Charlie Christian
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'TIS THE SEASON for giving, or so they say—and what better way to show you care than to give that special someone the complete works of Lefty Frizzell or Porter Wagoner? Sure, multidisc box sets aren't a substitute for genuine love and affection, but for most music geeks, they'll probably do just as well.
As we move deeper into the digital age, labels big and small are increasingly digging into their vaults and churning out more and more archival releases to satisfy even the most dedicated completist. From jazz to post-punk, country to electronica, the following selections should include something for everyone on your shopping list.
GRANT GREEN
Retrospective 1961-1966
(Blue Note; 4 CDs)
Anyone who thinks St. Louis' "dirty south" sound started with Nelly, listen here. Within the pantheon of the good groove, blues-picking guitarist Grant Green was the Hammond B-3 organ combo's best friend, a jivey jazz baby with a predilection for the funk who acted as such, whether he led a unit or backed the likes of Blue Note's finest brass and reed men (Lee Mobley, Lee Morgan). So advanced were his driving, down-under picked licks that Green's sounds have been sampled by the likes of Us3 and Madonna. Starting with the midnight blues of "A Foggy Day," Green and a diverse palate of organists—Larry Young, Jimmy Smith, John Patton, Jack McDuff —kick into the ringing swing of "Funky Mama," and join drummer Elvin Jones for dusky rhythmic rides on "Talkin About J.C." and "My Favorite Things." Green can be heard in straight jazz sessions, tackling everything from Miles and Monk to the angled-odd gospel of "Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho." But for Green's fickle fingers, it was always back to the blues, whether down ("The Lamp Is Low") or up ("Minor League") tempo.
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN
The Genius of the Electric Guitar
(Legacy/Columbia; 4 CDs )
Forget jazz. Forget blues. Or rock. In 1937, Charlie Christian invented electric guitar playing. Whether it was for Anna Mae Winburn's Oklahoma City orchestrette, Benny Goodman's jamming sextet, or his own stint at Minton's—the hallowed hall of jazz—Christian took the little-known instrument and made it sing cunningly and rhythmically, without the corn or hokum of its acoustic brethren. Like hearing Robert Johnson, loudly, for the first time, you get past the whistle and hiss to hear Christian's patrician plucking against Goodman's graceful bleating on tunes like "Till Tom Special" and "Wholly Cats" or the crusty balladeering of "I'm Confessin'" and "Memories of You." With hornlike glee (certainly inspired by his buddy Lester Young), Christian makes the body electric sing its own moody song, from an irksome slow tune ("These Foolish Things") to some dusty blues (one of a dozen takes on "Six Appeal [My Daddy Rocks Me]") and beyond. Everyone who's ever grabbed a six-string owes Charlie Christian. This box is your opportunity to pay up.
NEW ORDER
Back to Mine
(Phantom; 1 CD)
Retro
(Qwest/Rhino; 4 CDs)
Anyone who thinks of New Order as the less-emotive son of Joy Division would do well to listen here. In a time of modern-rock-dance, the Brit quartet bent the line between house and heavy-lidded electronic rock. The single-disc Back to Mine collection offers NO as "curators," remixing inspirational tunes (Captain Beefheart's blustery "Big-Eyed Beans"; the messy electro of Mantronix, Cat Stevens, Missy Elliott, Can, and Patrick Cowley's take on "I Feel Love"). Meanwhile, the career-spanning box set Retro too is curated. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie (live soundboard material), two U.K. journalists (studio sessions), and Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering (heavy mixes) give the inventive quartet context, placing hits, irksome experiments, and forgotten tracks into one gene pool through which to wade. The proceedings start to get hot when Pickering digs out trippy remixes (John Robie's "Shell Shock," Silk Hurley's "Fine Time") before getting downright sweaty for the revelation of Gillespie's passion-filled live volume. Surprisingly, these never-heard tracks—particularly "Age of Consent"—prove New Order to be synth-soulful and devastatingly instinctive as live players, adding more weight to their watery muzak than imagined.
ELTON JOHN
Greatest Hits 1970-2002
(Universal; 3 CDs)
When he's not busy with Billy Joel, buying things, or guest-starring on Will & Grace, Elton John makes grandiloquent piano-pop, the likes of which—"Rocket Man," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"—will never be written again. It'd be churlish to say that he and his oblique lyricist Bernie Taupin used to do that; despite often-heard claims that John dried up in the mid-'70s, some of the best moments on Hits (significantly the only collection to gather work from his entire career), like "I Want Love," are from the past few years.
DWIGHT YOAKAM
Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years
(Rhino; 4 CDs)
Like mentor Buck Owens in his time, Yoakam transfixed and transformed smooth countrypolitan sounds into hard, honky-tonk, hits, a glorious noise—slow and sour, blustery or ballady—that current country is in desperate need of. Neither as dull as most No Depressioneers or as sprightly as the young/Old 97's of the world, the twangy singer/songwriter made flagrantly fiery shit-kicking originals (1986's "Guitars, Cadillacs . . .") and Cali-conjunto-inspired tunes ("Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room," "Carmelita") that held as much spunk as those of the heroes (Elvis, Merle) and punks (Clash) he covers within. Along with several smooth, achy duets with Kelly Willis and a nearly skiffled-out version of "Mercury Blues," there's a nifty batch of demos from 1981—the kind of white-riotish noise and lump-in-your-throat Dixie heartbreak you wish every jukebox would play.
