Super deluxe edition remastered with limited edition print and scratch and sniff sleeve

Top for me is somewhere between having previously unreleased tracks and previously released traacks which aren't easily available. Find the convenience of having everything in one place appealing.

Least interested in live tracks, always a bit disappointed when that's the only bonus material.

another vote for "previously unreleased tracks" here

I agree with those two options, the rest is of mild to no interest to me. I think the only "deluxe" reissue I ever bought was the three-disc Village Green Preservation Society though, so I'm probably not the intended audience for these packages.

The only reason I'd pick "Previously released tracks but now unavailable" (I guess singles, EP tracks, etc.) over "Previously unreleased tracks" is that the odds are the former are probably going to be musically superior, unless the musical act was really prolific or really confused about where their strengths lay.

here for prev unreleased tracks / rare tracks / works in progress etc

not crazy about:
- packing CD and vinyl together (jacks up the price)
- luxurious packaging, ephemera (jacks up the price)
- multiple live shows

12” mixes

Depends on the band/release. I’m generally in favor of including live recordings, but a Revolver set with, say, some of their mediocre (by their own admission) 1966 shows in Japan wouldn’t make much sense. But a Who’s Next set with their complete December 13, 1971 San Francisco show, I’d be all over it. My problem with live recordings on boxes is when they only include a few tracks rather than a complete show.

As for everything else, put it all in: all the demos, the complete session tapes, outtakes, radio stuff, 12” mixes, new remix, everything. I don’t care about 5.1 mixes but only because I don’t have that equipment (and probably never will).

Completism, and having everything easily accessible. Bonus tracks should be on separate discs.

Pretty much this order:

Previously unreleased tracks
Works in progress (demos/alternate takes)
Previously released tracks but now unavailable
Completism

Remastered sound (general spit and polish)
Remixed sound e.g. stereo mix of Revolver, Raw Power remix
Radio/TV recordings e.g. Peel sessions
Live tracks/concert
Packaging (liner notes/photos...)

Extended 12" mixes
Interviews
Video content
Availability in new format

In other words, it's all about the music (with a side of anal-retentive completism).

To elaborate via Pink Floyd:

The Early Years - Motherload! Had to buy the full box with the otherwise unavailable bonus CD & DVD discs of less-than-pristine BBC sessions, live recordings, outtakes, etc., which wasn't available separately. All the books, posters, ephemera, repressings of their first 6 45's, etc. are fun, but if there was a version that was just the CDs/DVDs, I would have bought that.

Dark Side of the Moon - The entire reason that the 6-disc Immersion Edition was a must-have was the bonus disc with an early mix of the unfinished album, plus demos, a 'Household Objects' track, 2 early versions of "The Mortality Sequence" (one "Great Gig in the Sky" pre-Clare Torry, the other pre-anything-resembling-a-melody-and-no piano, organ instrumental). Which they packaged in a cardboard sleeve printed with the album cover obviously run through a Photoshop "pointillism" effect, and tossed in the bottom of the box seemingly as an afterthought. They clearly spent more time on packaging the scarf, marbles (in a little drawstring pouch), coasters & postcards. I mean, I love Hipgnosis as much as the next guy, but c'mon.

Wish You Were Here - All of the additional music was included on the 2-disc no-frills Experience Edition, so that's all I needed. The extra discs in the Immersion Edition box were DVD & BluRay audio mixes and concert screen films which I didn't need (not to mention the scarf/marbles/coasters/postcards).

Packaging is all I care about tbh. I buy these expensive box sets and just put them on the shelves because they look nice. I download the additional tracks but rarely do I listen to them. I don't even have a turntable but I've spent hundreds of pounds on vinyl box sets in the past few years.

This is a good question but a tricky one to answer because these days it really varies. Back in the pre-download/streaming era the main appeal for me was very much having all the previously released b-sides and other stray tracks actually on CD and in one place but it's become easy enough to track those down. But now it depends - at the moment I'm debating getting hold of the Prince 1999 box, which I'd be buying for (in order) the two discs of unreleased tracks, the fact it's a really nice-looking object and the live DVD. On the other hand if I buy the new Revolver it'd mainly be for the new mix (although I'll probably go for the double CD for the selected outtakes).

tell me more about the scratch & sniff sleeve :D

at the moment I'm debating getting hold of the Prince 1999 box, which I'd be buying for (in order) the two discs of unreleased tracks, the fact it's a really nice-looking object and the live DVD.

This and the Sign O’ The Times box definitely get it right: lots of unreleased tracks/demos/outtakes, 12” mixes, b-sides, a live show on CD, and a different live show on DVD. My only gripe with the Sign box is that it doesn’t have a DVD of the theatrically-released (for about a week) concert film, but I suspect that was tied up in some kinda film-studio legal web.

I'm a sucker for the extra material and videos which i proceed to never ever play

but I'm voting "other" and what i mean is "all of the above". i don't buy a lot of these but they generally have to check a few of these boxes.

Good packaging, liner notes and format choices are important to me. Remastering is good if done right, too.

