Boxed sets, how many do you own and which are your favorites?

Box Of Fire - Aerosmith
Pandora's Box - Aerosmith *
Dreams - Allman Brothers
Beatles Collection (BC-13)*
Beatles Box (8 LPs)*
CD Singles Collection - Beatles*
CD EP Collection - Beatles*
Anthology - Beatles (VHS & DVD)
DVD Collection - Beatles
Beatles Bop (with hard cover book)
9 Symphonies - Beethoven
Chess Box - Chuck Berry
Crossroads - Eric Clapton*
Chess Box - Bo Diddley
Stages - Jimi Hendrix
Lifelines - Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin*
Box Set 2 - Led Zeppelin
Complete Studio Recordings - Led Zeppelin *
Lennon
Anthology - John Lennon
The Symphonies - Mozart
The Mozart Experience 1 & 2
Shine On - Pink Floyd
King Of Rock And Roll - Elvis*
From Nashville To Memphis - Elvis*
Walk A Mile In My Shoes - Elvis
Platinum - Elvis
Singles Collection - Rolling Stones*
Live 1975-1985 - Bruce Springsteen*
Tracks - Bruce Springsteen*
Story Teller - Rod Stewart
Join Together - The Who
Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B - The Who *

Favorites are marked with *

 

I've been curious about the sound on the Harvest Festival box set.

Any use of NR on any of the tracks?

 

The box has 5 cd with a total of 97 tracks. Many of them are single versions.
1999 digitally re-mastered at Abbey Road by Peter Mew. No details about NR but the tape hiss is not audible.

 

Here are mine: (Operas not included)

Beethoven-Nine Symphonies- Karajan (1963)
a great and cheap collection of the Beethoven symphonies
Mozart-The Mozart Experience
Chopin-The Chopin Experience
Schumann-The 4 Symphonies-Karajan
The Baroque Experience-Christopher Hogwood
another great and cheap collection
Welcome To All the Pleasures-Trevor Pinnock
Beach Boys Good Vibrations
a great box set with lots of mono mixes
Chuck Berry 3CD set - just about everything you need by Chuck
James Brown - Star Time
Bo Diddley - 2CD set
I learned what a great guitar player he is from this set
Bob Dylan Biograph and The Bootleg Series vol. 1-3
Little Richard -3CD set Specialty Records
The Upsetters were an amazing band-even though The
Beatles did a great version of Long Tall Sally, Little Richard's is even better, in no small part due to the incendiary playing on it
The Beatles EP set-my most recent acquisition-I've never heard the bass so clearly on Beatles recordings
Phil Spector - Back to Mono
Prince- The Hits and b-sides
The Police - 4 CD set
Bruce Springsteen-Tracks and Live 1975-1985
Otis Redding - 4 CD set- the 4th disc may be the best live album ever.
Tougher Than Tough - A History of Jamaican Music
Rolling Stones - The Singles Collection (new remaster)
Marvin Gaye-The Master
Smokey Robinson and the Mracles - 35th Anniversary
Hitsville USA - not a perfect collection, but so good it doesn't matter
The Band 3 CD set
The Byrds 4 CD set - one of my favourites
Ray Charles - The Birth of Soul
The Patsy Cline Collection
Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings
Elvis Presley - The King of Rock'n'Roll and From Nashville to Memphis
Velvet Underground-Peel Slowly and See-funnily enough I don't play this much. On the 3rd album I prefer Val Valentin's mix to the closet mix
Chess Blues - 3CD
Hank Williams -The Complete Collection 8CD's
Parliament - 2 CD set
Yardbirds-Ultimate
John Lennon - 4 CD set
Led Zepplin - The Complete Studio Recordings- I trade in my 4CD boxed set for this
Pink Floyd - 2 CD set.
I've probably missed a couple more!

My favourites currently are : The Beatles EP set, The Beach Boys, James Brown I've been listening to a lot lately, Hank Willliams, and the Stones but all of these sets are great. The only problem is finding the time to play them all in any sort of regular way. I've been trying to avoid buying them because of this, but then I see something like The Beatles EP box and then I feel like the narrator in Springsteen's "Kitty's Back" -"Oo, oo, what can I do?" - I can't resist!

 

Django

jligon asked a while back in this thread about the JSP Django boxes. I have them both and I'm very happy with them. Can't compare them with the Mosaic (I bought them because I wanted the music, but couldn't afford the Mosaic), but I can say somethings about the sets themselves that might help you figure out if you want them. Separately or together they are a great deal. 9 disks for less than $50, and I think they have all --or certainly most--of what's on the Mosaic. If you're only looking to get one, the first volume (5 disks) is really the one to get. The mastering was done by Ted Kendall and it's just fantastic, as good as the work John R. T. Davies did on JSP's Armstrong set. The second set (4 disks) is a notch or more below that standard. The mastering work is uncredited, and the sound, while still pretty good, is not as good as the first set. The notes are also less detailed, and the performances themselves are a notch below the great early recordings. The package design is nothing to write home about on either of the two sets, but I prefer the funky, inconsistent packaging of the first set to the slicker design of the second.

