled debut album in 1984, and their last, Strangeways, Here We Come, in 1987. Those two releases—and literally everything else the band ever recorded—can be found in all of their gorgeous, remastered glory in Rhino’s stunning The Complete Smiths. (Rhino, 2011.) —C. S.
Patti Smith: Outside Society
Patti Smith has come a long way from the hardscrabble days brought to vivid life in her memoir Just Kids. Outside Society, Smith’s first-ever single-disc greatest hits collection, features the expected songs—“Gloria,” “Because the Night”—but also some interesting recent recordings, like the glam-stomp of “Glitter in Their Eyes” and a striking cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” (Sony Music Entertainment, 2011.) —C. S.
The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick’s fifth film, the long-in-the-works epic that is The Tree of Life, should be breathtaking on Blu-ray. With positively stunning visuals and soaring music, the story stretches from three brothers in fifties Texas to, well, the creation of the universe. Whether you love it or hate it, Tree of Life is sure to lead to one heckuva post-viewing discussion. Prepare to ponder. (20th Century Fox, 2011.) —C. S.
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies and Robert Schumann: Complete Symphonies
Two of the world’s greatest living conductors, Colin Davis and Riccardo Muti, have strong new releases on the Newton Classics label. Davis takes the baton for the distinguished Dresden Staatskapelle in the six-disc Beethoven: Complete Symphonies, while Muti conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker for Robert Schumann: Complete Symphonies. (Newton Classics, 2011.) —C. S.