I sometimes dig previously released or unreleased tracks, if they're related to the album sessions. But please, put them on a second disc. Don't disrupt the flow of the original album!

I'm pretty indifferent to demos, alternate takes/mixes, live versions etc. I'm not a musicologist and tend to prefer the record as released; the rest is just ephemera to me. Notable exceptions for me include the Velvets' Closet Mix, first Throwing Muses album demos, and Goo demos.

Usually I'm just happy to be able to grab something that's back in print. But if it's already readily available, I won't usually bother with deluxe versions, unless the remaster is a notable improvement.

I guess I'm not really the target audience for these kinds of things huh. Most of them seem kind of pointless.

I voted unreleased tracks but for favorite albums good liner notes are a selling point for me, too. I like to read about the “making of” and if the booklet os lavishly illustrated and has great old never-before-seen pictures that’s gravy.

The Who boxes sometimes get it right (last year’s The Who Sell Out box), sometimes meh (the My Generation box), sometimes wrong (Quadrophenia box), and sometimes all three in one box (Tommy).

The Sell Out box has great remasterings of the stereo and mono mixes, contemporary b-sides and outtakes, session tapes (such as they are — not a lot was preserved), demos, and a “Road To Tommy” disc with all the singles and outtakes from the period between Sell Out and Tommy. The original plan was to include their April 5, 1968 Fillmore East show, but instead that came out as a standalone before the box (which made sense). The printed ephemera is an embarrassment of riches (posters, cards, photos and such). I only wish they’d included a DVD of the Classic Albums documentary that was shown on youtube right after the box’s release, because I can’t find that thing anywhere.

The My Generation box has a poor remastering of the mono mix, and a weird new stereo mix with newly recorded (2014) guitar parts to replace a few missing elements. In a way, those are fascinating to hear 2014 Townshend revisit his 1965 approach. There’s a handful of genuinely interesting outtakes/alternates, and some nice demos, but it’s bloated with barely-different alternate mixes of contemporary b-sides.

Quadrophenia doesn’t include the original mix (the 1996 remix is used), has no other studio material (despite the existence of at least three other songs), and some of the demos have new overdubs. Also, nothing is included from the two professionally-recorded live shows from that tour (which are still unreleased).

Tommy has a great remaster and all the demos. It also finally includes a rare studio version of “Young Man Blues,” and a live show. But there are only two studio outtakes — many more are on the earlier 2CD deluxe edition — and this box has TWO blu-rays (one 5.1, the other stereo). No date is given for the live show (it’s from Ottawa, October 15, 1969), and most bizarrely, to replace missing fragments of that show, a 1976 show is used: “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is from ‘76, but with the “See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You” section edited in from the ‘69 show’s “My Generation” segment. Confusing and annoying.

I get the logic of including b-sides as bonus tracks on the appropriate album, but I really miss b-side/EP tracks/rarities compilations

Yeah. The latest Bowie boxes are pretty nice but they group all of the b-sides with a ton of edits of the a-sides. I wish they were grouped together in a way that was more cohesive.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

12” mixes, it’s a slog to search for those and only find crappy vinyl rips.

Packaging: everything else is generally available on Spotify even

^Not audio quality worth the remastered sound (IMO)

I usually end up borrowing super deluxe editions from the library, stream them or sample them through other means, but there are a handful that held enough interest beyond a few listens, and those I eventually bought. It's tough to single out any of the factors listed above because it really depends on the album and how it's done.

The earlier deluxe album sets were more manageable, like Pet Sounds and the first Village Green Preservation Society set - I got both on sale for about $20. When they started pumping them up into more extravagant proportions, it was usually too much.

With the Beatles' deluxe sets, Revolver is the only one that I wanted to keep. I liked everything included on it. The original stereo mix wasn't done very well, so anything that was an improvement was welcome. With the others, I only wanted the bonuses - I already had the mono mixes and only Sgt. Pepper had a stereo remix I was interested in.

The Replacements' deluxe sets have been excellent, but the additional vinyl is an expensive waste for me. I only kept the debut album's set - everything was welcome and it had the best digital mastering of the album. Pleased to Meet Me sounds best on the original CD IMHO, so once you take that out, that left only two CD's of bonus material that I'd be interested in. Dead Man's Pop has a fine live album, but the bonuses were much less interesting - I think the Rhino CD from the '00s scooped up the best ones already. The new version of the album is excellent though, I wish they'd spin that off into a standalone release.

Prince's estate had budget-friendly deluxe sets in Purple Rain and 1999, and luckily when they put out an extravagant one in Sign 'O' the Times, the material lived up to it. And yes, they couldn't get the film that was done for it due to legal reasons - this was discussed in an interview, but the international rights are a complete mess which is why they included the rehearsal show. Personally, I'm glad they did that because the film's already available in Australia on Blu-ray. I got mine several years ago and it looks great - it's a real HD transfer from the original film elements, though be warned "U Got the Look" still looks like shit because they edited that on video tape and to include it in the film, they just dubbed the videotape master on to the film stock. (Who knows if the original 16mm negative even exists anymore.)