I'm sure the sound on the Mosaic is as good, if not better than on these, and given the way Mosaic operates, the package and notes have got to be better. I'm sure it's worth every penny of the $96. But if you're looking for a much less expensive way to get this material, I think you'll be very pleased with the JSP's. As far as sound is concerned, in any case, the sound on the first JSP set is as good as any I've heard for music of this vintage.

L.

 

A friend gave me this picture, does anyone have any info about this set? Lotta great music here, but never seen another one like it????

 

I have the above Zappa box (fine and intact). It's the 'You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore' series of CDs that were also sold separately.

It's been a few years, I believe when you bought the box originally it came with one or two of the volumes. You had to purchase the rest separately to fill it out.

Rykodisc redid the packaging one more time after this and now these are available in separate 2CD slimline sets. The box or shelf unit or whatever you want to call it is no longer available.

As you said the music is great. I like Zappa way too much, so I'm a little biased. I love this stuff.

You can't go wrong by starting with volume 1.

Each set contains over 2 hours of music on 2 CDs; all performances are previously unreleased. Zappa intentionally didn't organize the material chronologically, pointing out in the liner notes, "The performance of any band from any year can be (and often is) edited to the performance of any other band from any other year, sometimes in the middle of a song." Indeed, some of the after-the-fact musical segues (everything runs continuously) are no less ingenious than the playing.

Volume Two is the September 22, 1974 Helsinki Concert.

The liner notes are pretty informative. So, pick one up. The liner notes will explain everything. Because It would take a bit to explain it all here.

 

I've found a copy of Beg, Scream and Shout at a local store for the equivilent of $US90. Should be able to get it tomorrow morning when the shops open again (13 hours!)

 

I own both of the JSP box sets and they are very good. I've hesitated on the Mosiac box for the same reason that you've avoided the JSPs. Repetition. If you do go for one of the JSP sets, I would recommend the first as there is a wealth of excellent early material not covered on the Mosaic set.

 

Re: Re: Re: Boxed sets, how many do you own and which are your favorites?

Ron,

I'm a bit confused!

Are you referring to Elvis box sets?

There is a silver one called "Elvis Aaron Presley" which is full of unreleased material.

There is also a gold one (is this the "red" one you refer too?) called "Elvis - A Golden Celebration", again, full of hard to find live TV performances plus a few other bits and pieces.

Maybe you are referring to something else completely!!

Can you give me some more details?

 

I have around 50 boxed sets if we go by the definition of a "box set" using "Biograph" and "Crossroads" as standards. My favorites are
John Lennon Anthology
Muddy Waters-Chess Box
Beach Boys-Pet Sounds Sessions
XTC-A Coat Of Many Cupboards
Stevie Ray Vaughan-Box Set
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (purple velevet box)
Simon And Garfunkel-Old Friends
Buffalo Springfield
Grateful Dead-The Golden Road
The Who-30 Years Of Maximum R&B
Eric Clapton-Crossroads 2 (used to listen to Crossroads -the first box-often but I haven't pulled it out in years.)
Bob Dylan-Bootleg Series
Cream-Those Were The Days
Elvis-Essential 50's Masters
Allman Brothers-Dreams

Speaking of the CSN box--how is the sound? I have hesitated to get this because I seem to remember reading some negative review about sound quality when it was first released. I am also considering picking up the "Zombie Heaven" box. Can a Zombies fan let me know what they think of this box? Thanks in advance!

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Boxed sets, how many do you own and which are your favorites?

You got it! I was wondering if those boxes were worth purchasing. There's a used record store with both the "silver" and "gold" sets, and unfortunately the owners know they're OOP and are charging full retail price. I already have TODAY TOMORROW & FOREVER, PLATINUM, and volumes two, four, five, and six of the ESSENTIAL series.

 

One of the ones I missed listing was the Complete Buddy Holly 6-record box set. I purchased this after I bought 20 Golden Hits. I think it's the first and only time I liked a record so much initially that after the record was over I played it all over again immediately. So I had to go out and get more Buddy Holly. Man, he was great!

 

The Willy Dixon Chess Box is my all time favorite. it's a collection of Willy's songs performed by artists who recorded for Chess.

