Following 50th anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and THE BEATLES (aka The White Album), Apple, in conjunction with Capitol/UME, has issued the Beatles’ Abbey Road Anniversary Edition 50 years later to the day. Like its anniversary predecessors, the package features the original album remixed in stereo and 5.1 surround (and for the first time, Dolby Atmos) by Giles Martin and Sam Okel, The set is filled with loads of extra goodies like previously unreleased outtakes and demos. Three CDs and a single Bu-ray Disc are all contained in a hardbound, 100-page book with a forward by Paul McCartney, numerous essays, track-by-track details, previously unpublished photographs (including a few taken by Linda McCartney), images of handwritten lyrics, sketches, a George Martin score, recording sheets, tape boxes, print ads, the works. For any Beatles fanatic, Abbey Road Anniversary Edition is like winning the lottery is some wondrous, comforting way. They know what I mean.

These days, Bob Dylan is an acquired taste when it comes to his live performances. He rarely follows a script, plays hits, or sings with much passion. In 1975, it was a completely different story. Assembling a ragtag group of musicians, hangers-ons, and muses, Dylan wore colorful hat and painted his face like a mime. Everyone, even Joan Baez, followed suit and The Rolling Thunder Revue had a couple rehearsals before taking on New England and parts of Canada in the fall on 1975, picking up strays along the way.  The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings, a 14-CD box set, features rehearsals and five sets from the tour, and serves as a soundtrack to the Netflix film, Rolling Thunder Revue – A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.

Pink Floyd has gone to great lengths to preserve their legacy with numerous box sets, compilations, and DVDs/Blu-ray Discs. In 2016, they put out the monolithic, 33-disc The Early Years 1965–1972. For 2019, they’re celebrating The Later Years with a 16-disc set that pretty much covers everything from 1987 to the present day. Alternately known as the post-Waters era — due to the absence of bassist, co-founder and main lyricist Roger Waters — the “Later Years” version of Pink Floyd was spearheaded by guitarist David Gilmour that yielded three studio albums – 1987’s A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, 1994’s The Division Bell, and 2014’s The Endless River – and two live albums – 1988’s Delicate Sound of Thunder and 1995’s PULSE. This set collects them all, remixed in stereo and 5.1 surround sound, plus lots of audio and video extras, and plenty of swag to fill your mantel.

The Jimi Hendrix vault continually draws from what appears to be an infinite amount of unreleased recordings. For 2019, the keepers of the flame went deep to bring together all four shows the guitarist played with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles at the Fillmore East on December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970.  Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts captures these performances — 43 songs in all — over five CDs (or eight LPs) in all their soulful, spontaneous glory. The rapid-fire success and demands of the Jimi Hendrix Experience behind him, the man many consider to be the greatest guitarist who ever lived wanted to get back to his roots, build his own studio, and jam. With Buddy Miles and Billy Cox in his corner, Jimi Hendrix was able to let his fingers and imagination fly without time restraints and other impediments to his creativity.