Still looking for a holiday gift? Choose from a tall stack of music-oriented books, easy to wrap as gifts, and a whole lot deeper than E's "True Hollywood Story."

First up: Backbeat Books has just issued "Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock 1970-1982," now featuring a bonus 24-track CD of interviews with Stiv Bators, Gary Numan, XTC, Oingo Boingo, DEVO, The Cult, and many more with the author, George Gimarc.

This new expanded edition nearly tops 750 pages as a day-by-day history of surprising anecdotes, recording session info, tour dates, and press scoops concerning every band that ever mattered from the era, and them some.

What's so amazing is how fresh everything was back then, as punk broke down the walls of music and commerce, and there were still new sounds and styles to be created.

For those who love this music, opening this book to any page will be a thrill, as the book is peppered with album and single cover art, gig posters, buttons, and newspaper ads. ...

More love is shared openly in another new book, "Neil Young Nation," as Canadian writer Kevin Chong faces his personal midlife crisis by rounding up a few slacker buddies for a soul- searching road trip across North America. They trace the same path Neil Young took in the mid 1960's, leaving his northern homeland for the happening Los Angeles scene.

Listening for traces of the energy Young left along the way, Chong visits Young's childhood home and other significant addresses, and finds old friends who shared Young's fateful journey in that glorious 1953 Pontiac hearse. Issued by Vancouver's Greystone Books, this highway diary proves that even if you don't get to meet your hero, often the journey itself is all that matters. ...

Fresh from his acceptance of the Century Award at the Dec. 6 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Tom Petty's personal memoirs are collected in a new book by Paul Zallo. "Conversations With," a 448-page book, is spun like stories told around a card table — crazy funny, wickedly insightful and often tearfully poignant.

It follows Petty from his meeting Elvis as a young child and playing in his first professional bands at age 14, through his superstar, top-hat-wearing status in the lively MTV era, and the deep love and affection between his band mates in the Traveling Wilburys.

Can you imagine — in the same afternoon you meet Roy Orbison, he gets with Jeff Lynne, and the three of you write, "You Got It?" And having Bob Dylan and George Harrison join your band? Wow.

With surprising anecdotes and song craft discussion, this book is packed with more than 100 photos. Look for it on the Omnibus Press imprint. ...

The early history of Led Zeppelin gets a fresh telling in a glossy new opus by Keith Shadwick and the Backbeat Book press, gorgeously illustrated with stunning black-and-white photography. From the Yardbirds' split to the death of drummer John Bonham, "Led Zeppelin: The Story of a Band and Their Music 1968-1980" provides a fly-on-the-wall gaze at what created their epic legacy over nine albums and 11 American tours.

Featuring one of the most dangerous and unpredictable band managers in rock history, Peter Grant, it tells the story of a creative "perfect storm" of talent, and as some feel, destiny. Featuring highly analytical discussion of song arrangements and studio craft, the reader is taken deep into the hazy drama of this rock royalty. ...

Seattle native and Northwest music historian Peter Blecha shares his true-life adventures as an Indiana Jones in search of pop culture antiquities in his new book, "Rock & Roll Archaeologist," from Sasquatch Books. As the former curator of the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle, Blecha took his teenage record collecting interests to stratospheric new heights, scouring basements and loose leads for rock 'n' roll treasures like Bob Dylan's first guitar, and Janis Joplin's paisley pants and pink feather boa. Highlights include the auction chase for Eric Clapton's "Layla" guitar and gaining Kurt Cobain items from a difficult Courtney Love.

Got grunge? How about the original, chipped and crusty Superfuzz stompbox that defined Mark Arm's signature guitar tone in Mudhoney? From chasing the wild report of a tree that naturally casts an eerie shadow of Jimi Hendrix, to hunting down Hendrix's own personal record collection, Blecha donned his pith helmet and charged fearlessly after the scent of a rare artifact. If you're lucky enough to visit the house of rock worship that displays these items today, you'll get to enjoy them without even breaking a sweat. ...

Small enough to count as stocking stuffers, Continuum Books has released another heavy nugget of knowledge in their 33 & 1/3 series, with John Niven's new book, "The Band's Music From Big Pink." Tight, brainy and smartly designed, these pocket dissertations are an in-depth analysis of a single, seminal album.