Favorite Rock Box Set?

[Peter]

Gotta put my plug in for Zombie Heaven as well. And of course both nuggets sets (though I prefer the first). And for your consideration, Captain Beefheart "Grow Fins", Galixie 500, and Bob Marley "Freedom Song."

[Tony Pusey]

One box I would love to own-if it existed!-would be a complete International Artists label, remastered, all 12 albums plus all the singles_13 Floor Elevators, Red Crayola. Lost and Found, Bubble Puppy, Golden Dawn et al.

Well I can dream....

Edited September 9, 2004 by Tony Pusey

[jazzbo]

Nah B: photocopy the notes, sell the discs, that's what I did (never had the box, just the individual discs of the three studio). The family cds are worth getting: sound is better, it's not remixed differently from the albums.

[Shawn]

Well, I don't own it *yet* but knowing the material I would have to say that the Black Sabbath box will be my favorite (although a little miffed that another disc of unreleased recordings/demos weren't included). However they made up for it with a bonus DVD.

Of the box sets I already own, the Steely Dan box is easily my favorite....followed closely by the Led Zeppelin box (the big one with all the original albums).

That Hendrix box is a must have as well!

[jazzbo]

How is the remastering on the Steely Dan box? Showing its age or holding up?

[neveronfriday]

How is the remastering on the Steely Dan box?  Showing its age or holding up?

The remastering is excellent, IMHO.

And I care about that kind of stuff.

But then again, Steely Dan is also a bunch of perfectionists in the studio, so the original material is/was already damn good.

I like the remastering as much as I did when I bought the box and have never seen any reason to update or even look for alternatives (I actually don't think there are any, safe for any SACD remasters, which might exist).

Cheers!

P.S.: I bought mine when it came out. Since then, it has been re-packaged in some slimline box ... don't know if anything changed in the remastering department, although I doubt it very much.

Edited September 9, 2004 by deus62

[jazzbo]

Thanks for the information!

I haven't head any of the cds. . . I have the lps but haven't spun them in ages.

[Shawn]

I know that the individual CDs have been re-released since the box came out....but it's my understanding that it's the same mastering. So the box should still be as good as it gets...and to my ears it's damn tasty!

[Leeway]

The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set.

This is really a well put together box set for the Hendrix fanatic. . . it presents a lot of music officially for the first time, the sound is excellent, the notes are good with photos never before seen.  In all important ways this was carefully put together.

I have the vinyl edition and it's my only rock box set, therefore my favorite.

I think all the stuff his estate has put out has been of the highest quality.

Wolff, do you know if the LPs are from analogue masters? All I can find on them is that the LPs are on 180 gram vinyl, but nothing said about the mastering. Do they address that aspect in the box set?

[chris olivarez]

My current favorite is Cream "Those Were The Days".

[JohnJ]

Another favorite is the Roxy Music box, 'The Thrill Of It All'. I loved them in the '70's and, to me at least, the music still sounds as good as anything from that period. The 4 Cd's cover most of the essential stuff and the colorful, glitzy booklet really captues the essence of the band with a lot of great photos.

I also really like the Jimi Hendrix Experience box.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the Eric Clapton 'Crossroads' box. As far as I remember, this was the first rock box set and remains the biggest selling one. Showing its age by now I guess.

[wolff]

The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set.

Wolff, do you know if the LPs are from analogue masters?  All I can find on them is that the LPs are on 180 gram vinyl, but nothing said about the mastering.  Do they address that aspect in the box set?

Does not say. And there is no mention anywhere on the other four Experience Hendrix LP's I have.

There is this from their site:

Over 4 hours of music on 4 CDs and 8LPs, compiled and digitally remastered by original Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer, and accompanied by a full-color, 80-page book filled with rare....

Edited September 10, 2004 by wolff

[Jazzmoose]

Are Walter Becker and Donald Fagen "Rock"?

