2009 Oldies Holiday Gift Guide

Sure, you have a friend or loved one who also loves the Beatles. And you've already gotten him or her that Rock Band game and the remastered stereo LPs. But unlike other rock bands, the Beatles made entirely different mixes for the single-channel standard rather than just remixing from stereo. Which means that this collection, featuring all their mono lps and 45s up till Abbey Road, when mono was discontinued, actually features completely different (and, many fans say, better) mixes of all these classic songs. Moreover, sound quality's improved so much that the mono vs. stereo argument is almost invalid. And the faithful reproductions of the mono albums -- right down to labels and liner notes -- will soothe the collector in him. (Or her.)

Yes, other wall calendars can offer you Elvis is all his glory. But it's staged, pre-packaged glory. After 1957, Colonel Tom Parker, the King's manager, kept as tight a rein on images of his meal ticket as he did the music and movies, and, as a result, the real Elvis, whoever he was, was lost. But Alfred Wertheimer, fashion photog and wannabe photojournalist, followed Elvis around in his first blush of fame, snapping pics on and offstage, catching Elvis in unguarded moments, using "available light" -- in short, doing everything he could to give us Presley raw and unrefined. Yet still beautiful: this 16-month calendar offers up exquisite black and white elegance that the King's storied charisma fairly jumps through.

Blue-eyed soul's longest-lasting duo didn't switch labels as often as some of their contemporaries, but they did it often enough to make their 70s, 80s, and 90s output hard to get in one place. Enter this collection, which takes four full CDs to chronicle their evolution from gentle folkies to soul brothers to rock stars and finally, into their most famous electropop phase. The songwriting's consistent throughout, and the duo's shared love of Philly Soul -- the only constant between them, really -- is what holds the material together. A fitting document of a sadly underrated team.

If that special someone turned the big 5-0 this year, here's a great way to celebrate their half-centennial: a look back at 1959, the year they were born. Done in yearbook style (complete with a blank dedication page, so you can personalize it), each two-page spread offers the fun facts, news, music and fashion of just one month in '59, along with a calendar-style inner motif that pegs down the important events day-by-day. From Castro to the Coasters, from the White Sox to Xerox, it's all here!

Back in the days before entertainment went viral, new songs still had more than one way to make their presence known, and the process was probably more word-of-mouth than it even is over the internet! This book details the stories of an astounding 690 songs by 411 artists of the last half-century, and asks the tough questions: not only does it query the songwriters and artists on how their muses worked, it asks the music industry professionals just what it took to convince the world. A rock trivia lover's goldmine!

If your loved one labors under the misapprehension that disco was John Travolta's invention, or if he also shakes his head at people who think that, help them out by giving copies of this 474-page monster. New York music journalist Vince Aletti was there when disco began around 1973, and he not only wrote about it in weekly columns for Record World, he complied charts of the most popular dance tracks and interviewed the up-and-coming figures on the scene while they were still up-and-coming. As a result, some have taken to calling this the definitive report from disco's heady, decadent, underground days.

Finally available in English and in the US, this graphic novel by internationally renown "comic" artist Kliest focuses on the Man in Black during his most rebellious days, taking the POV of a Folsom Prison inmate and skillfully weaving in illustrated versions of Cash's own lyrics to tell his '50s and '60s stories. The concert itself is also documented, as are flashback's to Johnny's youth -- all a way of describing the darkness of the title, an anger and frustration that all too often threatened to destroy everything the country legend loved.

"Beyonce as Etta James" was the industry tag that got this baby made and got it to sell (somewhat -- at least the soundtrack did). But there's a lot more to this fictionalized tale of Chicago's legendary Chess Records: it may play fast and loose with the actual facts, but Mos Def's Chuck Berry and, especially, actor Jeffrey Wright's astounding take on Muddy Waters are the real treats here. And since most folks didn't get to see it in the theater, this blu-ray version will offer you or yours those sonic revelations just fine in the comfort of your own home. (Theater.)

Lyricist Mercer's one of the leading names in that storied Great American Songbook. And you've already sung along to him, whether you know it or not: "Moon River," "That Old Black Magic," "Come Rain Or Come Shine," "One For My Baby (and One More For The Road)." But what makes him worthy of his own lyrical coffeetable (or Kindle) book is not just how well his words work on the page, but how little they strain at it: lacking the wit of, say, a Cole Porter, Mercer got his juice from an imagery that was truly poetic. Example: "Like painted kites, those days and nights went flying by... the world was new, beneath a blue umbrella sky."

Perhaps the most resilient of the many UK style movements, this '60s expression of sharp dress, pop-soul, and cute scooters keeps popping up in generation after generation on both sides of the pond. Author Feldman has done her work on the original explosion, but also traces its aftereffects to an "idealized modernity" that has directly affected today's youth around the globe -- as well as using marketing and style to break free from class and society norms entirely.