Here is my first annual holiday gift guide for music lovers, focusing on DVDs and multiple CD sets. Any of these selections are guaranteed to be well-received by the music lover on your list.

• Stax-Volt Revue Live In Norway-This DVD features a full show of the Stax tour through Europe in 1967 with Booker T. and the MGs (who provide backing for all the other acts as well and look like they're having the time of their lives), the horn-toting Mar-keys and especially riveting performances from Sam & Dave and Otis Redding. Check out those swinging Norwegian teens, too.

• Sigur Ros-Heima-a double DVD set with amazing performances by Sigur Ros, as well as a "travelogue" of Iceland conducted by the band. Deluxe edition contains a 100 page book.

• Johnny Cash-Best Of The Johnny Cash Show-Make sure you go for the two-disc version with amazing performances by Cash, Eric Clapton, Carl Perkins, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Louis Armstrong, Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard and so many more. Can you imagine any TV show today presenting such a diverse collection of musical talent?

• Flatt & Scruggs-Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Volumes 1-4-Any of these volumes are great for that good ol' country pickin'. And the original commercials are included too. Volume 2 has Mother Maybelle Carter as a guest, while Volume 4 has a 7-year-old Ricky Skaggs.

• Bob Dylan-Other Side Of The Mirror: Bob Dylan Live At The Newport Folk Festival-This gives you just what the title says, all of Dylan's performances at the Newport Folk Festival from 1963-1965. While the infamous full-band performance from 1965 is obviously present, equally revelatory and enjoyable are the numerous performances by Dylan on side stages with just him, his guitar and harmonica and a small, slack-jawed audience (including other musicians).

• Beatles-Help-While certainly not the high point of the Beatles' movie career (see A Hard Days Night), Help! has its memorable moments and it certainly has great songs. The movie has been newly restored and comes with a disc of extras.

• Jazz Icons Volumes 1 & 2-This is a perfect gift for the jazz lover in your life. Each volume contains a set of seven CDs from TV broadcasts in Europe from the late '50s to mid-'60s. Volume 2 contains complete concerts by Wes Montgomery, Dave Brubeck, Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Dexter Gordon and Charles Mingus (Vol. 1 features Chet Baker, Louis Armstrong, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie and more). The footage is beautifully shot and the sound is superb. Also recommended is Soundies, a recently released DVD compiling the musical shorts of famous jazz acts (Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday) that preceded the main feature in movie theaters in the '30s and '40s.

• Radiohead-In Rainbows-Available as a box set containing a CD and vinyl version of their new album, plus a disc of rarities, plus a load of printed goodies, this is the ultimate Radiohead present for 2007.

• People Take Warning: Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs 1913-1938-This is for the old-time music lover, consisting of three CDs of songs dealing with death and disaster, from World Wars to the Titanic and Hindenburg. What better way to spread holiday cheer?

• Miles Davis-On The Corner-A whopping five CDs of Mile recorded around the time of his landmark On The Corner album, a touchstone for jazz, fusion, and hip-hop heads alike.

• Heavy Metal Box-Shaped like a Marshall Amplifier (turned up to 11), Rhino does its usual superb job in covering metal from its start to the end of the millennium with all the major players (Metallica, Priest, Black Sabbath and on and on) present and accounted for.

• John Coltrane-Impulse Years 1961-1963; Fearless Leader, the 1957-58 Prestige Recordings; Interplay, 1956-58 Prestige Group Sessions-Three different Coltrane box sets in one year? Our cup runneth over. Documenting the period from 1956-1963, these boxes are incredible documents of the development of Coltrane's legacy.

• Summer Of Love; Love Is The Song We Sing, Francisco 1967-Given that it's 50 years since 1967, we have two boxes celebrating that year in rock, the first taking a wide sweep of musical happenings of the year, the latter focusing on the centrality of the San Francisco scene to the developing rock culture.

• Emmylou Harris-Songbird-This is a 4-CD box, with tracks hand-picked by the artist. The result is something much more than the usual "hits plus extras" box-set approach, as Harris picks her favorite album cuts, plus loads of stuff which appeared on tribute albums, duets work and more.

• Joy Division-Closer; Unknown Pleasures; Still-All three of Joy Division's seminal albums, remastered and each accompanied by a disc of live performances.

• Pink Floyd-Piper At The Gates Of Dawn -3 CDs celebrating Syd Barrett's one and only album with the Floyd. Contains stereo and mono versions of the album, plus outtakes and rarities galore.

• Sly & The Family Stone-The Box-simply contains all seven of this bands original albums, all remastered.

• Stax 50th Anniversary Collection-Two discs containing 50 songs from the supreme southern soul label.

Finally, although not new, I must mention the continued availability of two other DVDs. The Old Grey Whistle Test, Volume 1, is my favorite music DVD. It contains brilliant performances form the early-mid '70s of Bob Marley (with the original Wailers), Randy Newman, Alice Cooper, Elton John, John Lennon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bill Withers, R.E.M., Talking Heads, Edgar Winter (doing an astounding version of "Frankenstein"), Marvin Gaye, Roxy Music (with Brian Eno) and loads more. Beautifully shot, too.

And Ray Charles' O-Genio ("The Genius") contains two concerts filmed for Brazilian TV in 1963 and captures Ray at the height of his powers. He gets down and dirty with the Rae-lettes and gets swanky with a full orchestra. Absolutely great stuff.