THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

In addition to being one of those gay men who need a Queer Eye For The Queer Guy overhaul, I was also born deficient in the shopping gene. So when it comes to the holidays, I go into automatic anxiety mode. Fortunately, I know that music makes a wonderful gift and give it as often as possible. What follows are some suggestions regarding box sets, hits packages, reissues and benefit discs.

There are bound to be more than a few country music fans on everyone's holiday gift list and some recent collections are suitable for stocking stuffing. Seventy-year-old living country legend Willie Nelson sings original compositions and cover tunes on the expanded Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be) (Columbia/Legacy), including 'Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,' 'Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,' 'Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground,' and 'On The Road Again,' among others.

Just a few degrees separate Jessi Colter from Willie Nelson; in the late Waylon Jennings (Colter's husband), they found a frequent collaborator. An Outlaw … A Lady: The Very Best of Jessi Colter (Capitol) contains four Colter/Jennings collaborations, a Jennings reference in the song 'You Hung The Moon (Didn't You Waylon?),' as well as 'I'm Not Lisa,' Colter's original 1975 hit single. Paving the way for Colter and other female country artists was Patsy Cline. The newly remastered Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits (Chronicles/MCA Nashville/Decca) features the original 1967 album artwork as well as expanded liner notes.

Several artists in the insurgent country scene joined Jon Langford and The Pine Valley Cosmonauts to make their voices heard for the worthy causes of The Illinois Coalition Against The Death Penalty and The National Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty on the double-disc set The Executioner's Last Songs – Vol. 2 & 3 (Bloodshot). The all-star musical activist cast includes Mark Eitzel, Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms, Diane Izzo, Rebecca Gates, Rhett Miller, Kurt Wagner and others.

Albums by a number of artists have been reissued in a variety of formats and also make respectable gifts. Short Sharp Shocked (Mighty Sound), singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked's long out of print 1988 masterwork is now available in a double-disc set. Disc one contains the original album which includes such outstanding tunes as 'When I Grow Up,' '(Making The Run to) Gladewater,' 'If Love Was A Train,' and the album's unforgettable centerpiece, 'Anchorage.' Disc two is a variety pack of covers and Shocked originals.

With Taboo, the musical about gay pop icon Boy George opening on Broadway, and a new wave revival simmering under the radar, what better time than now to rekindle our love affair with Culture Club. Expanded reissues, with a minimum of four bonus tracks apiece, of Culture Club's first three albums—Kissing To Be Clever, Colour By Numbers and Waking Up With The House On Fire (Virgin)—are the ideal gift for someone old enough to have been there and for those too young to have experienced Culture Club. The bonus tracks ('Time [Clock Of The Heart]' and its instrumental counterpart 'Romance Beyond The Alphabet' on Kissing…, the live track 'Melting Pot' and the title track on Colour…, and the two songs from the Electric Dreams soundtrack, 'Love Is Love' and 'The Dream,' on Waking Up…) make these reissues good gifts.

The works of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, two of the most important and influential songwriters of the late 20th century, are available in new formats. Fifteen of Dylan's albums, ranging from 1963's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan to 2001's Love And Theft, have been reissued in the SACD format (Super Audio CD), and mid-'70s masterpieces Blood On The Tracks and Desire (Columbia), sound especially good and are sure to delight any Dylan fan.

Dylan also figures into the four-disc box set Joni Mitchell: The Complete Geffen Recordings (Geffen/Chronicles). A demo version of 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue,' is one of three previously unreleased bonus tracks (the others are demos of 'Good Friends' and 'Two Grey Rooms'). Stunning in its simplicity, this essential and long-awaited box set puts all of Joni's Geffen recordings—Wild Things Run Fast (1982), Dog Eat Dog (1985), Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm (1988) and Night Ride Home (1991)—back into circulation. Each disc is in its own original album art sleeve and the 84-page booklet includes the corresponding album graphics, as well as song-by-song commentary and a biting and brutally honest opening essay by Joni titled The Lost Years, in which she lashes out (and rightfully so) against the 'dungeons of Geffen Records.' Like Mitchell and Dylan, James Brown and Donna Summer crossed genres and boundaries to make indelible marks in music. The somewhat premature 50th Anniversary Collection (Polydor/UTV) is a double-disc compilation of 50 essential James Brown tracks beginning with 1956's 'Please, Please, Please' and concluding with 'Static, Parts 1 & 2,' from 1988. No matter where you stand on the subject of Donna Summer (me, I still feel betrayed), it's impossible not to take note of her pop music contributions, and the two-disc set The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer (UTV/Mercury) includes 18 examples, along with two new recordings. The second, bonus disc consists of five extended dance remixes and should make any disco devotee dizzy.

