It’s that time of year again (yes, already!), when we look back at the bounty of music from the classic rock era that has somehow taken this long to find its way to us, the fans who still love the sounds from decades gone by. In our 2024 roundup of rock music boxed sets, reissues and compilations, we focus on newly released sets, some of them simple “Super Deluxe Editions” of classic albums, others lavish boxed sets containing numerous CDs and vinyl LPs, some also including hardcover books and other goodies. Many have tons of previously unreleased recordings, including outtakes, demos and the like, some include live recordings—all of them are, in our opinion, worth adding to your collection.
The list is arranged alphabetically by artist, from America to Neil Young—no rankings here because they’re all worthy. Click on the album titles to read more about each release. We’ve also included a number of “also released” titles.
Also, once they’re published, please visit the other installments in our 2024 wrap-up: new music books, Christmas music, and new releases by classic rock artists.
Hope you find something you like! We sure did!
America—Live from the Hollywood Bowl 1975—The album, featuring never-before-heard recordings of their performance backed by a symphony conducted by the legendary George Martin, includes such favorites as “Ventura Highway” and “Sister Golden Hair.” [Available here.]
The Beatles—1964 U.S. Albums in Mono—All seven vinyl albums—Meet the Beatles!, The Beatles’ Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track), Something New, The Beatles’ Story (2-LPs), Beatles ’65 and The Early Beatles—feature faithfully replicated artwork. [Available here.]
Chicago—Chicago at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971)—This 26-track live collection of material from their first three studio albums was recorded about a week after the venue opened in the nation’s capital. For more than 50 years, the concert has remained unreleased except for the performance of “Goodbye,” which debuted in 2018 on Chicago: VI Decades Live. [Available here.]
Elvis Costello—King of America & Other Realms—Compiled by Elvis Costello, the six-disc Super Deluxe Edition boxed set traces Costello’s musical travels from Hollywood, Calif.—where the King of America album was recorded—to a brand-new take on that album’s opener, “Brilliant Mistake,” recorded in Cape Fear, N.C., in early 2024. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
The Cowsills—Global—Recorded in 1992, when four of the siblings briefly reunited two decades after the Cowsills as a band had split up and gone off on their own, it remained unreleased until 1998, when a small batch of 3,000 copies was released. The reissue includes three bonus tracks. [Available here.]
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young—Live at Fillmore East, 1969—Recorded only a month after Woodstock, the September 20 concert was the band’s fourth show in two days at New York’s Fillmore East and featured both acoustic and electric sets. Stephen Stills and Neil Young compiled and mixed the original eight-track concert recordings. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Deep Purple—Machine Head Super Deluxe—Highlighting the collection are several different versions of the album, including new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes by Dweezil Zappa. The 1974 quadraphonic mix and a newly remastered version of the original album are also featured, as are two live performances. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Def Leppard—Pyromania—Their third studio album, saw the band—Joe Elliott, Steve Clark, Phil Collen, Rick Savage, Rick Allen and Pete Willis—embrace a more radio-friendly sound. The Super Deluxe Edition includes a Blu-ray containing an ATMOS mix of the album overseen by Giles Martin and a book with rare photos by Ross Halfin and new interviews with band members. [Available in the U.S. on 2-CDs, a 4-CD/Blu-ray Super Deluxe Edition and half-speed master LP. The U.K. editions are here.]
Dire Straits—Live 1978-1992—Perhaps the biggest thrill in the 8-CD box is the 21-track Live at the Rainbow Theatre, whose previously unreleased contents were recorded in December 1979. The band is on fire throughout this show, which opens with a beautifully executed “Down to the Waterline” and maintains a high level of musicianship throughout its 100 minutes. [Available in the U.K. and the U.S.]
