Must Have List – October 2011

The king of high-concept theatrical rock is back with a sequel that does his 1975 classic proud. Cooper is once again dragged into a nightmarish world filled with runaway trains and sex-starved she-devils, but it's the diversity and strength of the music, from a reunited Alice Cooper band and several guest surprising guest stars (Vince Gill, Kesha) that will really impress you.

Ozzy Osbourne may not seem to be the most likely dispenser of medical and relationship advice, what with his self-admitted decades of drug and alcohol abuse, infidelity and debauchery. But then again, who better to dole out advice on all the terrible things you can do to your body and your heart than rock's Prince of Darkness? That's what Ozzy's doing with his new advice book, 'Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy (Oct.10), culled partially from his London Times and Rolling Stones columns.

Within this book, every era of the Aerosmith's legendary career is explored with detailed insider accounts, private and concert photographs, and an exhaustive collection of cover art, t-shirts and other memorabilia. By exploring the downs in addition to the ups of the Boston rockers' career, it paints a fuller picture of the band.

We know, it's rare to be talking about Kiss and merchandising in the same sentence. But, they've made a rare exception to their usual anti-profiteering stance by allowing these adorable doll versions of themselves, complete with chest hair for Paul Stanley, to hit stores this month, and our staff will be fighting over them very shortly.

Not everything on this list, or in this world, is something you can buy or put on a shelf. Sometimes you have to go out and make your dreams come true, and if one of your goals is to star in a Queen-endorsed tribute band, then you better crank up your home camera and get to auditioning, because we're pretty sure they've already found their Freddie Mercury.

The holiday box set season is in full swing already, and it was this massive four CD / eight LP document of Jimi Hendrix's three night, six-show 1968 stand at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore that started it off in fine fashion. Do you really need that much more live Hendrix? Ask yourself this: Is there any way you wouldn't have attended every one of those shows if you had tickets?

The name may sound like a joke, but any idea that Chickenfoot was just going to be a light-hearted party band goes right out the door on their second album, 'III.' The rockers have more bite than their counterparts from the first album, and the band shows off a surprising depth and range with ballads and more heartland-rock inspired material. We're currently going after the world record for "most times listening to 'Dubai Blues' in one office."

Get ready to ( wait two hours after the opening act, have to pee really badly but not want to miss the opening song, then finally) get really excited when Axl Rose screams out his trademark "Do you know where you are?" as he brings his reconstituted Guns N' Roses lineup to cities all across America, just three short years after the release of their most recent 'Chinese Democracy' album.

The cornerstone of the first wave of Pink Floyd's massive reissue campaign, this six-disc edition of 'The Dark Side of the Moon' explores every aspect of its creation, from skeletal demos of two songs, through early mixes and live performances. It also comes with two photo books and collectibles such as scarves, concert tickets and marbles. It's all very cool, and we can't wait for 'Wish You Were Here' and 'The Wall' to get the same treatment.

We're assuming that throwing or attending a Halloween party of some sort is in your plans for later this month, and if you don't want to spend the whole night listening to 'Monster Mash' and 'Purple People Eater,' we've got a classic rock-filled playlist to scare up some thrills. It stars Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, and naturally, the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne.