Which artist most deserves a "Star Time" - meaning a boxset that clearly shows everyone how unbelievable great they are?

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I imagine this has been discussed before but ...

Star Time, the James Brown box set, is great because of the music but also because it "made sense" of the James Brown catalog as a whole. Arguably, some of the Miles Davis boxset series (like the Quintet one) do the same thing.

So, which artist is most deserving of such treatment? someone who is truly great but whose acclaim is hampered by their own catalog...

Parliament etc.?
Post-Lovesexy era Prince? (lots of gems in there, but so much junk!)
Sun Ra?
The Fall? (or is the recent 50,000 Fans comp the best they'll get)

Ideas?

Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Anal Beard

Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

the kinks, maybe?

J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Fela Kuti

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Santana!

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

The Shadows.

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Ween

Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

ween, yes!

fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Pizzicato Five; Henry Threadgill; Thin Lizzy; Vinicius de Moraes (two discs as performer, two as songwriter); Chicago hip-hop; Giorgio Moroder; history of Norteno music; Matt Cibula.

Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

That Fall comp missed off 'LA', so frankly it can fuck off.

Whatever happened to the MBV box-set?

Mog, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, Prince is OTM. So much great stuff, so much crap (well, maybe not CRAP, but not-great stuff), so few perfect albums.

Maybe Bowie?

Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Matt Cibula.

I sense self-interest.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Funny you should mentioned Vinicius...

http://www.viniciusdemoraes.com.br/

I just bought a 'boxset' of his, but it is just a repackaging of 20+ of his albums. This type of thing seems common for Brazilian artists (Caetano, Gilberto Gil, Nara Leao)... or is it me?


the announcement of the MBV boxsets said "Sadly they probably won't be released until late 2005 or early 2006."

Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

P-Funk absolutely, the Kinks definitely. Kuti & Khan tremendous in any context, and Prince just about defines the need for this sort of thing.

What about Mr. Bungle? I'll bet a compilation including the best of the obscure early stuff, album highlights, live stuff & recent rarities would be a real ear-opener. I'd buy it.

briania (briania), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Funny you should mention Vinicius...

http://www.viniciusdemoraes.com.br/

I just bought a 'boxset' of his, but it is just a repackaging of 20+ of his albums. This type of thing seems common for Brazilian artists (Caetano, Gilberto Gil, Nara Leao)... or is it me?


the announcement of the MBV boxsets said "Sadly they probably won't be released until late 2005 or early 2006."

Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Prince Paul!

An all-in-one-place Wu Tang retrospective is awesomely inevitable, too.

briania (briania), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I think on another thread people were talking about a Timbaland box set....which would be cool.

Cornee indie fuck me would really like a Steve Albini box that collects all the albums and rare trax and 7 inch stuff by Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac....(Shellac esp. has lots of pretty rare stuff out there in some form or another)....

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

also, I'll prob. get mocked for this but I would KILL for a well selected Rush 4-disc box (they've done chronicles and then the other 2 disc greatest but I'd love to see a more career spanning thing with more obscure songs instead of all the hits...

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

depeche fckng mode.

every album has a good two or three traxx that are as good as the singles, and then there's the b sides an ting.

piscesboy, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

moroder and prince definitely. star time is at the top of my "box sets to be purchased" list. an old roommate had a copy and we played it all the time.

a definitive detroit techno box set would be amazing, but the likelihood of that happening is probably so rare...

tricky disco (disco stu), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

carl craig alone would be superb. he has done so many great remixes that were vinyl only and are very hard to find.

tricky disco (disco stu), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Planet E released "Designer Music V1" - a comp of Craig remixes. So it's a start. Maybe more volumes will follow?

the announcement of the MBV boxsets said "Sadly they probably won't be released until late 2005 or early 2006."

Give or take ten or twenty years.

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Henry Threadgill is a really good one. I'm constantly finding more and more projects he's been involved in that I had never heard of before. A real thorough boxed set showing connections between all the stuff he's done would be really effective.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

MARK SANDMAN

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

(Treat Her Right and Morphine)

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd give my left nut for a Complete Minutemen box.

Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

michael gira

-------, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Yello!

Diego Valladolid (dvalladt), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

It was really refreshing to hear a Yello song the other day that wasn't "Oh Yeah".

nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd say Gilberto Gil--he's been so incredibly prolific, and Americans still perhaps don't know just how great he's been. I could easily envision 4 CDs w/ translations of his prime stuff. I could say the same thing about Elis Regina too; there has been a box which you don't see around too much, I picked it up at Amoeba in San Francisco a few years back, and while good includes some of her more dodgy later material, Beatles covers, etc.

eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

D DOUBLE E

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark Lanegan...who is criminally overlooked, IMHO. A devastatingly amazing body of work no one's heard.

shookout (shookout), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeeees...what an awful shame.