I only got The Who Sell Out box set - glorious, and one case where extravagant artwork was truly necessary given the nature of the album.

My Generation I skipped for the same reasons given by Tarfumes. Quadrophenia also seemed worthless. To be fair, I may prefer the remix (which is the same one from the '90s), but it's likely most prospective buyers will already have that. That just leaves the demos, and though the unused songs are nice to have, I'd rather hear the finished recordings for the rest.

Tommy's okay, but I'm kind of burned out from Tommy - I've heard it way too many times. All I really need is the album remaster from 2013. The studio bonuses are nice, but that's just a CD's worth of music. The live recording they included is good - I actually don't mind the 1976 patch-ins because otherwise you just have these gaping holes in the recording but I also have the Who performing Tommy in its entirety at Leeds, Hull and nearly all of it at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. I don't need a fourth performance that is at best on par.

Another problem with the Quadrophenia box: while some might want it for the photo book (which accompanied the original 1973 release, and is very striking), apparently the negatives were lost. So the box has a rather blurry reproduction of those photos.

I actually don't mind the 1976 patch-ins because otherwise you just have these gaping holes in the recording

It's true there'd be missing bits, but a few weeks after the box's release, the official Who site posted MP3s of the two "missing"/patched-in songs from around the same time as the Ottawa show (Stonybrook, NY 10/18/69) -- so they HAD other unreleased live 1969 recordings they could have used for the box; they just didn't.

The initial 2- and 3-CD Kinks reissues pretty much gathered up all the good stuff. If I'm not mistaken, the big VGPS box has very, very little that was unreleased, possibly just one song.

Yeah the big 50th anniversary box sets were too much of a luxury. I get the feeling the major selling point musically speaking was the newly mixed material, but I'm generally fine without them. There are some bonuses that are nice, but not enough to justify double or triple dipping. If you don't own VGPS in any form and love it, then yeah might as well get the 50th box set if you can afford it.

The Kinks boxes are also loaded with unnecessary (imo) vinyl: 2 LPs and 3 45s for the VGPS box, 2 45s in the Lola box, 4 45s (?!) in the Arthur box, 6 LPs in the Muswell/Showbiz box. The only reason I'd consider the last of those is the 1971 film included, but it's only 15 minutes long, and I don't have a blu-ray player.

I shudder to think at what the Preservation box will consist of.

A square inch of fabric from Mr. Flash's jacket.

I will say that the BBC Session versions of Preservation tracks are surprisingly awesome, but y'know there's already a 2-disc BBC set for that

Don't forget there was actually a Gang of Four release that included blood from all four members:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/07/gang-four-sell-own-blood

I don't want blood! I want the intro to "I Found That Essence Rare"! (which is missing from the recent box)

Cosign on borrowing deluxe box sets from the library: I've been borrowing those Floyd Early Years sets, which is great because the video elements are probably the most interesting but aren't really anything I need to own.

I voted packaging but then realized that I was really just thinking of how I want a Peter Gabriel III box with a book that has all the melt Polaroids. In general I'm probably more of a rarities, sometimes a remastering consumer. Remastering is less of a draw than it used to be since most things have been done multiple times now, and it seems rare that a) there isn't already a good-enough version out there and b) the results are improvements.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

So far, the best Kinks box set I've heard is The Kinks In Mono one.

Yeah, if I had to recommend any, that would be THE one. The mono mixes are the way they go (except for Arthur and beyond) and that set generally uses the best sources available. Plus it's more focused on the essentials and less on collector scraps. I only wish they did it without the additional compression and eased off on the EQ.

FWIW, this set got me to revisit a bunch of super deluxe sets - the handful I own and the backup files I made of ones I either sold or passed on.

I've basically kept Springsteen's The Promise and The Ties That Bind and the three Prince sets covering WB albums. For me, they're exemplary of what a set should be, from the presentation, the printed content (photos and written material, even work-in-progress lyrics where applicable), and more importantly the musical content. Great live material that's also viewable, which I appreciate much more now over audio recordings, and unreleased recordings that actually play well on their own. The latter is pretty key and a big reason why I generally passed on a lot of super deluxe sets. I have two copies of most Stones' albums, which is unusual in my library, but the super deluxe sets were mostly disappointing - the bonus discs for the early '70s albums were never generous, but nearly everything they did put on them was underwhelming. (To be fair, the best outtakes were probably refurbished for later albums like Tattoo You.) Some Girls and Tattoo You actually have good bonus discs, but you can get those on the less expensive two-CD deluxe sets. (The Blu-ray that came with Some Girls is great though - that's also available separately.)

This is probably sacrilegious to say, but I think a big reason why Springsteen's The Promise and The Ties That Bind and the Stones' bonus discs for Some Girls and Tattoo You make better listening for me is because they actually went back and finished the tracks. I know fans hate that, but personally I rather hear a fully realized work than unfinished leftovers. The bonus material for those sets feel like good albums to me. Most of the stuff on the early '70s Stones sets were left unfinished and they sound like detritus.

*FWIW, this thread