Box Sets

Well, I think the Misfits boxed set was worthwhile because it came in a cool coffin-shaped box and lyrics to all those weird songs that he sometimes slurred with his Elvis impersonation.

However, I didn't actually buy the box set. If I was making then what I make now (which is a lot of fucking money) I would own TWO Misfits boxed sets just to show off. Unfortunately, I can't find a place where I could purchase ONE boxed set anymore. I guess they were limited edition (like this jade elephant pendant I got when I subscribed to National Geographic 10 years ago).

the james brown box set is a little overrated, but still essential.

The "1-2-3-4!" punk and new wave boxed set that Tom's got on his Amazon wish-list is a must-have for anyone who wasn't buying the records at the time (for whatever reason). Apart from being a great introduction, it also takes a nice unbiased look at the music, including some novelty songs and some of the "lesser" bands (the Lurkers, Menace, Snatch...) for a good overall picture. For a lot of the bands you couldn't (or wouldn't want to) buy a full album anyway.

This wish list?

OK, sorry.

The best box sets I have are

i) Joy Division's Heart And Soul, and I never listen to discs 3 and 4 on that, but I always found the albums a little disappointing so it's good to hear them in the context of other tracks.

ii) A 10-LP German box of early American and European house music which I got for a fiver in some second-hand shop. It's all fairly uniform quality and nicely mixes well-known favourites with lesser- known stuff, almost certainly because of licensing stinginess rather than an eclectic selection policy.

Those are also the only two box sets I own. They have their uses but in the case of single-band boxes are too full of outtakes and live tracks and suchlike to merit casual purchase (I got the Joy Div one basically by mistake). And with a band I already like I feel ripped off by them because I've got all the original albums. Rarities CDs sold separately are a better - but uneconomic - idea.

Box sets that have all orig albums plus x-tras are nice. cf. the VU: Peel Slowly and See box. Box sets that are glorified GH comps are bad. cf. Lou Reed box. Boxes that gather GH's and rarities are rip offs (the Who box).

Box sets that gather the odd and wonderful are great, like Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk.

Box sets that gather singles are good, depending on what they are. STAX boxes gather all the singles that STAX ever released (Good). Motown Boxes gather singles, but only the high sellers, leaving the obscure and curious lost in flea-market bins (bad).

The solution is to buy them used.

Depends on the band. A band like The Police don't need a box set, because a singles comp plus whichever of their records whacks your fancy best is much better than all the albums and b-sides. Half their album tracks were at least as bad as the fucking b-sides anyway.

On the other hand, there are exceptions (ie. The Coltrane classic quartet box, The VU box). I'm also with Jimmy on the singles front. If your girl breaks up with you, all you need is one night at home alone with a bottle of whiskey + the Chess Records box, and you'll be good as new.

Or something.

Does anybody know the name of a good rehab clinic?

I have various reasons for buying boxed sets.

1) Sometimes it's a great way to get just about everything by the band in one nice package with good 'sleeve-notes'. e.g. The Jam 'Direction, Creation, Reaction'

2). With artists I really like, I'm a sucker for delving into unreleased tracks, alternate mixes etc. e.g The Jam again, Joy Div, the XTC box, Magazine mini-box.

3) They look good! e.g the Nuggets Box. (The music needs to be great too, of course.)

My vote for the best boxes I have would be the Jam and Nuggets, with Joy Div and 'Palatine' the Factory comp not far behind. The next one I'll get will either be Zombie Heaven or the Rough Trade history.

The Joy Div box would've been unbeatable if they'd have included all of the unreleased 'Warsaw' album. (Yeah, I know you can get it separately). Also the Live disk would have been better if they used a radio broadcast such as the Paris or Amsterdam 'Melkweg' gigs instead.

I reckon there's a real gap in the market for a couple of quality electronica/techno/dance sets. Anybody know naything good out there?

Mmm, I have a good box set named "Chicago House 86-91" in reality 2 cd's with lots of classic tunes like 'Move your Body', 'Acid Trax' and essentials like 'Lost Control' and 'Your Only Friend'. 3rd cd is a mix cd by Marshall Jefferson, also very good. I got 2nd hand so a very good deal. We'll probably see more dance-orientated box-sets what with the succes of the Master at Works box-sets, I got vol.1 which is very good (also value for money). In general I'm not that interested in box-sets (a bit of a museum aura about the things), esp. those jazz sets with-all-the-recorded legendary sessions.