Music from the '70s almost always makes a popular and appreciated gift.

It's been 30 years since the release of the first Bruce Springsteen album and few artists have maintained the level of consistency and status of The Boss. The extraordinary triple-disc set The Essential Bruce Springsteen (Columbia) is a testament to that fact.

Gangster of love and space cowboy, '70s guitar god Steve Miller has expanded his 25-year-old greatest-hits package to include 1982's 'Abracadabra,' among others, on Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits (Capitol) by Steve Miller Band. Living up to its title The Very Best of The Eagles (WSM), the 33-track double-disc package not only includes every track from Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Eagle's Greatest Hits Volume 2, in addition to some extra classics, but there are also a pair of cuts from the band's 1994 comeback album Hell Freezes Over and a new song titled 'Hole In The World.' A special limited edition bonus DVD consists of the 'Hole In The World' video and outtakes from the making of it, as well as 'backstage pass' to Farewell 1. Few bands are more associated with the '70s than Abba. The DVD edition of Gold: Greatest Hits (Polar/Polydor/ Chronicles) includes three previously unreleased music videos, the documentary Abba-The History, and 19 Abba-holic favorites.

At the same time that Joni, Dylan and Abba were helping to make the era a memorable one, the '70s were coming to a close with the birth of punk rock. The 100 tracks on the four-disc box set No Thanks!: The '70s Punk Rebellion (Rhino) are a combination of classic tracks by The Ramones, The Clash, Patti Smith, The Jam, Blondie, The Damned, Buzzcocks, Television, The Stranglers, Elvis Costello and lesser-known acts of the era such as The Boys, Subway Sect, Penetration, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Alternative TV, The Slits and others. Kudos to the compilers for including a song ('2-4-6-9 Motorway') by openly gay punk rocker Tom Robinson Band. Talking Heads, initially linked with the American punk rock scene, eventually evolved into a band which incorporated funk, dance, country and world music elements into its ever-expanding palette. The gorgeously packaged Once In A Lifetime (Sire/Warner Brothers/Rhino) is the highly anticipated box set that consists of 55 tracks from the band's eight studio albums and one live album and is a wonderful documentation of the essential contributions made by Talking Heads. Storytelling Giant, the DVD portion of the box set, improves on the 1988 video collection with the addition of three more videos.

The '70s also introduced us to sister act The Roches, a trio of harmonizing siblings named Maggie, Terre and Suzzy, who wrote and sang some of the zaniest, but lovely, folk-based songs you've ever heard. The Collected Works of The Roches (Rhino/Warner Brothers) assembles 19 of the threesome's '70s, '80s and early '90s tunes, including 'The Married Men,' 'Love Radiates Around' (on which they explored electronic instrumentation) and their stunning take on 'The Hallelujah Chorus.'

I mentioned both Michelle Shocked and punk rock above, which makes this as good a place to tell you that Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg (Elektra/Rhino) would make an appropriate gift for the musical radical on your list. Like Shocked, Bragg weaves a folk protest style into his music while embracing a punk sensibility. Often compared to Woody Guthrie, Bragg even went so far as to collaborate with Wilco on a pair of albums featuring the work of Guthrie, tracks from which are included on this expansive collection. You will also find 'A New England,' 'Levi Stubbs' Tears,' 'Help Save The Youth Of America,' 'Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards,' and, of course, the pro-gay 'Sexuality,' to name only a few, as well as 10 more tracks on a third bonus rarities disc.

