Post sponsored by Philips

You may have noticed, but Christmas is around the corner and yes, I have prepared my letter to Santa. Therefore, dear reader, please allow me to interrupt my regular scheduled programming to bring you a post sponsored by the new Philips multiroom speakers and tell you about my wishes to Santa. By the way, these speakers look like a cool solution to let the sound of music move freely between your phone and your speakers and connect all your rooms. Recently, Sir Paul McCartney complained about the current lo-fi listening habits, using the tiny little speakers on the smartphones, but since taking the record player on the go might not be something very practical, perhaps these Philips speakers will be a good alternative.

ANYWAY, talking about Christmas gifts, recently a few, cool box-sets have been published. Here are the ones who I included in my letter to Santa.

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground – 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition
The reissue of the Velvet Underground catalogue has been superb so far, including beautiful books and expanding the albums with relevant additional music. This box-set looks at the Velvet’s third album and adds live recordings, mono mixes and the tracks record for the long lost unreleased fourth album.

Captain Beefheart – Sun Zoom Spark: 1970 To 1972
This box sets revisits the album that Captain Beefheart recorded in the early 70s with the Magic Band. It is an opportunity to dig into the catalogue of this weird genious.

Wilco – Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994 – 2014
One of my favourite bands turned 20 this year and to celebrate it, Wilco put together a collection of odds and sods, compiling demos, b-sides and live tracks. There are some some gems like Cars Can’t Escape and A Magazine Called Sunset.

R.E.M. – 7IN – 83-88
This box-set does not unearth much new music, but it makes a beautiful collector’s item. It contains eleven 7-inch singles in original sleeve from the band’s early days, the days when R.E.M. were a groundbreaking, super cool band.

This post has been sponsored by Philips, but all thoughts are my own.