Blog Posts by Chris Willman

The year 2012 brought a bonanza of boomers on Blu-Ray…and we don’t say that just for the sake of alliteration. Among the year’s best music home-video releases were vintage stuff from the Beatles, Stones, Who, and Doors, along with contemporary concerts or docs featuring the likes of Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, and Paul Simon.

Thank God we had a premium release from LCD Soundsystem to represent a younger generation of music auteurs… even if that whole LCD concert movie does ironically revolve around the retirement of James Murphy, the relative young whippersnapper on this list.

As we head into 2013, let’s commemorate (and spend hard-earned gift cards on) ten of the past year’s finest music DVDs and Blu-Rays:

"Celebration Day"LED ZEPPELIN: CELEBRATION DAY

Been a long time since they rock & rolled, indeed. Hell officially froze over in December 2007 when the three surviving members of Zeppelin got back together (along with the non-surviving member’s son) for a one-time-only gig at London’s 02 Arena. Maybe

Jimmy Buffett was born on Christmas day, 65 years ago. Or, as he once put it in the liner notes for a holiday album he released back in 1996, he is “the Christmas war baby turned island boy born on the day W.C. Fields died.”

Jimmy Buffett (Rick Diamond/Getty Images)But when it comes to receiving, every day must feel like Christmas for the entrepreneurial singer, one of the world’s wealthiest musicians. The website Celebrity Net Worth has guesstimated his fortune at $400 million, which by their calculations puts him behind only Paul McCartney and Bono and ahead of Elton John and Mick Jagger.

Never mind that he hasn’t had a song in the Billboard pop Top 40 that was not a featured cameo on someone else’s single since 1979. His guest appearance on Alan Jackson’s country smash “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere” nine years ago gave him a rare taste of post-1970s airplay. Otherwise, he hasn’t been able to get arrested at radio in decades. And he’s boo-hooing all the way to Margaritaville—which is, from all appearances, a multibillion dollar

The year 2013 will mark the 40^th anniversary of the introduction of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the world—not as members of Fleetwood Mac, but as part of what we can think of as a prequel, their Buckingham/Nicks duo act. The timing may be coincidental, but there will be plenty of celebrating going on, as Fleetwood Mac heads out on the road for the first time in three years. Tickets just went on sale for a nine-week, 34-city tour that begins April 4 and includes stops at Madison Square Garden April 8 the Hollywood Bowl May 25.

Fleetwood Mac, ready for '13Nicks and Buckingham sat for separate interviews with Yahoo!, and we were fascinated to find points of convergence on certain issues and divergence on others. For instance, they agree that they’re getting along better than they have in many years. They differ on why that is—but with these two, and the harmonic tension that has always played into fans’ fascination with Fleetwood Mac, would you want it any other way?

Buckingham put it this way, on the

Who's the best caroler of 2012—Rod, Cee Lo, Colbie, Scotty, Sufjan, Blake, or SpongeBob? Which traditionalist really embodies the Christmas spirit—grinnin' John Travolta or grunge-in' Mark Lanegan? Do we really need a third Glee holiday album or a 25^th anniversary Very Special collection as much as we just need a little Christmas?

We listen to every Christmas record that comes out so you don't have to… although, in the cases of Sufjan Stevens, Tracey Thorn, and a few others, we'd very much recommend the musical sleigh ride. Here's our take on some of the season's top or best new releases:

Rod Stewart ChristmasROD STEWART

Merry Christmas, Baby

*½

Maybe you got your hopes up, imagining this would be the great rock Christmas album everyone knows the former Faces frontman probably has in him, instead of the lazy installment in his Great American Songbook standards series we all feared. Sucker. Although this cash grab is easily the most popular new holiday recording this year, the traditionally orchestrated

Gaga and Jagger (Kevin Mazur/Wire Image)The Rolling Stones kicked off the last show of their 50th anniversary mini-tour by performing "Get Off of My Cloud," but despite that exclusionary-sounding opening, the show was all about inviting fellow music stars onto their cloud—namely, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, the Black Keys, John Mayer, and Gary Clark Jr.

The two-and-a-half-hour set at Newark's Prudential Arena was aired live as a pay-per-view special via Yahoo! as well as various cable providers (and is also available for re-viewing on demand for anyone who signs up). Produced by Grammys veteran Ken Ehrlich, the well-shot "One More Shot" show asked the musical question: Do we really need another Stones concert immortalized after the scores that have already been put on video or film over five decades?

The answer is, yes, maybe so, if it involves seeing Gaga reenact Merry Clayton's "Gimme Shelter" wail while giving new definition to the term stretch pants.

Once her Lady-sty's participation was announced, it wasn't too hard

Mick Taylor joins the Stones in LondonIf you thought the 12-12-12 telethon was the Big Music Event of the week, how sorely mistaken—if charitably well-intended—you were. As far as Mick-and-Keith fans are concerned, that was merely the teaser trailer for the Rolling Stones' 50^th anniversary party. It's just a click away if you sign up here before things go live Saturday at 9 p.m. ET/6 PT.

This show will take place in New Jersey, so the Stones didn't have to travel far from their Manhattan mini-gig the other night. But unlike their telethon cameo, this time you will not be found complaining that that gigolo Jagger had just started you up when you had to stop. The pay-per-view show will have its share of celebrity guests, but all attending will be in the service of gilding the Glimmer Twins.

Who's on the guest list? Surprises may be in store, but here's who we know:

• Lady Gaga. Too flamboyant and upstaging a guest for a Stones show, you say? Let's remember that when the trio Labelle opened for the Stones on a 1974 tour, the

(AP Photo/Keystone, Sandro Campardo)

Ravi Shankar's path from Indian raga upstart to being a well-known star in the world of western music was already unlikely enough, even before it got the oddest possible denouement—when it was revealed that he had sired one of America's primary pop sweethearts, Norah Jones.

Not since it came out that singer Tim McGraw's biological father was baseball player Tug McGraw had there been quite such a mutual-celebrity "biodad" surprise. The fact that Shankar and Jones had been estranged for most of her life—and that she was deeply reluctant to discuss her famous father in interviews—only added to the intrigue.

[Photos: Sitar Legend Ravi Shankar Dies]

There had been thawings at various points in the relationship, though, and Jones was able to call Shankar "Dad" when she released a statement Wednesday, following the news that he had died Tuesday at age 92: "My Dad's music touched millions of people. He will be greatly missed by me and music lovers everywhere."

[Related: The Year In Musician

Looking to box up a box for your manically rock-loving loved ones? Or just hoping to wrap up your year by wrapping up a big-ticket item for yourself? For a diehard music fan, nothing says "merry" quite like getting your hands on a retrospective boxed set, whether it includes six discs or 63. (No lie: This year's Johnny Cash set really does get up to that number.)

We scoured the best that veteran artists had to dig up for us and came up with a dozen of 2012's best, most covetable box-a-ramas to recommend to you. Forgive us for allowing the Beatles and Rolling Stones to each be represented twice on this list, but for some artists, when it archivally rains, it archivally pours.

Beatles, 12 inches x infinityTHE BEATLES, The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set (Capitol)

December 2012 has got to be a banner month for turntable sales, at least as far as the 21^st century goes. Because how many Beatlemaniacs will be investing in this all-inclusive vinyl collection first, then remembering they have to have something to play LPs