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

thomas fehlmann, bappi lahiri, arthur russell, dego'n'marc (4hero)

gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Arthur Russell, agreed.

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Timbaland And All Who Shall Sail On His Beats

manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

DJ Premier

Symplistic (shmuel), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Predictable adam. answers=

Sahko records
Jimi Tenor

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i was gonna say premo.

gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

eric dolphy

gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

All this music you're talking about - you make it sound so great.

I need money.

Nowell, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

No you don't.

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

well, a cable connection costs...

gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

X post

And why don't I need money?

Nowell, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

sunny ade

gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

We all share music illegally, Nowell. It is a ton of fun.

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I would also like to recommend...drugs.

adam. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't. Honestly. I don't have my own computer.
And the person that made me mix CDs for free has moved away. She might come to visit. She doesn't like me that much, by the way.
But I just thought of someone else that I think would do it for me.

Nowell, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i have heard selling drugs is good adam

gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't know they'd recorded together...

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Chic Organization & Sly both seconded. I think Robert Wyatt is a necessity too. Neil Young, who I don't even like much?

Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

Terry Riley

Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

D-Mode were a pretty good idea.

Most likely it's technically impossible, but a Wu/solo box could be fantastic.

The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

Bob Mould will never relinquish the rights to the Husker Du catalog in order to let someone else compile it, plus, he's not interested in looking back.

It'd be a great collection, however. Varied, dark, and guitar heavy. Just what I like.

Rage Against the Machine.

Courtney, Wednesday, 26 January 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

Butthole Surfers

Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

adrian sherwood

bulbs (bulbs), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...
Mekons -- all eras. What a long strange trip...

Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

Neil Young

kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

Wu Tang Clan (solo projects included)

The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

There's already a decent Thin Lizzy box set called "Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors & Angels."

http://www.thinlizzyfan.com/albumpages/boxset.html


I agree on the Fall box set idea.

Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...
Go - Betweens -- Then and Now

Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

Arto Lindsay. Though it would probably be best to wait a few years, as he's still releasing strong albums.

These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Bear Quartet

Swedish Tiger, Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

DOUG SAHM DOUG SAHM DOUG SAHM

JAS, Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

Chris Whitley.

There. I said it.

rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:21 (twenty years ago)

Chic Organization & Sly both seconded.

Thirded. It's a joke neither of these are compiled in any meaningful way.

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

definitely MORODER!!!

s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

Sly needs a box set SOOOOOO BAD. (especially now that I've heard those Little Sister singles)

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...
What artists need a boxed set?

Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

five years pass...

The Shadows.

just discovering this group tonight. floored. this -- moody, dark, noir-ish sounding late 50s/early 60s music -- is exactly what i've been wanting lately.

Daniel, Esq., Monday, 10 October 2011 01:04 (fourteen years ago)

I was all "Who said Shadows?" and went upthread only to find it was me!

Anyways, I have this: http://cover7.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/780/784781.jpg and it's great, especially disk 3.

Mark G, Monday, 10 October 2011 09:45 (fourteen years ago)

Considering the only Star Time that has been made was James Brown, I'd suggest Modern Talking, Baccara, Ace of Base or Helmut Loti. They are on roughly the same level as James Brown in terms of artistic quality.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Monday, 10 October 2011 10:47 (fourteen years ago)

Oh who woke up feeling sharp as a knife then?

Mark G, Monday, 10 October 2011 10:55 (fourteen years ago)

four years pass...

John Zorn's gotta be right up there with Prince & Clinton/P-Funk.

Adam J Duncan, Monday, 7 December 2015 00:32 (nine years ago)

John Cale. It's a crime there's nothing more than the 2cd "Seducing Down The Door".

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 7 December 2015 00:38 (nine years ago)

Curt Boettcher — a lot of his projects have been reissued individually, but I'd like to see a career-spanning set of his best productions and performances, without too many selections from the Millennium and Sagittarius albums

Jackie DeShannon — three discs of her own recordings, one disc of demos, and one disc of other artists who recorded her songs

Brian Eno as a producer/arranger for other artists

John Hartford

scarlett bohansson (unregistered), Thursday, 10 December 2015 03:00 (nine years ago)

john fahey

akm, Thursday, 10 December 2015 03:52 (nine years ago)

lots of 70's sorts of people who have vast discographies that are hard to swallow all at once like John Martyn and Roy Harper, who I can never keep apart. Peter Hammill.

akm, Thursday, 10 December 2015 03:54 (nine years ago)

and I like John Cale as stated above but think that Seducing Down The Door is actually pretty representative; he has that and the Island Years comp.

akm, Thursday, 10 December 2015 03:55 (nine years ago)

How great that Nilsson one was.