 

Complete Blue Note Recordings of Larry Young
Complete Blue Note Recordings of Sam Rivers
Blue Note Stanley Turrentine Quintet/Sextet Studio Sessions
Nuggets 1
Nuggets 2
Pink Floyd Shine On
Acid Dust, Spaceships, and Flying Saucers
Harvest Festival - bought on recommendation of our friend Ed Bishop
Doors complete album box set (?)

...by definition of having a box.

They're all great!

I'm debating on buying the Jimi Hendrix Experience box set too.

 

Elvis Boxed sets, how many do you own and which are your favorites? ;0)

Ron,

I just looked up feinstein's definitive list of which Elvis releases are needed for the completist in the archives and guess who that post was in reply to......it was you!!

So I guess you already know about the post! It's here for those who haven't seen it.

As Fredric said, most of the material on the "silver" and "gold" collections is unavailable elsewhere.

The recordings on the "gold" set are not all in great quality - most of them are from 50's TV apearances. Still, essential for the completist!

The material on the "silver" box includes some excellent studio outtakes and is, overall, more interesting.

They are both nice sets. If you weren't already aware, they were both issued on vinyl in the 80's.

For more information on these box sets and others:

Elvis box set details

Scroll down to the box set you want and click on the link for details and track listings....


There ain't no such thing as too much Elvis.....

 

Ooops...when I compiled my list earlier, I forgot to mention one of the boxes that I listen to often, "Fleetwood Mac Blue Horizon Sessions". Wow...Peter Green is the coolest!

 

Re: Elvis Boxed sets, how many do you own and which are your favorites? ;0)

Thanks! I was confused by the "Silver" and "Gold" nicknames for the actual titles, and it didn't help when I further confused "Silver" with "Platinum" and "Gold" with "Red" (the color of the print on the "Gold" box). I ordered a sealed "Gold" box for a good price, and will have to scout around for a more affordable "Silver" box. I really enjoy the PLATINUM and TODAY TOMORROW and FOREVER boxes, so I'm sure I'll like these. I just didn't want a lot of duplication.

 

Ron,

last year, Virgin were selling these box sets in their "£13.99 each or 2 for £22" offer. I couldn't believe my eyes - £11 for each box . I snapped up 2 copies of each and gave the spares to my sister for her birthday.

I don't know why they were so cheap but if they are now out of print maybe BMG were just dumping stock?

I probably wouldn't have bought them at full price before hearing them but wouldn't hesitate to do so now I know what they're like.

Good luck in your quest for the "silver" box

 

I love box sets. I love the packaging and books, as well as the music. Some of my favorites:

My all time favorite is actually a boot. Bob Dylan-Genuine Live 1966-8 CDS (10 if you count a followup disc that came later) of Dylan's 1966 world tour with The Hawks (Band) backing him. Half acoustic, half electric and you can hear him changing the course of popular music and the crowds going nuts. Some loving it, some hating it (Judas!). Each CD is gold with a customized label, inside a picture sleeve (with rice paper inner sleeve to protect the disc) as well as two booklets, a poster, and some postcards. But it's the music that makes it great and makes it worthwhile when sometimes the sound is raggedy.

I also like in no particular order:
The King R&B Box set
The Rhino R&B box set
The Prestige records story
The Riverside Records Story
The Mercury Blues & Rhythm Story (8CDS)
The Specialty Story
Central Avenue Sounds
The Savoy Story
BB King-The Vintage Years
The Beat Generation
Derek & The Dominoes-Layla 30th Anniversary box
The Hi Records R&B Years
The Jack Kerouac Collection
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Box
Old Friends-Simon & Garfunkel

Bring 'em on.

 

I have several but am just gonna post my fav: Led Zepp. Either box set or Remasters

 

Well, my source for an affordable Beg, Scream and Shout failed me. Although my local store had it in their online inventory, in fact they didn't have it in stock. (sigh).

 

I think you just answered his question.

 

The Beat Generation is great. I have the Allen Ginsberg "Holy Soul Jelly Roll" box. Btw, did you really mean "20th" anniversary box for Layla, or did they actually come out with a 30th anniversary box?

Jim W.

 

Chrome - Chrome Box
Clash - Clash On Broadway
Cocteau Twins - EP Box
Echo & The Bunnymen - Crystal Days
The Jam - Direction Reaction Creation
Joy Division - Heart & Soul
Led Zeppelin - Complete Studio Recordings
Misfits - Coffin Box
Moody Blues - Time Traveller
Pere Ubu - Datapanik In The Year Zero
Police - Message In A Box
Steely Dan - Citizen
Velvet Underground - Peel Slowly & See
V/A - International Punk Rock Box Set (300 bands - 10cds)