Relix offers a few music-inspired gift ideas for the holiday season. Be sure to check out Part One as well.

Our theme for this installment is “Double Down,” with two suggestions for each artist…

LED ZEPPELIN

LZ-‘75: The Lost Chronicles of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 American Tour
By Stephen Davis
Gotham; 224 pages
$22.50

Treasures of Led Zeppelin
By Chris Welch
Carlton Books; 64 pages
$39.95

From the man that wrote the definitive biography of Led Zeppelin – Hammer of the Gods, released in the mid-‘80s – comes something akin to a book-length addendum. As the story goes, author Stephen Davis misplaced three notebooks worth of material from the 1975 world tour the band invited him on. While the Hammer of the Gods included his experiences and observations from that tour, the day-to-day detail that he had kept for it was not. Now, some 35 years later, the adventures, mishaps and sagas of the one of the world’s biggest bands are documented in Davis’ engaging style, in addition to his detailed notes of each performance.

If you couldn’t be there like Davis was, then Treasures of Led Zeppelin goes some distance in trying to take you back in time. While Chris Welch’s story is nowhere near as comprehensive as Davis’ Hammer of the Gods, what makes Treasures a keeper is the reproduction of killer Zep memorabilia. Ticket stubs, posters, flyers, photos – it’s all here. And it’s way cheaper than trying to track any of this stuff down on eBay.

THE ROLLING STONES

Life
By Keith Richards
Little, Brown and Company; 576 pages
$29.99

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones
Eagle Rock Entertainment
$14.98

While Stones fans wait with bated breath to see if the band will tour in 2011, they’ve thankfully been placated with some rather incredible media this year. Perhaps one of the most anticipated autobiographies, ever, from a musician¸ Keith Richards’ Life – penned with help from journalist James Fox – does not skimp on details, coming in at nearly 600 pages. From the deep influences of Muddy Waters and Chucky Berry to the early days of the band with Brian Jones (who many considered the leader), Keef delves in. Ditto for drugs, addictions, busts and his various relationships and marriages including those with Anita Pallenberg and Patti Hansen. And, of course, there’s plenty of frank commentary on his most well-known and turbulent relationship – his relationship with Mick Jagger. Our cover story earlier this year – complete with stories of Keith chasing off intruders with a machete- – only hints at what Life contains in its pages.

And as you read Life, there’s perhaps no better film to complement it – save Gimme Shelter – than Ladies and Gentlemen, released to the public for the first time this fall (it had a short-lived theatrical release in 1974). Shot over four nights in Texas from the 1972 Exile on Main Street tour, this is the band at its zenith. The twin guitar attack of Richards and Mick Taylor with Nicky Hopkins on keys makes these performances absolutely scorching. The DVD release includes previously unreleased rehearsal footage of the tour from Europe in addition to interviews with Jagger from ‘72 and ‘10.

BOB DYLAN

The Original Mono Recordings
Columbia/Legacy
$129.98

The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol.9)
Columbia/Legacy
$18.98

Though his career is well-mined, there are a few archival recordings that Dylan scholars and perennial bootleggers have spent the better of their procrastination time clamoring for an official release. The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 documents the 47 Witmark Demos that Dylan recorded for his music publishers between 1962 and 1964. Certain demos like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Masters of War” blossomed into ‘60s anthems while others like the Blonde on Blonde outtake “I’ll Keep It With Mine” remain cult favorites. In addition, 15 of the tracks – the wistful “Ballad For A Friend,” the civil rights era-inspired “Long Ago, Far Away” and “The Death Of Emmett Till,” and the piquant “Guess I’m Doing Fine” – have never been officially released. If that’s not enough, Dylan’s camp has also rolled out The Original Mono Recordings for the Bard’s first eight albums. Like the much heralded arrival of The Beatles’ mono mixes last year, these versions offer a warmer, crunchier sound than their stereo counterparts. While stereo recordings had been around since the mid-‘50s, artists like Dylan, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones preferred the sound of mono to stereo, thus spending more time with how each album was mixed. The box set includes a deluxe booklet, archival photographs of Dylan and an expansive essay renowned author and Dylan critic Greil Marcus.

GRATEFUL DEAD

Formerly The Warlocks Box Set
$69.98
Rhino

The Warner Bros. Studio Albums Vinyl Box
$134.98
Rhino

Initially, it appeared that the first night of these two “secret” shows, billed as Formerly The Warlocks before the Grateful Dead began its 1989 East Coast tour, would be the keeper as the second set opened with the first run from “Help on the Way” into “Slipknot!” into “Franklin’s Tower” in more than four years. However, those Heads who departed from Hampton, Va. on Sunday night missed the real gem on Monday. An inspired “Playing in the Band” opens the second set and bookends “Uncle John’s Band” before the group holds its breath and delivers the first “Dark Star” since July of 1984. Beyond a deep, dark take on “Don’t Have No Mercy,” which had returned 11 days earlier after a 19 year hiatus, the band encored with a moving take on American Beauty’s “Attics of My Life,” last performed in 1972. All in all, they were a pair of momentous stealth shows, released in a box set with a photo essay and assorted memorabilia.

Meanwhile, anyone who wishes to hear a pristine, studio version of “Attics,” can do so via a new vinyl box set. The group’s first five studio albums from the Grateful Dead’s eponymous 1967 release on through 1970’s American Beauty have been re-released on sturdy 180-gram vinyl. The original analog masters were utilized to create The Warner Bros. Studio Albums Vinyl Box, which also includes Anthem of the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969) and Workingman’s Dead (1970). Longtime Dead scribe Blair Jackson has compiled new liner notes for the five albums, while a 12" square book offers previously unpublished photos from the sessions, which is all presented in a protective hard-shell case. And, order from Dead.net, and you’ll also receive a exclusive reproduction of a rare 1968 7" single (in a picture sleeve) that features the studio version of “Dark Star” (b/w “Born Cross-Eyed” ) and a reproduction of a rare 1967 promotional poster.