If not then I can't post on this thread. I only have two boxed sets that could conceivably be appropriate for this thread, and the other one I refuse to mention, because a) I don't consider much of it rock, and b) it's music I probably should have left in my memory... Let's just say I like him better without Art and leave it at that!

In all honesty, I don't like Rock boxed sets. I grew up with the albums, and the boxed sets (and expanded releases) just don't sound right to me. As I didn't grow up with jazz, boxed sets are fine there.

[Tony Pusey]

Dont be coy Jazzmoose, part of the appeal of this thread is an insight into the misspent youths of posters, and your addmission is well, revealing of something!

[Big Al]

Maybe he just prefers the sounds of silence......

[Aggie87]

The Tom Petty box that was mentioned earlier is a pretty good set - 6 discs, three discs of hits & album tracks, and three of which were previously unreleased material (!).

A couple of others that aren't too shabby:

Los Lobos - El Cancionero: Mas Y Mas - includes hits, great album tracks, live stuff, unreleased stuff, and side projects. A great summary.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - A nice 3 disc set including mostly previously unreleased stuff, and including a DVD from the Austin City Limits show.

Genesis - Archives, Vol 1 - nothing on here has been released before, includes a live Lamb show, other live stuff, and alot of 60's era demos. NOT to be confused with Archives Vol 2, which is fluffier stuff from the Genesis pop era.

A couple of other King Crimson boxes that I enjoy are Heavy ConstruKction (a 3 disc live set, don't know if this qualifies as a box or just a large live recording), and the ProjeKcts box.

[neveronfriday]

Are Walter Becker and Donald Fagen "Rock"?

If not then I can't post on this thread. I only have two boxed sets that could conceivably be appropriate for this thread, and the other one I refuse to mention, because a) I don't consider much of it rock, and b) it's music I probably should have left in my memory... Let's just say I like him better without Art and leave it at that!

In all honesty, I don't like Rock boxed sets. I grew up with the albums, and the boxed sets (and expanded releases) just don't sound right to me. As I didn't grow up with jazz, boxed sets are fine there.

Well, I have to disagree a bit here.

I also grew up with the albums ... but today I catch myself buying some of these lavish remasters not only for memories' sake, but also because of the packaging, the notes, the extra material, the remastering etc. Some albums I loved as a teenager I tried to get in the best possible CD version, although, much unlike in jazz, that is often a difficult thing. In my opinion, there are a lot more beautiful Jazz reissues than there are Rock ones.

You may laugh (and I don't care, HA!), but "Frampton Comes Alive" is still one of my fave albums outside of my Jazz collection. Mind you, I have lots of others that fit that category of must-have reissues, but some just have that sentimental value attached ... like the Frampton, some Marley, the Doobies, Eagles, some older Judas Priest recordings, early Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, etc., etc. etc.

The "Frampton Comes Alive" Universal Deluxe Edition is simply a good example of an excellent reissue that I wanted to have to match the fun I had with that album and at the time it came out.

And, I am a sucker for these cardboard fold-out thingies, glossy photos, good liner notes, etc. Nothing like having that to look at while the music is spinnin' and a good vintage French red wine is sloshing seductively in a monstrous balloon glas.

Cheers!

[AmirBagachelles]

I agree that rock is not the right content for huge anthology sets, unless we are talking a lot of unreleased stuff, live curios, etc. There are SO FEW rock bands that can sustain two+ hours of straight through listening, in my snotty opinion.

That was part of the reason I moved on to jazz. And that's why I love the Dylan series and the Beatles Anthology.

[Jazzmoose]

You may laugh (and I don't care, HA!), but "Frampton Comes Alive" is still one of my fave albums outside of my Jazz collection.

Holy shit! And I was embarrassed about Simon & Garfunkel????

[Jazzmoose]

There are SO FEW rock bands that can sustain two+ hours of straight through listening, in my snotty opinion.

That was part of the reason I moved on to jazz.

Well put.

[Leeway]

Dont be coy Jazzmoose, part of the appeal of this thread is an insight into the misspent youths of posters, and your addmission is well, revealing of something!