The only real box set I have is the Casablanca Records Story one. Which is fantastic. Four cds of (mostly) excellent disco, including all the big Donna Summer numbers in their full-length versions. Tasty!

I also have the Best Of Reactivate three cd collection thingy, which is roughly divided into Belgian Techno, Trance and Nu-NRG. All good, but they saved some of the really great tracks for a second box, which makes me MAD and want to SPIT AT THINGS.

The only box set I have is a 4-CD compilation called "Funk Essentials" which was a great bargain for 12 pounds...live versions of James Brown, Mayfield...disco-y stuff like Lolleatta Holloway and Salsoul Orchestra and more obscure stuff like Cymande and Skull Snaps.

I never fell tempted to buy box sets and they're too bloody expensive anyway...I feel the same way Mark does about them, I'd rather buy 4 or 5 different records.

The only box set I have is a 4-CD compilation called "Funk Essentials" which was a great bargain for 12 pounds...live versions of James Brown, Mayfield...disco-y stuff like Lolleatta Holloway and Salsoul Orchestra and more obscure stuff like Cymande and Skull Snaps.

I never feel tempted to buy box sets and they're too bloody expensive anyway...I feel the same way Mark does about them, I'd rather buy 4 or 5 different records.

Oops, sorry

I've got a slew of them, some used, some not, from a variety of different sources. Ever since I noticed dear ol' Columbia House/BMG mailorder started cutting the prices back on them as loss leaders -- they usually go for less than half retail now, admittedly before any shipping costs -- it's been remarkably easy to build up a slew of the suckers for cheap. Great for taking the plunge into something you weren't previously aware of or didn't know much about as well.

Best ones that I own? Hm. In terms of design and content in excellent balance:

Bowie -- _Sound and Vision_ (I think the first actual box set I bought on my own, the very day of release) Joy Division -- _Heart and Soul_ Misfits -- _Box Set_ (I love that little coffin) Herbie Hancock -- _Complete Blue Note Recordings_ Miles Davis -- _Complete Bitches Brew Sessions_ Tony Conrad -- _Early Minimalism_ Roxy Music -- _The Thrill of It All_ (found used, which leads me to again conclude that people are morons) Cheap Trick -- _Sex, America, Cheap Trick_ v/a -- Rhino's _Disco Box_ v/a -- Def Jam's tenth anniversary set The Jam -- uh, whatever that set's called again, _Action_ something Galaxie 500 -- complete recordings (that thing is really lovely looking) Pere Ubu -- _Datapanik in the Year Zero_ The Cult -- _Rare Cult_ (...and the answer is none -- more black) v/a -- Tommy Boy retrospective (in a small plastic record crate, natch) Depeche Mode -- the three collections of singles In terms of other sets I randomly own and love but whose design doesn't completely leap out at me, the first two discs of the Alice Cooper set are great (after that, well...), the Casablanca and Sugar Hill collections, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams (not the everything-and- anything monster...but give me time), the Beach Boys' _Good Vibrations_ set, a burned copy of the Stooges' _Complete Funhouse Sessions_, the Martin Gaye _Master_ set, the Jackson 5 box, the Smokey Robinson/ Miracles collection, Edsel's T. Rex _A Wizard, A True Star_ overview, Profile's _Best of House_ and _Best of Techno_ comps from the early nineties...uh, erm, uh, etc.

Next set I'm waiting on with interest -- the Siouxsie and the Banshees box, which should be out next year, a seven disc worth runthrough all the rarities and odd stuff (about time too -- you can (and I have) made a three-CD set from just the B-sides alone). The amount of Cure and Smashing Pumpkins rarities would probably warrant about three box sets each these days...

The Beach Boys Box is indeed great, not least because of the awesome mixes from the Smile sessions. It would have been better had Pet Sounds songs been left off altogether (as the excerpts from the album are too long for the box set, and too short to be the whole amazing thing) and more tracks from the Smiley-Smile through next five years period been included.

