2006 Gift Guide
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Video Games
This is the time of year when a zillion new video games for computers, consoles, and handhelds all come out, but the reality is that the coolest stuff in the video-game universe this holiday season is for the newest kid on the block - the hot new console from Nintendo, the
Wii. It's shaping up as a serious game-changer for the other, far bigger competitors - Sony and Microsoft - by acting on the revolutionary idea that if you make video games both easy and fun, more people will play them. The Wii uses a new, simple, motion-sensitive remote that runs its games with only a few buttons and a lot of intuitive body motion. The Wii Sports Pack that comes with the console is a great example. You play tennis and golf by swinging the controller in the natural stroke for each game.
Madden NFL (EA Sports) for the Wii is another great effort - just stroke that pigskin through the air as you would in a game and you're off and running, putting a pie squarely in the face of every researcher who continues to say that video games are encouraging couch potatoes. (The controller works by communicating with a sensor that you attach to your television so it knows where you're pointing.) Sega's
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will have you dancing like you-know-what as you guide the balls down their lanes by waving your arms back and forth and all around. Without question, hard-core Nintendo fans are falling all over themselves for the Wii incarnation of
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo). The game world here is more like the usual video-game universe, with monsters and fighting and what not, but it's great fun to engage your entire body in the action rather than just your thumbs. It can actually be said with a straight face that these are video games the entire family will enjoy playing.
CD Box Sets
The Byrds - There Is A Season ($54.98)
When the jingle-jangle guitar and thrilling harmonies of "Mr. Tambourine Man" hit the airwaves and rocketed up the pop charts in 1965, America finally had its answer to The Beatles. A collection of folkies just learning to play electric instruments when they entered Columbia Records' Los Angeles studios, The Byrds soon captured the ears of the music world with their fresh new sound, combining earnest American folk songs by Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger with the rock beats and harmonies of British groups such as The Beatles and The Searchers. Though they only reached the top of the charts twice, The Byrds are considered by many to be one of the most innovative groups ever, pioneering folk-rock ("Turn! Turn! Turn!"), space-rock ("Mr. Spaceman"), jazz-rock ("Eight Miles High"), and country-rock ("Sweetheart of the Rodeo") in just three years of nearly nonstop recording. This lavish, four-disc set boasts 99 tracks, a 100-page book, and
a bonus DVD that features awkward, lip-synched television performances. Perhaps they weren't made for the stage - but in the studio, these Byrds could soar.
John Lee Hooker - Hooker ($59.98)
Without John Lee Hooker there would have been no guttural howling into microphones by long-haired '60s British singers trying to sound dangerous and seductive. Hooker never had to try. His music is it - the source. There's the sound of his foot tapping a wooden pallet in time with his guitar, the abrupt silences between notes, the gravel-tinged voice that rumbles with menace and longing. What is wonderful about Shout! Factory's four-disc compilation "Hooker," is that it demonstrates the musical sophistication behind his trademark foot stompin' boogie. The set takes the listener through Hooker's finest material - raw and deeply felt. The original "Boogie Chillen" that made Hooker famous is here, along with "Sally Mae," "Crawlin' King Snake," "Boom Boom," and "It Serves Me Right to Suffer." Disc 4 covers his collaborations with famous admirers including Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and
more. They wisely follow his lead.
Sinatra: Vegas ($59.98)
According to legend, all the casinos loved it when Frank Sinatra performed in Las Vegas. He brought the glitterati and high rollers to town. For Sinatra, who played Vegas hundreds of times between 1951 and 1994, the gambling mecca in the desert was his kind of town, the place where he felt most at ease. This snazzy five-disc set (four CDs and one DVD) contains previously unreleased live Vegas recordings spanning 1961 to 1987. By 1961, Francis Albert Sinatra, the skinny teen idol, was a distant memory. Ol' Blue Eyes was entering the most iconic period of his career, when the Chairman of the Board and his Rat Pack were the kings of '60s cool - at least for those too old to be in the thrall of The Beatles and Stones. These recordings let us hear and see a more unvarnished Sinatra, a singer who forgets or flubs lyrics and engages in comic patter with his audience. Many of the songs most identified with him ("Come Fly With Me," "That's Life," "My
Way," "It Was a Very Good Year") are here, sometimes more than once, giving fans a chance to compare his approach over the years. Throw on one of these discs, and you're transported to a front-row seat at the Sands or Caesars Palace. Sinatra's in town, baby, and you're where the action is.
Robert Plant - Nine Lives ($99.98)
When Led Zeppelin disbanded in 1980, its lead singer shelved his primal scream in favor of singing that was more emotional, more reflective, more nuanced. The vocalist with golden hair and a golden throat set course on a highly individualistic journey in which none of his nine solo albums sound alike. "Nine Lives" collects all of Plant's albums (including his 1950s-style R&B project under the pseudonym of "The Honeydrippers"), and what's striking is how consistent the diverse body of work is. Not all of it has withstood the ravages of time and fashion - the 1988 hit album "Now & Zen" sounds neither now nor zen - but the highlights, such as 1993's "Fate of Nations" and last year's "Mighty Rearranger," are five-star records. The set includes rare material - an unreleased '80s demo called "Turnaround" is a terrific find - as well as a DVD that includes music videos and a long interview in which
Plant reflects on his quest to continually break fresh ground.
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Joanne Ciccarello, Clayton Collins, Gloria Goodale, Stephen Humphries, John Kehe, Gregory M. Lamb, Teresa Méndez, and Yvonne Zipp contributed to this guide.
2006 GIFT GUIDE
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