In the 15 years since R.E.M. signed to Warner Brothers, after releasing a string of acclaimed, groundbreaking albums on I.R.S. in the early to mid-'80s, the band's sound, its unique trademark, evolved and expanded into an entity unlike any other. Led by sexually ambiguous, and later out, front-man Michael Stipe, R.E.M. went from college radio heroes to full-fledged cult status in a reasonably short period of time. In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 (Warner Brothers) collects some of R.E.M.'s most commercially successful recordings, including 'Man On The Moon,' 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?,' 'Losing My Religion,' 'Orange Crush,' 'Stand,' and 'Everybody Hurts,' in one place. 'Drive,' shows up in an edgy live version on the enhanced Rarities and B-Side bonus disc, which also features an acoustic rendition of 'Pop Song `89,' a few more live tracks (including 'The One I Love'), a pair of demos and alternate versions, and the late William S. Burroughs performing 'Star Me Kitten,' among others. 'Bad Day' and 'Animal,' two new songs, round out the timely selections.

This Left Feels Right (Island) by Bon Jovi is subtitled, 'greatest hits with a twist.' The twist being that the members of Bon Jovi went into the studio and re-recorded a dozen of their heavy-metal rockers in stripped-down versions. An ideal gift for the Bon Jovi fan who must have everything by the boys from New Jersey or for the person who admired them from a distance, proclaiming, 'Why must they play so loud?'

I remember being surprised at the time, that Bob Seger's greatest-hits album wasn't released until 1994, almost 20 years after his biggest chart success. Ten years later, we have Greatest Hits 2 (Capitol) by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, which makes up for the skimpiness of that first (single disc) collection with the inclusion of 'The Fire Down Below,' 'Beautiful Loser,' 'Katmandu,' 'Shame On The Moon,' and 'Rock And Roll Never Forgets,' to mention a few.

The holidays are also a good time to remember those who are no longer with us, and you can also do that with music. Picking up where the super successful 2002 collection 30 #1 Hits left off, Elvis: 2nd To None (RCA/BMG) assembles 28 more Elvis Presley hits, throws in the previously unreleased 'I'm A Roustabout' and repeats the remix formula with Paul Oakenfold's remix of 'Rubberneckin'.' More than 25 years after his death Elvis remains with us in one way or another.

Jerry Garcia's passing in 1995 has done little to dampen the spirits of Deadheads the world over. A single-disc collection, The Very Best of The Grateful Dead (Warner Brothers/ Rhino) draws from the Grateful Dead's Warner Brothers and Arista Records albums.

The Best of The Concord Years (Concord) is a double disc collection of the songs of the late Rosemary Clooney. Clooney recorded two dozen albums for the Concord label and 32 of them, including 'God Bless America/They Can't Take That Away From Me,' from 2002's live disc The Last Concert, have been compiled in this set.

The unique and original work of the late Warren Zevon has been celebrated at least three times in hits collections and best of anthologies. The Wind (Artemis), Zevon's brave and bold final effort, which includes a devastating reading of Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door,' released shortly before his death in September of this year is proof that music is the gift that keeps on giving. Even with a loss such as Zevon's passing, we will still be able to hear his voice for years to come. You can remember him any way you want, whether raising a ruckus (with the aid of Bruce Springsteen on 'Disorder In The House') or saying goodbye in his own style (the stunning 'Keep Me In Your Heart').

As he did as a member of The Clash, the late Joe Strummer (& The Mescaleros, his final band) fuses rock ('Coma Girl'), reggae ('Get Down Moses') dance music ('All In A Day'), blues ('Silver And Gold') and acoustic folk ('Long Shadow,' 'Redemption Song') on the powerful and praiseworthy posthumously released Streetcore (Hellcat).

