No boxsets in your collection?!

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by The Pinhead, Jul 17, 2017.

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  1. sonofjim

    sonofjim Senior Member

    I love box sets done well. What I notice is they tend to sit unplayed after I've had them for a few weeks (not all together unlike the rest of my collection). They all still are there ready to play and I wouldn't part with them. What does happen for those few weeks though is that I delve into an artist's catalog as I never have before. I grow to appreciate the scope of a career as I likely never would have.

    I'm sure they're not for everyone. Some aren't done that well. Good ones (The Beatles in Mono, Dylan in Mono, Rhino's Faces, ZzTop, The Smiths, AP's Doors, Vaughan, CCR, Neil Young Official Release Series. The Sleater-Kinney box. Chrome, The Eagles, Springsteen, Harrison, Bowie- Five Years, both Pettys, Beefheart...) are such a joy when they arrive it's like Christmas in July.

    I think a "no box set" policy would sincerely limit the joy of playing music. I have many. I will buy more. Still wish I'd bought the Zeppelin road case 45 rpm set when I had it in my cart at $700. What a treasure that would be now.
     
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  2. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Mixed emotions on box sets. Now, above is a collection that makes a whole lot of sense to me. This is how you do a box set imo! Get a lot of stuff out of the vaults. If it's an artist you love, whatever else that's in the box hardly matters. Automatic pre order absolute buy. But here's the thing. Those artists are the exception. They've been around a long time and they wrote prolifically. Just makes sense there will be some great stuff. Unfortunately for me (well, guess that sounds weird....I like my pop music) I listen mainly to mainstream pop, though I like my Zeppelin and some other iconic bands, but for the majority of the music I listen to, they can barely scrape a decent album together, never mind making a lot of stuff that is sitting in some vault. The problem is, some of them, and the labels, THINK there is good stuff sitting around. On top of that, if you are a big fan of the artist, chances are you already own everything you want, making the extras all that much more important. When you look at how large my collection is, the number of box sets I have are laughingly few. The extras for my genre of music were typically already where they should be....hidden in some vault. They should not have seen the light of day. I have kinda learned my lesson. If it's pop music, we probably already own the good, listenable material. And we probably own the albums we want. So, for me they just don't make a lot of sense. But sometimes I'm delightfully surprised. The Eagles vinyl box was perfect for me. It wasn't a bunch of dreck, it was all their albums beautifully mastered and pressed and I didn't own decent pressings of most of their albums. That was a great buy for me. So was the McCartney vinyl box...I had owned little by him on vinyl and I love the vinyl box! But, an awful lot of these box sets are money grabs. The nice collection above is the exception by far. Still, it's exciting to see them come out.

    A good example of bad, though on a smaller scale but typical of some boxes...I just bought the two disc vinyl copy of Foreigner 40. One whole side is live crap, and half of the other is newer dreck. The cherry on top is that it was clearly mastered using the same master as the digital. Horrid, compressed sounding. So, they also need to do a good job mastering these box sets as well.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2017
  3. I avoided the Banshees box. Heard about the mastering just kept my originals.
     
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  4. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    That's funny you say that and it's an awesome point. I have the McCartney vinyl box. It is a minor pain just because its five albums if memory serves, so ten sides. But, really well done and even though it has some newer material as well, I liked it and bought some of his newer albums because of that. And then I stumbled on a used import copy of All The Best, which I didn't know was even pressed on vinyl. Two albums of his biggest hits. Stellar track list so I had to have it. It sounds fantastic as most imports temd to. So, I find the poor box set now just sits. But on the other hand I ain't selling it and that box turned me into a much bigger McCartney fan. I think these are really good for the artist.
     
  5. Dylancat

    Dylancat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Box set anthologies that focus on specific record labels, genres, and of course those that profile important artists are a must.
     
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  6. Phil Tate

    Phil Tate Miss you Indy x

    Location:
    South Shields
    [​IMG]
     
  7. GodBlessTinyTim

    GodBlessTinyTim Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Wow, I have nearly 60 box sets from Bear Family Records alone. Probably close to double that in total.
     
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  8. downer

    downer Senior Member

    I’ve just done a quick scan around the room and counted about 120...
     
