worst ever box sets:

Marvin Gaye's 1st Box set.

 

Genesis - Archives Volume 2

Not enough Steve Hackett. Although I love the live version of Entangled, they could have included a lot more live songs not on Seconds Out (like the instrumental version of Fly on the Windshield).

 

My vote goes to the Police Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings set. Sorry, but you don't call something The Complete Recordings and then leave off a few recordings. And I'm not even talking about previously unreleased recordings (like the 1986 re-recording of De Do Do Do De Da Da Da) -- I'm talking about officially released tracks, like the live version of Don't Stand So Close to Me and the 12" mix of the 1986 re-recording. It's not as if there wasn't enough room. These kind of things just drive me crazy.

The Steve Miller Band box set was a pretty big disappointment too, especially since the version that was originally compiled had a lot more rarities.

 

But does that really make it the "Worst box set ever"? On balance, I would say it's rather good considering it's the only place to get all the non-album songs it does contain, and there's the entire album oeuvre of the Police besides.

 

Perhaps "most annoying box set ever" would be more appropriate. Frankly, the truly lousy sets I just avoid buying. But the Police box set was a must-have for anyone who wanted the b-sides on CD. This was a set that was clearly meant for completists -- and it was incomplete.

 

Isn't it better that it included the single edit of Mr. Blue Sky? We all have the full version already on Out of the Blue. Why would we want a repeat of the exact same thing insead of something different?

 

He might have been in charge of segue choices, but I don't think that he actually mastered that set. FWIW, parts of it sound fine, parts don't. It was cobbled together from a lot of sources.

I find the "remixed...well, not really" problem to be far more offensive.

(and would it have really been so hard to include the *entire* alternate AQO from Rock 'n Roll Circus?)

 

That's how I feel. The 45 edits are cool and fun, and the Lp versions are all over the place, so why not?

 

Pet Sounds Sessions. A lavish exercise in overkill.

I find it really annoying hear the 1st 4 bars of a tune 3 times in a row and hearing Brian shout, "STOP!". Maybe it's interesting once or twice (not really), but too much of the behind the scenes junk to bother listening to. Stretching a 30 minute masterpiece across 4 cds kind of dimishes the magic of the original IMO.

 

Pet Sounds Sessions is one of the great box sets of all time in my opinion. One man's trash...

 

And to think, some of us own 8 discs of sessions - just sessions!

 

Probably my most played boxset. I haven't listened to it in awhile, but I burnt that thing out when it was new. Disc 3 had lots of rarities from Secret Messages. It was far from complete and I had many complaints about it at the time. I don't remember what they are as I've gotten mellower with age and tend to take things as they are. However, none of the complaints I had kept me from playing a zillion times.

 

Not for me I'm afraid. I'll stick with the finished product.

Another thing that drives me nuts is all these 2 cd Deluxe Editions. Too much of a good thing, maybe? I have a few Marvin Gaye, Joe Jackson (can you say, "bad mastering?", Blind Faith, The Who ones, a maybe a couple of others and I never touch 'em. I suppose after 40 minutes of classic material, I'm fully cooked.

 

Some are good, some are not. The Marvin Gaye - What's Going On was way too much for me. OTOH, the John Coltrane - A Love Supreme has that great concert on the 2nd disc.

 

I have both of those. I played the Marvin a couple weeks ago but wasn't able to go beyond the initial album. The album is great enough to stand on it's own and the extras just drag it down IMO.

As for the Coltrane, I'll try to put that on in the next few days.

 

Got to disagree on the Pet Sounds and What's Going On nominations .

The Pet Sounds box deserves a place in the top 10 box sets of all time just for the inclusion of the backing track of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" with the background vocals (ie just the lead vocal missing). That is so good to listen too my life would be less fulfilled without its existence! (yes, I have the full set of SOT discs - and to prove I'm crazy I have the originals, not CD-Rs!).

As for What's Going On - in my opinion the "Detroit Mix" only available on the DE (disc 1 tracks 10-18) is the definitive mix. Couple that with the single mixes and outakes the DE is completely essential as far as I'm concerned!

 

I just got it yesterday myself and haven't listened to it all yet. Sound is very clear--kinda hard not to be given it's just a singer and his very clear guitar playing. Not very bright. Better than the 1928 sides. (Actually, even those weren't bad for the period.)

 

That Steve Miller box doesn't generate much attention- maybe because if Steve allowed it, it could have been 4 discs, and a much better overview of a great career.

I don't get the Police and ELP complaints here. For 4 disc sets, they are about as thorough as possible. Well, maybe I could have done without Greg Lake singing "Fire".

 

I usually feel the same away about Deluxe Editions, but I really love the Diana Ross "Diana" DE and Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" DE

 

The Layla 20th anniversary box set. Mucho overkill. I don't think I played the two discs of outtakes more than once.

 

Hi all,

Louis Armstrong/ A Musical Biography! The 3 discs are in LP style pockets with no inner sleeves. One or more discs arrive scratched and they wind up worse for wear.
Louis Armstrong/ The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven- The same lame disc packaging with the same results when this was first issued. The new fat boy case version and individual disc version is fine.
The Beatles Capitol Recordings, vol. 1- I agree with all earlier posters. This should have been issued in a proper box and the CD's in Jewel Cases as well as the mini-LP sleeves included.
Miles Davis- I call the metal box "The Tetanus Shot Box" 2 of my announcers had to get them after getting cut on that rusty mess. I love it otherwise!

 

Worst packaging for one of the best box sets has to go to Spanky & Our Gang "The Complete Mercury Recordings" - the flimsiest cardboard folded in half with four slits for the CDs! And then they screw up some of the track listings and reverse the sides of one of their albums. But other than that, it's one of my favorite box sets.

 

Simon & Garfunkel, Collected Works set from around 1990. Sounds like reverb-enhanced mud.

Citizen Steely Dan. Sounds pretty good (and different than the many Roger Nichols masterings and Steve's Aja), but the original albums are split in half on different CD's! Most annoying!

 

The single edit is nothing to write home about, simply a quick fade-out after the chorus. Nothing of an improvement over the album version. We have most of the songs already on the individual albums. From a box set I expect better sound quality, a retrospective compilation of the songs and unreleased songs rather than getting different versions. To bad, Afterglow failed regarding the sound quality.

 

Far and away, the award for the worst excuse for a "box set" has to go to the old PolyGram.

Back in the '90s, after they acquired A&M Records, they took two Tijuana Brass compilations, GREATEST HITS, and GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2, slapped them together in their individual jewelcases, back to back, shrinkwrapped them together and called it the HERB ALPERT FAN BOX SET.

Now THAT's pathetic.

They couldn't even be bothered to give it a new package, or put the two discs in a double jewel case. At least that would have felt like something unique to an obsessed collector.

Thankfully, it didn't remain "in print" very long and has totally disappeared from the CD landscape.