From Bowie’s late work to Hendrix rarities to Deep Purple’s live milestone – here are the 2025 box set highlights.
Do you still need a few gift ideas? We have brought together the most important box sets of the year for you. Maybe there is something for you and/or your loved ones?
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Bold As Love
Legacy/Sony
The box set contains 5 LPs or 4 CDs as well as a Blu-ray with Atmos mix, plus mono and stereo versions and 40 demos, alternative takes and live recordings, 28 of them previously unreleased. A 36-page book complements the edition. BOLD AS LOVE becomes an intensive journey through Hendrix’s short creative phase, in which songs like “Little Wing” or “If 6 Was 9” show their creative depth and stylistic freedom with new clarity.
The Beatles – Anthology 4 / Anthology Collection
Apple/Capitol/Universal
ANTHOLOGY 4 contains 36 tracks including “Now And Then,” new remasters of “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love,” and 13 fresh outtakes. The ANTHOLOGY COLLECTION includes 191 tracks on 8 CDs/12 LPs and documents in detail the path from early demos to classic album versions. From the sketches for “In My Life” and “Here Comes The Sun” you can hear how The Beatles wrote musical history in real time.
Pulp – Different Class (30th Anniversary Edition)
Iceland/Universal
The anniversary edition will be released as a 4-LP or 2-CD edition including the Glastonbury 95 concert, published for the first time. The live recording shows Pulp at the moment of their breakthrough, when “Common People” becomes a national confession. DIFFERENT CLASS appears here as a restored social portrait full of sarcastic elegance and anthemic dance floor melancholy – supported by classics such as “Mis-Shapes”, “Disco 2000” and “Sorted For E’s & Wizz”.
Wilco – A Ghost Is Born (Deluxe Editions)
Nonesuch/Warner
The new editions appear as double LP/CD or as large editions with up to 38 outtakes, 24 live tracks and hardcover book; available as a 9-CD box or 4-CD/9-LP combination. A GHOST IS BORN unfolds its full range here – from the herbaceous motor skills in “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” to shady folk passages. The extended versions show Wilco in creative transition and make the album a multifaceted document of the early 2000s.
Xmal Germany – Gift: The 4AD Years
4AD/Beggars
The 3-LP set bundles FETISH and TOCSIN, supplemented by EP material and the cult single “Incubus Succubus II”. GIFT – THE 4AD YEARS reconstructs the phase in which Xmal Deutschland became a fixture in the gothic and postpunk scene in the UK. With striking guitars, ghostly synths and Anja Huwe’s haunting voice, songs like “Reigen” and “Augen.Blick” show the extraordinary depth of a band that has long been underestimated in this country.
Orbital – Orbital (“The Brown Album”) (Super Deluxe Edition)
London Records/Alive
The Super Deluxe Edition is released as a 4-LP/4-CD box with B-sides, remixes (including Underworld, CJ Bolland) and a Limelight live recording. Plus stripped down 2-LP/2-CD versions and a tape edition. THE BROWN ALBUM can be experienced in a new way as a futuristic techno masterpiece: complex rhythms, experimental sounds and classics like “Halcyon+On+On” are a reminder of how visionary Orbital advanced electronic music in 1993.
Bruce Springsteen – Tracks II: The Lost Albums
Sony
Seven fully conceived, previously unreleased albums with 83 songs from 1982-2018 form a monumental archive. From the LA GARAGE SESSIONS ’83 to intimate ’90s songs like “Secret Garden” to powerful late works like “Rain In The River,” TRACKS II opens up new perspectives on Springsteen’s work. The collection depicts the stylistic paths he took – and those he abandoned, without ever losing their intensity.
Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food (Super Deluxe Edition)
Rhino/Warner
Newly remastered, supplemented by a 1978 live album and eleven rarities; the vinyl box also contains four singles. This edition shows how the Talking Heads with Brian Eno designed a new pop modernity between nervous rhythm and intellectual sharpness. Early live versions like “Love → Building On Fire” seem raw and pulsating, while alternative takes like “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” reveal how much future there was in these songs.
Editorial recommendations
Deep Purple – Made in Japan (50th Anniversary Edition)
Universal
The edition will be released for the first time as a 10-LP box or 5-CD set, including all shows, encores, single edits, ATMOS mix, 60-page book and tour poster. MADE IN JAPAN by Deep Purple can be experienced in its entirety: unbridled energy, extensive improvisations and the epic “Space Truckin’” version show us a band at their peak. A lavishly restored panoramic view of a live album that is not only legendary, but remains a benchmark.
David Bowie – I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002-2016)
Warner
The 13 CD/18 LP box brings together studio albums, extensive live recordings, rare archive material and the complete Montreux 2002 concert. From HEATHEN (“Sunday”, “Cactus”) to REALITY (“New Killer Star”) to the final BLACKSTAR, a late, dramatic chapter unfolds. The edition traces Bowie’s transition between withdrawal, stylistic reinvention and the radical farewell statement BLACKSTAR with impressive depth.