Mark G, Thursday, 10 December 2015 10:39 (nine years ago)

lol coxhill

rushomancy, Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:46 (nine years ago)

seducing down the door works well as a sampler, but Cale could definitely use like a disc-per-decade kinda compilation ...

tylerw, Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:52 (nine years ago)

harumi hosono

actually he already has an amazing box set, but like most of his work it's only been released in Japan, so america is still largely ignorant of his genius.

and that box set is largely composed of stuff hosono did as a 'solo' artist and with the bands he led

you could make a whole box set of just his work producing for other artists

you could make such a box of productions by ryuichi sakamoto as well

i wouldn't mind a 'complete YMO' boxset, either

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:53 (nine years ago)

one key point though is that james brown was not really much of an albums artist, so his body of work lends itself to being synopsized more easily than someone like john cale

hosono and sakamoto et al are kind of in-between -- they put out tons of great albums-as-albums but also lots of 'ephemeral' work -- singles, EPs, compilation tracks, a few tracks on this other person's album, etc. etc.

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:54 (nine years ago)

also

egberto gismonti

but maybe ECM already has a box set for him?

he has a huge expansive body of work which could stand being synopsized

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:56 (nine years ago)

ian matthews

just sayin, Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:59 (nine years ago)

you mean ia(i)n matthews

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 21:47 (nine years ago)

yeah at least one "produced by Hosono" disc would be incredible, he has such a unique and identifible sound that it would all fit in quite well. I have yet to hear the boxset but looking over the tracklisting now there's tons I haven't heard yet so I'm gonna have to seek that out

"Complete YMO" is a cool idea but I question how coherent it would be; Sakamoto and Hosono have such a wide breadth to their work that simply picking the best tracks would result in something very disjointed, but I think I may give it a try anyway, something that goes say 73-79, 80-84, 85-96, 97-present would be really cool

frogbs, Thursday, 10 December 2015 21:53 (nine years ago)

there actually is a double-disc collection in Japan that is all non-YMO YMO stuff -- meaning a bunch of acts associated with one or more of the YMO folks.

complete YMO could only include the stuff actually released under the YMO name, which is a manageable group of albums, EPs, singles, etc.

if you actually tried to compile everything released by those three folks in some fashion, you'd end up with... probably a box set as big as my house.

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 21:55 (nine years ago)

never heard of that double-disc set...but I do have a couple of YEN records comps which are effectively that

I do think several double-disc YMO sets exist but I don't see the point. There aren't a whole lot of albums and I'd say at least 5 of them are absolutely essential

compiling everything would be an insane task - Sakamoto has to have something like 100 CDs worth of material out there in some form

frogbs, Thursday, 10 December 2015 21:59 (nine years ago)

anyway my first thought in for this thread would be Adrian Belew, I think he's fairly well known even if no particular album of his are, and listening to a few of them they're kinda hit or miss, but the good stuff is really good.

frogbs, Thursday, 10 December 2015 22:00 (nine years ago)

i think sakamoto has well /over/ 100 CDs!

let's say you took everything sakamoto, hosono, and takahashi performed on or produced since the early 1970s, you'd probably have a collection larger than the new york public library. (slight exaggeration.) the productivity of those dudes is unbelievable.

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 22:03 (nine years ago)

but in any event i guess the point is that it would be nice to have a reasonable-sized (maybe 3 or 4 CDs) collection that made the case to english-language audiences for the greatness/importance/expansiveness of hosono and/or YMO.

wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 10 December 2015 22:04 (nine years ago)

hoppy kamiyama!

rushomancy, Friday, 11 December 2015 04:09 (nine years ago)

The reformed Allman Brothers starting in 1990-2015 would be an excellent subject for a well made compilation. I think it could be done with a couple full CDs/four LPs. I'd make a CD a compilation of the four studio albums and then either 1 CD live collection concentrating mostly on live material from the later period of the band. You could extend the live section to 2CDs if you wanted to intersperse the later band doing hot cuts of the original lineup's book.

earlnash, Friday, 11 December 2015 19:36 (nine years ago)

Nile Rodgers

poorzingis (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 11 December 2015 19:38 (nine years ago)

http://www.discogs.com/Nile-Rodgers-Presents-Chic-Organization-The-Box-Set-Vol-1-Savoir-Faire/release/2501209

boring alt-reality reverend (The Reverend), Friday, 11 December 2015 23:56 (nine years ago)

Imagine that could be very expensive, but also sell 1000000000

niels, Saturday, 12 December 2015 00:25 (nine years ago)

one way to do YMO would be like how they did CSN: individual 3 disc sets for each member. i don't know if the songwriting credits for YMO seperate out as cleanly as with CSN, though, obviously it's a whole different kettle of fish

lute bro (brimstead), Saturday, 12 December 2015 00:41 (nine years ago)


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