The Lou Reed box set is a rip-off but I own it anyway, which is mildly useful since I own his albums on vinyl rather than CD.

The Elvis Costello box set, on the other hand, is a must have. A model of what a box set should be -- each disk crammed to the very end -- all the essential material, lots of extras, and some (the Live disc) unavailable in any other way.

Also, the Burt Bacharach box is useful, because it brings together songs from the albums of many various artists.

Boys, boys! It's so funny all this talk of 'useful' and 'being warranted'. I was in the pub the other day and one of my friends mentioned his interest in a Lenny Bruce boxed set before he could catch himself. Inevitably, the only girl present chipped in with a laugh and a "Hey hey, first football [it wasn't football, but I forget what it was] and now boxed sets - I really feel like I've invaded a boy's night out." I notice there's not been a single female contribution to this thread.

I imagine on some measures of pop (and maybe even rock and roll), boxed sets are the very antithesis of 'what it should be about'. I don't hold much truck with this kind of didacticism (although it can be quite cute in itself) , but the format is symbolic of a certain... trainspottery (sorry) approach to music.

For the record, I own 'Good Vibrations' and I hanker after 'Back to Mono'. I think multi-artists ones almost don't count.

Oh, and yes, I'm sure there are female fans of boxed sets reading this. But you're FREAKS OF NATURE, OK? *

Nick

* Rather than inadvertantly start a fight, I had better make it very clear that this is a joke, vaguely prompted by similarly flippant remarks made to me about my possession of 'feminine' traits. (Nick Dastoor - female, 87% certainity according to thespark.com's Gender Test')

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James Brown's box is so great because his career was so long and his output so prolific that it works like a best-of - no need to pad this one with crappy outtakes and live versions. Plus gathering all that stuff separately would cost you the skin off your eyeballs.

But mostly the box sets I like cover the best of a genre (Motown's Hitsville Vol. 1, Nuggets, the Anthology Of American Folk Music) rather than individual artists, few of which (to my ears) have enough great songs and have careers consistent enough to warrant the full box treatment.

The ones whose appeal baffles me are the complete-recordings boxes. I can't think of any artist or label that didn't put out some dull crap at one point or another. I'm gonna need to have one hell of a huge R&B collection before I start thinking that the 153rd best single released by Stax is a *necessary* acquisition.

The solution is to ask for them for Christmas. It's easier to ask for a boxed set than to ask for individual lps/cds from people who aren't into (the same kind of) music. And they might spend more (awful, I know).

I only have Galaxie 500 and Nick Drake. I never really listen to the 4th cd in the Galaxie 500 boxed set, which is oddly titled "Uncollected Galaxie 500". (I guess they mean 'previously uncollected'. (So I guess boxed sets are bad in that they encourage bands to dredge up material that shouldn't be released.)) The bonus track on "Today" is "King of Spain", which is one of my favorites from them. The Nick Drake boxed set is just made up of cds that were released separately, so I guess it doesn't count. However, if the songs on "Time Of No Reply" were only released because of the boxed set, and if the cds that make up the boxed set happened to be released individually after its release, then boxed sets are worthwhile because "Black Eyed Dog", "Been Smoking Too Long", and the version of "Fly" on it are very good. The booklet that comes with the boxed set is interesting. What I hate is how they've reduced the size of boxed sets to conform to the size of jewel cases. A friend of mine got it before then, and his booklet is nicer because the photos are bigger.

I don´t ever listen to my boxes. i got Joy Division - Heart & Soul (a christmas gift), Velvet underground - Peel of slowly(i bought for about 250 swedish kr = about 25 $), Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (wrongly price as a single record at a internet record shop) Galaxie 500 (same as the beach boys)

the only stuff that i listens to on the boxes is the beach boys cd with the pet sounds stuff on it (i haven´t got around getting the record yet) since i got the boxes i stopped listen to both VU and Joy Division because it´s so hard to choose what records to listen to..hahha )

I'd go along with the '1-2-3-4' punk and new wave box set. I haven't got it, but I want it. However, undoubtedly I would faint and then return to consciousness declaring you my best friend for life if you were to buy me the Phil Spector 'Back to Mono' box set. Sigh. A boy can dream, can't he?