Canadian Gift Guide

A friend of mine buys her husband today’s albums on vinyl for most gift-giving occasions. Why? Well aside from the built-in cool factor and built-in warm sound, apparently vinyl is the most surefire way to preserve your music collection. With digital files being ever-so-flaky and CDs have a reputation to break, scratch, and eventually disintegrate, vinyl is apparently the way to go.

Whether the person you’re buying for is looking for a retro throwback, wants to start up their collection, or happens to be a major Stones fan, the Rolling Stones have decided to roll out a vinyl box set of their albums from 1964-1969, the era when the band scored some of their biggest hits of all time.

The set is not for the casual Stones fan actually, to be fair, although upon perusing the albums one might just become a bona fide hardcore fanboy, or girl. The initial set consists of nine remastered albums, two remastered EPs, and two remastered biggest hits albums. With the first five albums presented in mono, prepare to be transported back to the time of peace and love with the flip of a switch. The set isn’t for those who are light in the wallet however – it retails for $356 on Amazon.ca.

If you’re looking for a wider swath of Stones material – or you want to complete the set – there is a second collection of vinyl releases that covers 1971-2005, for $385. With 18 vinyl LP collector’s edition albums, there’s something representing every generation of the boys’ seemingly never-ending career.

Again, these are pricy gifts, meant for diehards of the Stones or vinyl or both respectively. They make for a great gift for that music-loving parent, or a thoughtful way to indulge an audiophile spouse.