Here’s the great thing about the buying gifts for听music nerds: No matter how knowledgable听the ones in your life claim to be (they’ll听蝉补测听they know it all), it’s impossible to get a handle on everything that was released this year.
That’s good news for you. With this guide, you’ll find a curated selection of听diamonds in the rough from another stout year of albums, gear, books and miscellaneous gadgets that you and your beloved audiophile probably didn’t know existed.
Albums
What do you get the Dylan fan who has everything? If not a watercolor painting from his , how about the just-released 36-CD set of every show he ever played in 1966?听It may seem excessive, but if there’s any one year听of Dylan’s so-called Never Ending Tour to catalog, this is it.听It was arguably one of the singer-songwriter’s听most formative periods, just after his听infamous unplugged escapade at Newport Folk Festival in 1965 through the bumpy听transition from an acoustic to an electric guitar. Dylan was joined on this听international tour by a then little-known band called The Hawks, who would later become听The Band. $127.98
If Bob Dylan is too obvious, Ryan Adams’ “Heartbreaker” might be just right. Released in September 2000, Adams was firmly in his Dylan phase here, penning songs like “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High),” his “Like A Rolling Stone,” and “Oh My Sweet Carolina,” which stands alone as Adams’ most plainly gorgeous song. The new four-LP box set collects a remastered version of the original album along with demos, unreleased outtakes and a DVD of previously unseen live听footage. $72.99
Gram Parson’s 1969 Southern soul-country band The Flying Burrito Brothers gave rise to a sub-genre听that provided a link between the home on the range and the wide expanse of stars and galaxies that hung over it come sundown. Most purveyors of the genre — what the obscure music revivalist label Numero Group has classified as听“cosmic American” — didn’t take off, landing with a听thud in sundry bargain bins across the country. This two-LP collection dusts off some of the finer needles in the hay, like Jeff Cowell’s “Can’t Make Nothin’.” $25
The inherently difficult thing about listing music recommendations for a general audience is that your loved one’s听minutely听nuanced tastes will vary from those of your neighbor. If you’d like some personalized recommendations for albums, shoot our music editor an e-mail, and he’ll get back to you with a few ideas: dowens@denverpost.com. Free.
Music Books
You don’t need to know that Ben Ratliff is a well-pedigreed music journalist for The New York Times听to听check out his new manual on music appreciation in the age听of music saturation; you just need to read the introduction. In language and metaphor, Ratliff’s “Every Song Ever”听takes the scenic route, relishing in the subject of听how music from artists听as听disparate as Ke$ha and Benny Goodman share commonalities听as much as he does听writing about it. (On modern listening habits: “The unit of the album means increasingly little to us, and so the continent-sized ice floes of English-language culture that were Beatles and Michael Jackson records are melting into the water world of sound.”) If nothing else, check out the book’s , which highlights if not every song ever, an example of听Ratliff’s encyclopedic knowledge of music’s听far reaches throughout its recent history. $26
The tricky thing about recommending “Born to Run,” the autobiography of one of the most celebrated听everymen of rock music, is that听the Springsteen fan in your life probably already has it. The Boss has collected a rabid base of followers听in the 50 years since he started wrenching out songs, then as just a teenager in Freehold, N.J. “Born to Run”听traces Springsteen’s historically little-known听path from then to now, still selling out massive stadiums around the world and playing well past curfew. He puts on a career retrospective every time he takes听the stage, but for nearness听to the man himself, this听account of how he got here is unbeatable. $32.50
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Adam Haslett’s latest novel isn’t strictly concerned with music — it’s told from the perspective of a family of five, focusing on the eldest child, Michael, who suffers from depression. 听But it is deeply informed by music (as is clued in by an epigraph ), which Haslett writes about, often profoundly, under the guise听of Michael. Haslett proves听frightengly capable in capturing听the sense of duty and purpose in spreading the gospel of a beloved band that’s typical of the听musically obsessed, and through the painful course of the novel, cuts听a sharp figure of their听hearts. $26
Gear
Believe it or not, you don’t have to shell out a month’s rent听to get audiophile-quality headphones. Grado Labs has been making world-class headphones from its Brooklyn outpost for more than 60 years, and the relatively affordable SR80e is no exception. These hand-made, on-ear cans are routinely listed among the best sounding headphones in the $100 range, a price point it owes to听its no-frills approach to design. 听One drawback: They’re open-air听headphones, which means that loud outside sounds can seep in. $100
If you’re going to gift a set of high-fidelity headphones, you might as well pair a headphone amp to go along with it. A portable amp like the CMOY boosts the signal needed to power larger and more complex headphones, allowing them to play music at a quality near听their potential. Lucid Labratories’听CMOY is not only affordable but — thanks to its MacGyver-esque Altoid’s tin case (it also comes in Newman’s Old and plain-old stainless steel) — 听your mustachioed听audiophile hipster boyfriend’s music will not only sound superior, but听he’ll think听he looks superior, too. $30.
Right at the crossroads of fashion and function, this personal听amplifier听is a personal favorite. Weighing in at six pounds, it isn’t a hassle to听take it to the moutains for a plugged-in acoustic session (it features eight effects knobs if you want to get weird) or just play your favorite Bing Crosby jams听via your smartphone through its 3.5mm jack.听Battery powered or plugged into a wall, it sounds and looks phenomenal, mimicing the style of the tube amps of yore — right down to its grate, which glows听orange when switched on.听听$300
Etc.
Shirts from rock history
It’s one thing to wear a band T-shirt; it’s quite another to wear the shirt that that band used to wear. Worn Free recreates the T-shirts music听legends like John Lennon, Blondie, Kurt Cobain and many more wore, and includes a photo of the artist and where they were when they were wearing it. Eat your heart out, guy at the concert who thought he was cooler than you. $35-$50
Why choose between a guitar, synthesizer, violin or a drum pad when you can have ? Well, sort of. That’s the aim of Artiphon’s Instrument 1, a glorified MIDI controller that pairs up听with your smartphone and computer to become whatever instrument you want it to be. It might not have the cut听of a Fender’s metal strings or satisfying give of a piano, but pressure sensors do allow auditory dynamic control听when you’re听strumming, plunking and/or bonking the thing. In the instrument world, it’s a bit of a conundrum: everything and nothing.听In other words, a听perfect gift听for this generation’s musically minded. $400
Write a song
The听most thoughtful gift on this list is also the cheapest. If you have a computer, you have recording equipment, if not听. With Apple’s Garageband (free), which provides a library of looped sound clips to serve as a jumping off point听for your听magnum opus, you don’t even need instruments (although it’s probably best if you know听your way around a guitar or a piano). For the songwriting itself, . You don’t need to hit on a chord听progression that’s never been done before (as if that were possible) or come up with an original melody (just ask Bruno Mars). All you really need is听an hour or two,听a crumb of inspiration, and the trust that the person you’re giving the song to will love you more than you’re embarrassed by it. Then, just rip that sucker onto a thumb drive, wrap it in a bow and pray she doesn’t upload it to Facebook. Free