Bob Dylan—The 1974 Live Recordings—The new set, documenting Dylan’s first tour in eight years, offers 431 live tracks, with 417 previously unreleased—including 133 recordings newly mixed from 16-track tape, and every single surviving soundboard recording. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Dave Edmunds—Swan Songs: The Singles 1976-1981—The collection includes 39 tracks, covering every A- and B-side the Welsh rocker released during that period, showcasing Edmunds’ propensity for, and ability to bring, a classic sound back to the airwaves. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Faces—At The BBC—Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973—The 9-disc set has been remastered with the full participation of band members Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones. It includes a Blu-ray with newly restored footage of Faces’ April 1972 appearance on Sounds for Saturday. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
George Harrison—Living in the Material World—Overseen by Dhani and Olivia Harrison, George’s son and widow, 1973’s Living in the Material World has now been completely remixed from the original tapes. Both the LP and its single, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” held the top spots simultaneously on the U.S. albums and singles charts. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Jethro Tull—Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition—The British band’s first live album, from 1978, has been reissued with an array of extras. It includes live versions of songs from Aqualung, Thick As a Brick, Songs from the Wood, War Child and other albums from the Tull catalog. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
John Lennon—Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection—The reissue was produced and art-directed by Sean Ono Lennon and Simon Hilton. It was released in several completely newly remixed and expanded editions, offering “an immersive, deep listening experience and in-depth exploration of this classic, yet under-appreciated record,” according to the album announcement. [The various editions are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Paul McCartney & Wings—One Hand Clapping and Band on the Run—One Hand Clapping, one of the most bootlegged live albums in musical history, was recorded in August 1974 at London’s Abbey Road Studios when Band on the Run was enjoying a seven-week stint at #1 on the U.K. album chart. [It’s is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.] Meanwhile, Band… has itself received a 50th anniversary re-release, which features the original album plus a second disc of “Underdubbed” mixes. [Available in the U.S. and U.K.]
Joni Mitchell—Archives: The Asylum Years (1976-1980)—Vol. 4 of the ongoing series delivers 98 tracks on six CDs and has a playing time of just over seven hours. It features demos, outtakes, abundant concert material and contributions from Charles Mingus as well as such other jazz artists as Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius. [The CD set is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. The LP collection is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Laura Nyro—Hear My Song: The Collection, 1966-1995—Hear My Song: The Collection, 1966-1995, a 19-CD Deluxe collection, most of her recorded output, is the deepest dive yet into Nyro’s recorded legacy. The songwriter’s iconic compositions include such treasures as “Eli’s Comin’,” “Save the Country,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “And When I Die,” “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “Sweet Blindness.” [It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
The Police—Synchronicity—The fifth and final studio album from the Police, and their most successful, has received lavish expanded editions for its 40th anniversary. It includes dozens of previously unreleased alternate takes, outtakes, instrumentals and Sting’s never-before-heard original demos, as well as live concert recordings from 1983. [A 6-CD set is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. A 4-LP collection is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Elvis Presley—Memphis—The first fully comprehensive collection of Elvis Presley’s hometown recordings features 111 tracks on 5 CDs, from Presley’s earliest sessions at Sun Studio—which occurred 70 years ago last summer—to his final recordings in Graceland’s Jungle Room. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
The Rascals—It’s Wonderful: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings—The group’s entire Atlantic Records output, spanning 1965-1971, is now available on Now Sounds via the U.K.’s Cherry Red Records, as a 7-CD box set. The 152 remastered songs include 14 previously unreleased tracks. The first four albums are presented in both stereo and mono. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Rolling Stones—Live at the Wiltern and Singles 1966-1971—Wrote our reviewer about the Wiltern set, “While most of the Stones’ live albums preserve shows performed for huge audiences, this one (like El Mocambo 1977) finds the band in the sort of intimate (relatively speaking, at least) setting that seems to bring out the best in them.” [Its editions include an Amazon exclusive of 3-LPs on bronze-and-black swirl vinyl.] The self-explanatory vinyl-only singles collection comes “replete with period-correct picture sleeve art, [and] also comes with a 32-page book containing extensive liner notes by Stones authority Nigel Williamson, as well as rare photos and ephemera, plus a set of five photo cards and a poster, all housed in a hard-shell box.” [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Thin Lizzy—1976—The 5-CD set is built around the Irish band’s sixth and seventh albums, Jailbreak and Johnny the Fox, which were both released in 1976 and are seen as their definitive studio albums, with such memorable songs as “The Boys Are Back In Town,” “Jailbreak,” “Warriors” and “Cowboy Song.” [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Pete Townshend—Live in Concert 1985-2001—The 14-CD box set consists of seven double albums, newly mastered by long-time Who engineer Jon Astley. They have not been available since 2002. The box features songs from the Who as well as his solo catalog. [Available in the U.K. here and in the U.S. here.]