Tori Amos, Sinead O'Connor, Bonnie Raitt, and Toni Braxton are four women who achieved considerable success during the 1990s. For Raitt, it was a career comeback, surpassing her initial '70s popularity. Working with producer Don Was and later Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, Raitt reinvented herself as a pop diva with a blues streak over the course of five albums. Highlights from those albums can be found on The Best of Bonnie Raitt (Capitol). O'Connor made her debut in the late '80s, but it was her 1990 album and single, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got and 'Nothing Compares 2 U' that permanently imbedded the shaved-headed singer in our memories. A live version of that song, along with other live and studio recordings (some new, rare and previously unavailable) are on the double CD She Who Dwells … (Vanguard) anthology. Braxton was one of the reigning soul divas of the '90s. Between the 1993 self-titled debut disc that earned her a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and the nearly unprecedented success of the transformation of her 1996 ballad 'Un-break My Heart' into a dance-floor standard, Braxton's voice was inescapable. Ultimate Toni Braxton (Arista) compiles her biggest and best-known songs on to one album. Tori Amos shows no signs of slowing down and Tales of A Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection (Atlantic) is the long-awaited overview of her prolific '90s period, featuring two new songs, a pair of re-recorded b-sides, and a bonus DVD with live recordings and other goodies. When it comes to giving the gift of music, sometimes you have to play it safe. For the parents and grandparents on the list, it's hard to go wrong with the two volume The Best of the Definitive American Songbook (Liberty), which features songs by Etta James, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney and Billie Holiday, to mention a few. Those same parents and grandparents would probably appreciate the thorough two-disc Essential Simon & Garfunkel (Columbia) compilation, especially if it came with tickets to see Paul and Artie on their current reunion concert tour. The same holds true for Linda Eder, who before she joined the Atlantic Records stable of sirens (from which she has now departed), recorded for a couple of different labels. It is to one of those labels, Angel, which she has returned. Storybook (Angel), therefore is an appropriate title for this 15-track compilation (including the bonus cut 'Vole Mon Ange'), which culls the best of her Angel recordings and adds a few treats for a retelling of her story.

Where there are parents, there are usually siblings. And occasionally there are siblings with good musical taste for whom you can buy CDs as gifts and then borrow at a later date. The strays that comprise the rarities and b-sides compilation Lost Dogs (Epic) by Pearl Jam, sound good together, like they were meant to be collected in this form. From the gentle 'Yellow Ledbetter' to the cover of 'Last Dance,' Pearl Jam fans will be glad to find these songs gathered together in this fashion. Superchunk's Cup Of Sand (Merge), for instance, is a two-CD compilation of singles, B-sides and rare and unreleased tracks by one of North Carolina's finest alternative outfits, which makes for some good lending. Ditto for Singles 93-03 (Astralwerks) by The Chemical Brothers. Also a two-CD set, Singles features one disc of essential Chem Bros hits such as 'Chemical Beats,' 'Leave Home,' 'Setting Sun,' 'Block Rocking Beats,' and 'Hey Boy Hey Girl,' and a second bonus of many rare and unreleased tracks.

Like The Chemical Brothers, the folks at Putumayo World Music are celebrating 10 years with Putumayo World Music 10th Anniversary Collection (Putumayo), a double-disc various-artists set split into a Travel The World disc (featuring Capercaille, Oliver Mtukudzi & The Black Spirits, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo with Phoebe Snow, among others) and a Putumayo Party disc (including Toure Kunda, Angelique Kidjo, and Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca, to mention a few).

Gifts and good causes always go together. A 'labor of love, hope and charity,' Songs For Life (RICA), an 18-track benefit compilation, is intended to 'raise funds earmarked to combat the alarming spread of HIV/AIDS in 14 sub-Saharan countries and to promote worldwide awareness of pandemic conditions in Southern Africa.' Coming a year after the Red Hot Organization's 'AIDS in Africa'-focused Red Hot + Riot compilation, Songs For Life also sets its sights on what the members of Destiny's Child described as 'the absolute devastation which has been wreaked on Africa by the AIDS epidemic.' Putting their money (and their music) where their mouth is, Destiny's Child contributed the track 'Happy Face.' Donating one track apiece, soul godmothers Aretha Franklin ('Angel' with K-Ci & JoJo) and Patti LaBelle (the powerful new and previously unreleased 'Sacred Pledge,' on which she is joined by Miriam Makeba, George Benson and Kandice Love), made certain that their voices were heard for this cause.

Longtime activist and South African vocalist Makeba also sings with fellow activist Judy Collins and young singer Billy Gillman on the new track 'Children Of All Nations,' which, like 'Sacred Pledge,' was co-written by Denise Rich. Other concerned participants include Mary J. Blige, Carole King, Jonathan Butler, Richie Havens, Joan Osborne and an 'all-star' selection of African artists including Zenzi Lee, T.K., Loyiso Bala, Jabu Khanyile, Innocent Modiva and Margaret Motasage. For more information, go to www. royalaids .com .