I love box sets! (1 Viewer)

[Mike Broadman]

Yes, that's right folks, I'm currently experiencing box set mania!

It's partly due to the way I've completely restructured the way I organize and store my CDs, tossing the jewel cases, putting all the liners in a big box (need to come up with a better way of organising this), and using binders for all the CDs. Now my shelves and racks are free, and I love the why the box sets look and feel- so majestic and glorious. I love all the liner notes that are sometimes like novels, exhaustive recording info and the like. And I love all the crazy music in them. What, 12 takes of Charlie Parker playing Now's the Time? Awesome!

With the discover of amazon.com marketplace, where you can always find cheaper, used sets in great shape, all my music money is going into my box set collection. Most significantly is the acquisition of the Miles Davis Columbia series. I avoided them at first because some of them don't follow album sequence order and I used to not care about alternate tracks. I've done a complete 180 on that- I can organise tracks and MP3 files on my computer or program trakcs on the CD player, so I don't care about that. And with the SACDs, I still will have the albums in some form for some of the most important albums (Miles Smiles, Kind of Blue).

With the Miles stuff, I currently have the Coltrane, Jack Johnson, and Gil Evans sets, with the 2nd Quintet coming in the mail. This just leaves In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which are smaller and therefore cheaper.

And the upcoming Seven Steps to Heaven set will complete almost everything Miles recorded for Columbia up until 1970 (barring a couple tracks off of Someday My Prince Will Come), provided one has the complete Plugged Nickel and Blackhawk sets (which I do). I also have the 80s Montreaux set. This means that after acquiring Seven Steps eventually, I'll have 10 Miles box sets!

Then they totally need to do an On the Corner related set (which includes that album, and the live album made at that time), and a set that covers the final 70s band (Agharta, Pangea). That band was awesome.

Other sets I have (number of CDs in parentheses):

New Orleans Jazz (Mosaic) (4)
John Coltrane: Village Vanguard (4), European concerts (7)
Heavyweight Champion (complete Atlantic)(7) coming in the mail
Chick Corea Origin at Blue Note (6)
Charlie Parker- complete Savoy & Dial sessions (8)
Ella Fitzgerald- complete songbooks (16!)
Black Crowes (5)
Led Zeppelin- complete studio recordings (10)
King Crimson- Epitaph (4), ProjecKts (4), Great Deceiver (4)
The Band- The Last Waltz (4)
Chess Blues (4)
(I'm sure I'm missing a couple)

Sets I really want to get now:
Coltrane- complete Impulse! quartet studio recordings (though it'll mean I'll have 3 version of A Love Supreme)
The Grateful Dead- Golden Road (I think I may want to be a deadhead)
Charles Mingus- complete Atlantic, complete Debut
Ornette Coleman- complete Atlantic
all the Mosaics! (this, of course, is impossible)

Sets I'm looking at, probably want:
Herbie Hancock- complete Blue Note
Monk- complete Blue Note
Art Tatume- complete solo, complete with band

sets I probably won't get:
any of the complete Prestige sets, because a lot of that material is on SACD

and so the hunts continue...

 

[Bren_Chris]

Mike -

The Herbie Blue Note box is worth the investment. But do not get the Monk Blue Note box - those sides have all been remastered (in the RVG series) and trust me, they sound better. The two individual titles are Genius of Modern Music, Vols. 1&2.

I've spent the last 3 nights with the Coltrane Quartet studio box. It's another must have, if you don't already.

I've got some 30+ jazz boxes - won't bother listing them here. I do like that archival way of getting the recordings, but some of my complete collections are getting long in the tooth, as far as sound goes - for example, I've got Monk's complete Riverside box, but I've also been getting the 20-bit upgrades of individual titles where available.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Yep, the Riverside/Prestige sets will probably be avoided. So much of that material is being remastered, on and off SACD, that it's not worth it.

I coincidentally just read that the Monk set is not the RVG remastered versions, which I have, so there goes that.

I presume, then, that the Hancock set is the RVGs.

These sets aren't at the top of the list, so I'll certainly investigate them in detail before purchasing.

 

[Philip Hamm]

If you're a fan of The Clash their "Clash On Broadway" box set is fabulous.

 

[Bren_Chris]

No, the Hancock complete Blue Note was remastered by someone else, circa 1998? Then the RVGs started coming out. But take my word for it, the mastering of the box set is very good, and hands down it beats the original CD issues of Herbie's albums, esp. Maiden Voyage.

I don't think you'll see an On The Corner box from Miles. The upcoming "7 Steps to Berlin" box will wrap it up for the major collections, as far as I know. They may decide to stick Agharta and Pangaea in one big package, but hell, Columbia can't even figure out what they're doing with the Cellar Door recordings from 1970.

 

[Mike Broadman]

The only Clash I have is London Calling, most of which I do like, but I'm not really into punk otherwise so I haven't explore their earlier material.

I'll keep the set in mind though if I want to dig in further.

So has anyone compared the Hancock set to the RVGs soundwise?

 

[KevinJ]

the box sets you need to track down[most are imports btw]are the thin lizzy/mott the hoople and the deep purple set[listen,learn read on] trust me your collection's not complete til you get these sets

 

[Chris Stainton]

Box sets are awesome because they delve deeper than the typical best of collection.

Some of my favorites are:

Cheap Trick - Sex, America, Cheap Trick
Chicago Box Set
Alice Cooper - The Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper
The Cure - Join The Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978-2001
Neil Diamond - In My Lifetime
Electric Light Orchestra - Flashback
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Return Of The Manticore
Dan Fogelberg - Portrait: The Music Of Dan Fogelberg
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Playback
Stevie Wonder - At The Close Of A Century

 

[Mike Broadman]

I don't like box set like Return of the Manticore because they mix up album tracks with otherwise unavailable tracks. If I like a band that much, I want the whole album.

Plus, with that set, 20 minutes are wasted on Love Beach *shudder*

The first 5 albums (two of which are MFSL gold CDs) do quite nicely for me.

I'm not familiar with the Deep Purple set... will have to look it up...

 

[Chris Stainton]

Of all the Prog bands, ELP is way down the list for my tastes. I like this box because it has pretty much everything I would ever want. My only complaint is it does not include the studio version of "Take A Pebble". It is worth the price though for the studio version of "Pictures at an Exhibition".

 

[Mike Broadman]

That's true, the studio Pictures is much more enjoyable.