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  9. Tjazz

    Tjazz Breakfast at (a record store)

    Location:
    USA
    You said it! :edthumbs::hide:
     
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  10. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I have a few but don't generally don't like them as I find them difficult to store and they don't get played anywhere near as much as the 'proper' albums. The only big box sets I have are

    The Beatles in Mono vinyl
    Ray Charles Atlantic mono vinyl

    The rest of the boxes I have are smaller or the book style presented ones with 4 CDs

    James Brown - Star Time
    The Who - Maximum R'n'B
    Fairport Convention - BBC
    Sandy Denny - BBC
    Peggy Lee - Singles
    Byrds - There Is A Season
    Byrds - Complete Columbia recordings (all the remastered CDs)
    Paul Weller - Hit Parade
    U2 - The Joshua Tree (I wouldn't normally have bought this but it was only £7 new)

    I also have a few of the small boxes that can be shelved easily with the rest of my CDs. I like this presentation.

    Bob Dylan - Biograph
    Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series
    Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947 - 1974
    Leonard Cohen - Complete Studio albums
    Billie Holiday - Lady Day
    ZZ Top - Complete Studio albums 1970 - 1990
    Gram Parsons - Complete Reprise recordings

    Most of the box sets I own gather the released studio material or radio sessions together well. I usually have very little interest in demos, work in progress, live tracks, out-takes etc.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2017
  11. zaza_3121

    zaza_3121 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Czech Republic
    I have only three.
    Bowie - Five Years and Who Can I Be Now
    The Smiths - (Un)Complete
     
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  12. Jimmy Agates

    Jimmy Agates CRAZY DOCTOR

    I've lost count of how many boxsets I've got but I can assure you it's a lot more than zero!!
     
  13. Zach Johnson

    Zach Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    I have:

    Metallica - Kill 'em All (LP/CD)
    Black Sabbath - Black Box (CD)
    Black Sabbath - The Rules of Hell (CD)
    Deep Purple - Concerto for Group and Orchestra (LP)
    Uriah Heep - You Can't Keep a Good Band Down (CD)
    Led Zeppelin - Definitive Collection (CD)
    Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day (LP)
    Queen - The Crown Jewels (CD)
    Queen - Studio Collection (LP)
    Queen - Live at the Rainbow '74 (LP)
    Kate Bush - Before the Dawn (LP)
    Genesis - 1970-1975 (CD)
    King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic (CD)
    King Crimson - Starless (CD)
    King Crimson - Road to Red (CD)
    Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (LP)

    So not as many as some others here, but enough to take up some space.
     
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  14. IanM007

    IanM007 CDs, please!

    Location:
    Shrewsbury, UK
    Thought I would have more for some reason but on checking all I have is: VU - Peel, Jam - Creation, Reaction, Beatles - Mono, VU - Final VU, U2 - J Tree (not the latest one, the older one) Beatles - Capitol 1&2, Beach Boys - Made in Cali.

    Surprised myself a bit there. Guess I have a lot a lot as digital files if that still counts?! Would buy more boxsets but lack of storage space puts me off - my house is tiny!
     
  15. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    I like box sets. As a fan of certain artists, I'm not sure why I wouldn't.

    I admit though that when it comes to day-to-day playing, they do suffer. It's just that little bit more fuss, I guess. Or perhaps its.... when my eye scans the collection, titles grab my eyes and draw me into playing them, but when that spine says something like "Who Can I Be Now", it doesn't mean much of anything. Also, due to size issues, and the odd shapes they come in, they do tend to get filed alone, rather than in with the rest of the artists work.

    Still, they can be economical, or offer material you can't get anywhere else. For a box set to really work though it needs to be a complete package, imo. Good cover (unlike sake Rory Gallagher's Irish Tour set, whose packaging is horrid), good booklet (such as Tull's), discs that are easy to get in and out, etc.
     
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  16. Mr Sam

    Mr Sam "...don't look so good no more"

    Location:
    France
    It all started in the early 90's with Spector's Back To Mono, Springsteen's Live 75-85, The Complete Stax/Volt Singles, Hitsville USA vol.1...
    then came Citizen Steely Dan...
    Things clearly went out of control.
    ...What was I to do?
     
  17. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL Thread Starter

    So far it would seem I'm the only nutso with (almost) no boxsets, just 2 4CDs sets. Anyone else who'll admit to not owning any ? Or am I the only one ?
     
