B&V’s Best of 2024, Pt 1 – The Best Of Re-releases/Box Sets/Live Lp’s/Vault Releases Of The Year

I looked at the calendar this Monday and thought, “My God, Xmas is only a week and a half away?” Could it be December already? It feels like only yesterday we kicked off 2024 with our annual 50-year lookback-playlist featuring rock n roll from 1974. And here I am wrapping presents already? It seems that the words of Bob Dylan ring more true with every trip around the sun, “Time is a jet plane, it moves too fast.”

Shortly after the year dawned we cast our Rock Hall of Fame Ballot… alas, our picks didn’t exactly line up with the actual inductees…that may be our last vote. In past years we’ve posted our “year end wrap” with both the re-releases/box sets/live albums listed with the new albums from the current year but this year I’ve decided to split the two in half. Be sure to keep an eye out for Pt 2 of the annual wrap up which will contain all of our favorite new LP releases from classic rock artists.

There have been some annual recaps where I’ve complained about the year in music. I have to say, I was pretty delighted with the music releases from this year. If you’re a Beatles fan alone, you had something to enjoy every few months with the re-release of the original Let It Be film, George Harrison’s pioneering Concert For The People Of Bangladesh became available on streaming services, which he then followed up with the release of Living In The Material World (50th Anniversary Edition), and finally we were treated to the wonderful Scorsese doc Beatles ’64. A little something for fans of any Beatles’ era you want from their first trip to America to post-Beatles solo stuff… and I haven’t even mentioned McCartney’s 2024 yet…

Admittedly, the year 1984 loomed large this year at B&V. Of course we did our 40 year-lookback playlist for rock n roll from 1984, and it seems those records having a 40th anniversary were to loom large in our rearview mirror. We looked back at several records from that year from The Cars (Heartbeat City), Van Halen (1984), Don Henley (Building The Perfect Beast) and of course, the Scorpions (Love At First Sting). What a year that was, way back when. Listening to all of that music from ’84 took me back to my college days.

Of course, it wasn’t all good news. We lost a lot of great rock n rollers this year but none hit me quite as much as losing founding member of the Allman Brothers, Dickey Betts in April. While I didn’t write about him, Kris Kristofferson’s passing was a blow. As the Stones once sang, “Time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me…”

The best thing about 2024 for us down here at B&V was it seems that the doors to the rock n roll vaults were thrown wide open. With artists a diversity of artists from Alice Cooper to U2 all releasing deluxe or anniversary editions of key records from their back catalogs. The Stones even released the 4 B-sides from the great Voodoo Lounge. There were a lot of big box sets to choose from this year and I hope one or more of these end up under your Xmas tree this year.

Without further ado, these were our favorite boxes/re-releases that we saw drop this year. For once, I have to tell you it was really hard this year to narrow this list down. I wanted to get to a top 10, but I ended up with 16 selections and the list could have been a lot longer. I didn’t include the Who’s Live at Shea Stadium 1982, but I could have. Both the Police’s Synchronicity (Super Deluxe) and Neil Young’s Archives Volume III could have been on the list but both were so sprawling and the price tag so large, I omitted them, despite their worthiness.

The BourbonAndVinyl top vault releases of the year… print the list, address an envelope to the North Pole and hope Santa gets it in time…

• The Allman Brothers Band, The Final Concert 10-28-2014 – A momentous final concert for one of the greatest American bands of all time.
• The Rolling Stones, Live At The Wiltern – I could have easily picked the other Stones live concert vault release, Welcome To Shepherd’s Bush, but I find myself partial to this one probably because I’ve spent more time with it.
• Alice Cooper, Billion Dollar Babies (50th Anniversary) – Great live stuff included with this landmark Alice Cooper album. Those guys had 4 superb albums in a row, but this might be my favorite.
• Deep Purple, Machine Head (50th Anniversary) – This was our first post on Deep Purple and it was fitting as it was about their best album and some great live material as a bonus.
• Def Leppard, Pyromania (40th Anniversary) – This box found me completely reconnecting with the early music of Def Leppard and the whole Hair Metal thing. Great live stuff here as well.
• Paul McCartney & Wings, One Hand Clapping – Great live (in the studio) stuff from McCartney & Wings… this might be my favorite line up of Wings. This was an oft-bootlegged recording and it’s nice to see it finally get an official release. I still think Amoeba Live is my favorite McCartney live record, but this one is a very, very close second.
• Little Feat, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (Deluxe) – I love Little Feat and have always felt that this was their last great record. They had a few good ones after, but this one has always been a fav.  There’s a great live concert included that really brings Lowell George’s band to life.
• Grateful Dead, Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary) – This album may have cemented my status as a budding Dead Head. Great box set.
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Early Daze – I find myself going back to this album, with early takes on well known Neil songs with the Danny Whitten version of Crazy Horse, even more than the aforementioned Archives III. I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would.
• Pete Townshend, Live In Concert 1985 – 2001 – Yes, it’s a sprawling look at almost all of Pete’s solo concerts but what a treasure trove of live stuff. From full band stuff down to just Pete with an acoustic guitar/piano, everybody can find something to attach to here. “Greyhound Girl” may be my new favorite Townshend track.
• Faces, At The BBC – Finally! A live set that befits this fantastic band. John Peel was a big fan and so am I.
• Fleetwood Mac, Mirage Tour Live ’82 – MIrage is kind of looked down upon by rock snobs, but whenever you got these 5 musicians on a stage, magic ensues. I really enjoyed this show… wish I’d seen them live.
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) – Great, somewhat overlooked Petty album. The version of “Stories We Could Tell” found herein amongst the disc of bonus material is definitive…
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Live At The Fillmore East 1969 – Great live set recorded only a few weeks after Woodstock. This was before they blew up into superstardom, and the sense of fun is palpable. Sadly, it was only a matter of time before the egos blew up this great band.
• U2, How To Reassemble An Atomic Bomb – Great set – with an entire album of outtakes – from arguably their last great album. The “super deluxe” set comes with the audio from a concert in Chicago, released on a BlueRay previously.
• Talking Heads, Talking Heads: ’77 (Super Deluxe) – Great live set from a radio broadcast is the cherry on top this landmark debut album… but then you know how we love our debut albums here at B*V.

What a great list of artists and great list of box sets. And this is only the first half of our list of favorite music from 2024. Our picks of best new albums from those classic rock artists we all love will be coming shortly.

I hope your holidays are spectacular even for those of you like me who are more from the Grinch end of the spectrum… My family has brought me around on Xmas, the Rock Chick is practically Mrs. Claus, but I still despise most Xmas music… except maybe these songs: Christmas Playlist For Those Who Hate Xmas Music… Maybe those songs will help you get down the road during the holiday season. Thank heaven for the Black Crowes’ “Back Door Santa.” If you’re alone this year on the holiday, take care of yourself… put on some of this great rock n roll and pour a strong egg nog… You’re not really alone if you’ve got rock n roll with you. And remember, B&V is always with you…

Cheers, Happy Holidays.