Various Artists—I See You Live on Love Street—The U.K.-released collection comes with an info-packed 48-page booklet and features many of Laurel Canyon’s key artists, including Frank Zappa, the Mamas and the Papas, Love, the Turtles, Warren Zevon, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Linda Ronstadt, Tim Buckley and Fleetwood Mac. [Available in the U.S. here and the U.K. here.]
Various Artists—Pour A Little Sugar on It – The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971—The U.K.-originated set includes such genre staples as the Archies, Lou Christie, Tommy James and the Shondells and the Cowsills, along with key songs from the 1910 Fruitgum Co., Crazy Elephant, the Cuff Links and Ohio Express. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Yes—Fragile—The band’s fourth album included such now-staples of the prog world as “Roundabout” and “Long Distance Runaround,” The Super Deluxe Edition features a newly remastered version of the original album on both CD and vinyl, plus rare and unreleased recordings. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.] Yes also re-released their 1994 album Talk, with bonus material, including a live show. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Neil Young—Archives Vol. III (1976-1987) and Early Daze—Prolific as ever, Young’s 2024 output included a massive 17-CD set of his work from 1976-1987 and primal Crazy Horse. Archives Vol. III features 198 total tracks, among them 121 previously unreleased versions of live, studio, mixes or edits, and 15 previously unreleased songs, recorded with Crazy Horse, Devo, Nicolette Larson, Linda Ronstadt and others. Early Daze, as its title implies, finds Young and the Horse in the studio in 1969, just after the release of their first joint album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. They work out songs that would appear on later albums by the band and by Young solo and with CSN&Y. [Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
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And don’t forget about these, also released in 2024. (Click the album title for our earlier coverage, including ordering links.)
ABBA—The Singles—The First Fifty Years
Allman Brothers Band—Final Concert 10-28-14 and Manley Field House, Syracuse University, April 7, 1972
Dickey Betts—Live from the Lone Star Roadhouse
David Bowie—Rock ’n’ Roll Star!
Johnny Cash—Songwriter
Dr. John—Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya: Singles 1968-1974
Eagles—To The Limit: The Essential Collection
Fleetwood Mac—Mirage Tour ’82
Grateful Dead—Dave’s Picks Vols. 49-52, From the Mars Hotel, Duke ’78, Friend of the Devils: April 1978
Jimi Hendrix—Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision
Ian Hunter—You’re Never With a Schizophrenic (2024 Expanded Edition)
Little Feat—Feats Don’t Fail Me Now Deluxe Edition
Joni Mitchell—The Asylum Albums 1976-1980
Oasis—Definitely Maybe Limited Edition Deluxe 30th Anniversary
Carl Palmer—Fanfare for the Common Man
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—Long After Dark
Queen—Queen I
Talking Heads—77 Super Deluxe Edition
Van Halen—For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Vanilla Fudge—Where Is My Mind: 1967-1969
Various Artists—Looking for the Magic: American Power Pop in the Seventies
Various Artists—We Can Work It Out: Covers of the Beatles 1962-1966
The Who—Live at Shea Stadium 1982
In part three of our annual holiday guide, we revealed our choices for the best music books of the year, and we followed that with the best newly recorded albums by classic rock artists, and our look at holiday-themed releases.
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