If the $100-and-up price tag on many of those slick boxed-CD collections doesn’t agree with your pocketbook this gift-giving season, try going the more homemade route. Why not create your own Nuggets-esque collection of some good-time Detroit garage rock ’n’ soul circa 2001?
Dredge up all your favorite Cass Corridor memories and whip up some personalized liner notes. Grab a shoebox, line its bottom with a dash of authentic Detroit dirt, some glitter, the Dirtbombs’ Ultraglide in Black (In the Red), Rocket 455’s Go To Hell (Get Hip), the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells (Sympathy for the Record Industry), the Detroit Cobras’ Life, Love and Leaving (SFTRI) and the Sympathy compilation, The Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit.
You could include the recent releases by the Come Ons and the Von Bondies. And then top everything off with the Italy Records reissues of the White Stripes’ “Let’s Shake Hands” and “Lafayette Blues” 45s. Original copies of the latter were fetching $200 on eBay a few months back. Their inclusion will surely be an added bonus for the White Stripes completist in your secret Santa group.
Find more great recordings to grab and wrap this season, including Rhino's comprehensive collections of American black music ("wonderfully balanced ... a timeless gift"), '70s soul ("a six-disc trip through the funkiest era in American music") and Graham Central Station ("chicken soup for the soul"). Metro Times musical experts also report on the year's very best jazz and classical recordings. There's something for everyone!
Melissa Giannini is Metro Times music writer. E-mail her at [email protected]
