our selection of boxes and beautiful books for Christmas

Boxes

Talking Heads, 77 (Rhino/Warner)
The New York group’s first album is released in a box set that celebrates the inventiveness of David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison. Revealed, like many of their generation’s peers (Television, Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith) at CBGB’s, a seedy Manhattan club that has become legendary, the Talking Heads hit hard from their first record. With an unstoppable single, Psycho Killerand songs that revealed Byrne’s unique writing, his characteristic phrasing, and his original approach. In addition to the album, with its impeccable sound, the box set contains a previously unreleased live performance and a dozen rare songs, a generous booklet and a Blu-ray featuring Atmos sound.

Johnny Hallyday, Stay alive (Warner)
When it was released in 2014, we wrote that this record was its author’s best since at least Blood for Bloodfifteen years ago, or even double Rock’n’roll attitude/Gang from the 1980s. Produced by the American Don Was, a long-time collaborator of the Stones, the album restored his rock stripes to a singer who had strayed into the most insipid variety. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the album, Warner pulled out all the stops with this beautiful reissue. In addition to the original album, there are live recordings or rarities from the period of production of these songs.

The Sound of Lalo Schifrin, (Listen to the cinema/Universal music)
New and copious volume (no less than 16 CDs) of the formidable series Listen to the cinemacoordinated by the best French specialist in film music, Stéphane Lerouge. And not the least since we are talking here about an authentic genius, the Argentinian Lalo Schifrin. An all-terrain composer, who has worked both in Paris for the Barclay label and in Hollywood for blockbusters (boiled) like cult television series (Mannix and above all Mission Impossible). We are amazed by the modernity and richness of the music of this man, now 92 years old. As comfortable in jazz as in pop or classical, Schifrin is finally getting the treatment he deserves: an extravagant panorama of a career that deserves all the superlatives.

U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Universal music)
This album, initially released in 2004, is undoubtedly the last great record from the Irish group that was until recently considered the greatest in the world. Four years after the very peaceful All That You Can’t Leave BehindBono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr found their historic producer, Steve Lilywhite, and, with him, more rock accents. We are here far from the experimentation at the heart of Attention baby, Zoo and even Poptheir albums from the 1990s. Available in several formats, this edition of the 20^e anniversary offers ten unreleased tracks as well as the recording of a concert in Chicago, but also a book of photos by the brilliant Anton Corbijn, the Dutch photographer who helped define their aesthetic from The Joshua Tree onwards.

Renaud, To the beauty of May 30^e birthday (Parlophone/Warner)
In 1994, Renaud released the album that he considers to be the most successful of his career. À la belle de mai will also be his last album for many years. The thirtieth anniversary of its release allows us to celebrate it properly. Surrounded by new collaborators, notably Julien Clerc who composed three songs, Renaud recorded the most tender of his records at his home. If it is not the most popular of his records, it remains the favorite of his many fans, who have made it a cult album.

Beautiful books

Jérôme Soligny, Rainbow + (GM editions)
Strengthened by having signed the definitive work on David Bowie with the two volumes of his investigation Rainbowmanwhich has the luxury of having been translated into English (an extremely rare occurrence for a French book on rock), Jérôme Soligny does it again. This new volume constitutes the ideal appendix to his research work. There we find texts that have long remained unavailable, garnished with illustrations which give a dreamlike dimension to the work. In addition, Jérôme Soligny allows pianist Mike Garson, Bowie’s accomplice from 1972 until his death, to release on vinyl his album of personal rereadings of his former employer’s repertoire.

Exceptional guitars, Gründ
All-terrain expert, tireless enthusiast of the instrument, Julien Bitoun signs the legends of this very beautiful book which celebrates the guitar in all its brands and in all its forms. Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and Martin are in the spotlight here, through some of the most desirable vintage models in their range. It is impossible to resist the attraction that these shapes, drawn for the most part between the 1930s and 1960s, continue to exert.

Kurt Cobain, L’ange déchu you rock’n’roll, Ernesto Assante, Out of Collection
A plethora of books have been published to celebrate the thirty years of Kurt Cobain’s death, but none are as successful as this one. Suicided at 27, the leader of Nirvana entered the black legend of rock, but this book celebrates his life and his music with a lot of energy and very beautiful images, sometimes quite rare, of the last rock star of the 20^e century.

Philippe Maneuver, The ultimate rock disco (Hugo Desinge)
Twenty years after a successful first release, Philippe Manoeuvre, legendary rock critic, once again offers his selection of the greatest albums in the history of this electric music born somewhere in America in the 1950s. This time, there are more of 160 albums listed and deciphered with erudition by the journalist who celebrated 50 years of activism this year.

Elton John, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, memories of a life on tour
After a long farewell tour given to the four corners of the world and prolonged by the effects of Covid-19, Elton John offers a beautiful book commemorating his final singing tour with the panache we know him for. Kitsch, sparkling, full of colors, this sparkling book is a true reflection of its subject. Read with or without glasses!

The Cure, Paul editions of Layeur
The comeback of the English group with an album that we no longer expected – at least not as good – is the perfect opportunity to dive back into an impeccable discography, begun in 1979 with a first album of modernity striking. Experimental, dark, pop or bright, the career of the group of which Robert Smith is the only permanent member is treated here with completeness and precision.