Any box set that is a mix of rarities and common album tracks mixed together because as a fan of the artist or band I already have most or all of those common album tracks already.
The "shorter edit" IS the original full-length version put together by Brian. The longer version on The Smile Sessions was artificially concocted from session material to match the version on Brian Wilson Presents Smile from 2004.
Definitely needed an additional disc like Chuck Berry, Muddy and the Wolf's. Willie and Etta's were good at 2 disks.
I'm trying really hard to find a fault with the Ian Hunter 'Stranded In Reality' box set. Back in a long while...
Eh, that was to match the Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Chuck Berry sets. At the time, it would have annoyed customers to issue a different sized Chess box. Mosaic had at least one two-disc set in their LP-sized boxes.
The Linda Ronstadt box set , which I believe is out of print, was very short on unreleased material. And the booklet was poorly designed.
The Who Quadrophenia box that only had part of the album in 5.1. Pete promised disappointed box owners that he would personally send everyone the completed mix when it was done. While I’m still waiting on Pete, I purchased the full 5.1 mix on blu-ray when it was released years later.
I was in Zurich Switzerland in 1981. Not the most memorable performance among the Bruceheads, I guess, but they could have recorded that night and release one of the greatest live albums ever.
agree 100% that just automatically cuts off half your fans. Those who only do CD don't want it......or don't want to pay that extra price for something they don't have! duh!
Jeff Beck's Beckology 3CD Set from 1991. Great idea the guitar case box but it has a cheap feel to it overall and the booklet was even worse in that regard with a reasonable essay though on horrible thin card with bland colours! A welcome track breakdown with the musicians contributions and an excellent group family tree but these were all printed far too small. The tracklisting on the rear of the box fell off with the shrinkwrap too. The contents: About 30% of the set is Yardbirds, some welcome unreleased to that point BBC numbers but cuts like Love Me Like I Love You was a poor choice. 2 tracks only from the pioneering Truth (& Beckola) album/s But 4 cuts from BBA running over 30 minutes! Again 2 tracks only from his landmark Blow By Blow album and 2 from Wired...... go figure? Then we get 4 cuts from the Flash sessions and only 2 from the far superior follow up album Guitar Shop. Oh yeah we also get the dreadful UK single Wild Thing! Great anticipation was about in the lead up to this set which sadly was found wanting. I am sure that @PacificOceanBlue could add some interesting perspective
Biograph was a great generalist introduction for getting Dylan newbies into buying CD box set “retrospectives”. Wasn’t it one of the first really successful CD box sets?
I've got a Beef with the Beatles 2009 CD Box sets -The Stereo set doesn't have the beautiful mini LP covers like the Mono set has. -The Mono set is missing the last 3 LPs (because they weren't released in mono) Also got a beef with the 2014 US CD box set, as it too is incomplete. Although I shouldn't care as I don't own it.
The simple answer would have been to remove Louder Than Bombs, stick to the UK discography and make a new mop-up disc. One of the daftest decisions ever.
For what it's worth, some of those omissions were released 3 years earlier on the The Sound of The Smiths compilation album. The Sound of The Smiths - Wikipedia
It’s bad enough that they push you into buying the “deluxe” boxes to get all of the material, but when they put exclusive songs on a cassette (seen it several times over the past few years) or even 7” and a box that unnecessary, it’s maddening.
Also, McGuinn would still get 50% of the publishing on any traditional songs that he has the credit for arranging. As any casual Byrds fan knows, Gene Clark was by far the best songwriter in the Byrds. When he got publishing checks for the first album, the others had problems with it and pushed for their songs to get on (especially Crosby). So, McGuinn’s most famous songs were written by Dylan mostly. They messed up when they pushed Gene Clark out. I love a lot of his solo work, but they were kind of adrift without a main songwriter. McGuinn tried everything.
totally agree. there are supposedly tons of hours of unreleased stuff too. Even a Funkadelic one put out by Westbound didn’t happen beside Toys. That was just the London session though
Danzig probably got a truckload of blank vhs tapes for a good deal from a guy in Jersey after they fell off a truck. I remember the plastic lining inside being very thin and flimsy too
I bought a vinyl copy for like $15 on eBay and the guy sent me two of them. I wrote him to let him know that he’s sent me two. He said he had a bunch and didn’t want them sitting around anymore.
Oh yeah, some of those Chess boxes were like that. The Willie Dixon box is great, but the packaging is a waste.
This is probably the king of the duds when it comes to box sets. So little value for money, it's shocking. No, wait, the king has to be the Locked And Loaded Appetite For Destruction box, which for 850£ managed to avoid any live content and any video content. Now THAT was a horrible value for money deal.
The Damned's "Play It At Your Sister" collected all of their crucial early Stiff recordings, including rarities, BBC radio sessions and live recordings in a nice package. It should've been great, but the mastering (loud, constant clipping) renders it unlistenable.