  18. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    I had a feeling you probably weren't expecting everyone to just list like 100 box sets each because a lot of times when we're on here we see complaints about boxsets especially the recent Pepper one. I thought maybe a couple of posters don't own them too but I guess everyone sooner or later bumps into a great one and we're over 30 years into CD boxsets at this point, longer for vinyl. Lots of music collectors here without much exception.

    I think the earliest boxes had a lot of repeat tracks that were the artist's prime songs with some additional deep cuts, B-sides, outtakes that many times felt random, but as time went on, I think so many came out, that some were really well done and 'fancy'. It became important to keep older music alive also. Usually a good box will have extensive liner notes that you may not find on any website, in any book, or in any of the original albums. Those essays sometimes are the only text you can find on the more obscure artists like the famous 60's Nuggets box that was expanded.

    They'll always be boxsets that could have been better, but there will be boxsets that wow visually and aurally, that feel like the presidential suite of the body of work. They are expensive often and sometimes it feels like a ripoff, but if you can find the right price and box, it's so worth it. For me personally, it's the most likely I will buy physical media. I love the artwork, the goodies-it makes me feel like a little kid again to open one up, read the notes, hear the music, play with the mustache. :)
     
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  19. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    :agree:
    Grab the Industrial Madness box and become one of us Wax, loads of mayhem and dis-order :laugh:
    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    I thought this thread was for people who have no box sets. Seeing as everyone is putting up what they have, I'll follow suit. I don't have many because I generally only want to fork out for boxes crammed with stuff that you can't get elsewhere. The Beatles, Zep and Stones boxes didn't interest me because I already had everything in more than one format or on bootlegs. I won't count boxes that are simply slip cases around CDs (like my Louis Jordan and Aretha sets for example) or my 4CD fatboy jewel case that is Prince's "Crystal Ball".

    CD:
    The Jimi Hendrix Experience (the famous "purple box") - Crammed with goodies. Once described as the Rolls-Royce of box sets
    Jimi Hendrix: West Coast Seattle Boy - Nowhere near as good as the purple box but some interesting things to be found though
    Prince: One Night Alone...Live! - Un must for any Prince nut like me.
    Bob Marley: Songs For Freedom - got it in an exchange. Love it.
    The Waterboys: Fisherman's Box - great stuff. Many complained about the sound but it's no problem on my low end system.
    Ray Charles - The Birth Of Soul - nothing unique in there I don't think but it's a nice thing (a pity it isn't a 4 or 5 CD set).
    Led Zeppelin - Uncensored - Got this in the 90s in a regular high street record shop, when the market was flooded with Itlaian bootlegs all of a sudden. I couldn't believe it and it was such a thrill to go through it all as I had no Zep bootlegs at that point. Sound quality varies.
    Trojan Dub Box -

    Vinyl:
    Jimi Hendrix: 6 Singles Pack (1980) - a light carboard thing folded around reproductions of the UK singles
    Frank Zappa: Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar - blew my mind
    The Trojan Story - classic stuff
     
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  21. ukrules

    ukrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    My friend...I must also be nutso since I have no box sets, either! I do have the Rolling Stones London Years singles collection. But it is the remastered 3CD "fatboy" case version. So it does not feel like a box set like the previous version. Moreover, I am even more nutso since 99.9% of my collection is studio albums...barely any comps or live albums.
     
  22. YpsiGypsy

    YpsiGypsy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    The only box sets that I have are The Beatles Pepper 50th, Mono LPs, Stereo CDs and the John Lennon box.
    I have never been tempted to buy any others. I did last Spring order the current Bowie box set but after reading about what's in it and what's not I cancelled the order.
     
  23. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Christmas on the horizon any new cd/vinyl box sets to get/not to get ?
     
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  24. Jimmy Agates

    Jimmy Agates CRAZY DOCTOR

    Some of the bands I have boxsets of are
    Accept
    Journey
    Judas Priest
    Coheed And Cambria
    Cheap Trick
    UFO
    Saxon
    Devo
    Loudness
    Anthem
    Alice Cooper
    Bon Jovi
    Scorpions
    Missing Persons
    Luna Sea
    Siam Shade
    Great White
    Uli Jon Roth
    Europe
    The Sisters Of Mercy
    Sex Pistols
    Thin Lizzy
    Yes
    ZZ Top
    Van Halen
    Whitesnake....and more!!
     
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  25. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    I'll take it. :)
     
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