I have to agree with you. At least it's true from my experience. Alas, the sweet bird of youth has indeed flown. Nevertheless, I'm on my 3rd adolescence

[danasgoodstuff]

My criteria for rock boxes is a little different. If it's a single artist box, then IMHO the basic rule is that you should be able to just buy the box and forget it - that should be all you really need. The Velevet Underground and Cream boxes, as different as they are, both meet this criteria - you could certainly live with just that, even though I can think of things which would have made them even better. I think the Faces box comes close, but I'd have to get all the original albums (aand some boots) to be sure and that kinda defeats the purpose. Of course, those bands all had relatively short lives, bands like the Stones would be hard to do properly in a managably consise box, although I'm sure that once Allen Klein dies we'll see one or more. Klein has of course kept Sam Cooke from being fully boxed, although the last attempt that included all of Nightbeat and Live @ the Harlem Sq. Club was v. good. The Who nd the Band should be possible to do in 4 CDs but so far the attempts have fallen far short. I've read that Robbie Robertson is working on another attempt at a Band box; it'll only work if they include some stuff with Hawkins and Dylan. Speaking of Bob, I have the Ten of Swords box, 10 LPs all at the time officially unissued from the beginning through Live at the Albert Hall (sic). Very nice even if it fails my test as set forth above.

For genre boxes, I'm v. fond of Rhino's Doo Wop boxes, at least the first two, III is a little spotty. I was going to include a long tangental rant on the centrality of Doo Wop to R 'n R, but I'll save it for another thread. I enjoyed hearing both Nuggets boxes but don't feel any need to own them. Wouldn't mind hearing the Rhino Surf box, suffered through the Rhino Punk/New Wave box. I got all five Rhino Instrumental Rock CDs in a cardboard 'box' for $18 - not a perfect set but well worth it at that price.

I don't think anyone has discussed label boxes here: I like the Stax Singles boxes (esp'ly the first), and the Jewell/Paula, Swingtime, Sun, Specialty, King, and Fire/Fury. A good overview of RPM/Kent still needs to be done; BB King's work for them has been given the royal treatment by Ace, UK.

Chess has many interesting boxes on individual artists and various concepts, but most of them only add to the confusion in the end. I'd like to see boxes of their main artist that simply compile everything that was initially issued on singles, yes their are Muddy Waters singels that have still never been on US albums. Maybe next time we switch formats this will get done.

[Shawn]

A band that really DESERVES a box set (especially since the single CDs are so poorly mastered) is Thin Lizzy. Phil Lynott is very underrated as a songwriter and the two-guitar tandem sound they created was one-of-a-kind and very influential...but never quite surpassed.

It would be a LARGE set if it was complete...but most of their albums are worthwhile.

[medjuck]

Los Lobos - El Cancionero: Mas Y Mas - includes hits, great album tracks, live stuff, unreleased stuff, and side projects. A great summary.

Funny: I was just playing "Just Another Band from East LA" (at least I think that's the title) an earlier box set. Is there any over-lap?

BTW I just got to hear them at a concert in a vinyard where there was lots of room for dancing. They make a great bar band.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

"The Who and The Band should be possible to do in 4 CDs" - ??

You are comparing this with the Cream boxed set - that's complete, is it not? Cream was in existence for under three years. The Who started a year earlier and lasted *ten* years after - plus a four year addendum (anything past 1982 is off limits in my book) - with pretty much everything from 1969 to 1978 being a "classic" (including two double-Lp epics). Which is not to say that pre-Tommy material isn't worth considering, it's just much less consistent. Compared to The Rolling Stones, The Who wins hands down for consistency.

These are bands for which serious fans want to own *every* album. (BTW, it should be noted that there was a serious boxed set of The Who - it was titled "Phases" and came out in 1981. It was 11 LPs - the first 9 albums, complete.) Anthologies just don't do it. Now, a rarities boxed set would be different. Just keep the "regular" stuff off it.

Mike