I was never concerned with the "omissions" in the OTC box set. Sony basically left out the material that Miles does not play on at all, and for most part it isn't very good, going by the stuff that circulates - and Sony were also quite transparent about why the left off the material in the liner lines.
I linked to that thread to share the info about Belden wanting to do a Get Up With It box or a bigger OTC box. I’m not talking about wanting to see Turn Of The Century or Dominique or any of that stuff released officially. But clearly Belden thought there was enough good stuff for a bigger box. We don't know exactly what he had planned. There was loads of stuff - with Miles playing on it - that turned up on the OTC box that had not been documented before and there may well have been more.
Yes true. There might be stuff in the vaults that we don't know about, recording sessions not documented. Or Belden was actually considering stuff like "Dominique". It would be great if he could back his claim with his proposed original track list. What makes me doubt this a bit is that the box liners actually mention the stuff that they didn't include, and why they didn't include it - usually because Miles doesn't play on the recordings. It would be weird if they did that but kept schtum about a while other batch of sessions that no one has ever heard of.
The Chronicle box? It's all in chronological order, and I've spent many hours trying to reassemble and retag the albums and EPs to put on my media player.
Thats the only negative. I can’t see myself re-assembling. Also, the liner notes are extensive with the same problem. Why in the heck don’t they identify the original LP name on each track? Kind of annoying.
That Prestige box definitely could have had better notes on the tracks, but re-assembling into the original albums wasn't hard with the help of AllMusic. If you've got a decent media player (I use JRiver), it's just a matter of highlighting the appropriate tracks, entering the album name/year, grabbing cover art, and auto-numbering (or in some cases manually numbering). I don't think it took more than an hour, and has made the box so much better.
The Miles store is a little confusing. There are two sets for Seven Steps - one is $130, one is $80 - same content, as far as I can tell. Looks like long box and metal spine versions of Jack Johnson and Gil Evans sets are available. Could be, as someone upthread suggested, that they're just breaking out the sets from the Genius Of set. Ordered the OTC box last night.
I remember Complete Plugged Nickel just turning up out of nowhere on the official site around 2007, so I snapped it up then. I don't know how long it lasted.
I agree it's possible these are remnants from the "Genius" case or warehouse finds. Seize the day if you need one!
Thanks to this seeing this thread last night I order the four (On The Corner, Seven Steps, Jack Johnson, In A Silent Way) that I still need to complete my set. I'm very excited to finally have all of these in the original metal spine packaging. I already have Plugged Nickel and Cellar Door so I'm good there. As others have mentioned, I'm really curious as to what happened to make these available again. I never thought I'd see this happen. It's hard to believe they really did repress all these with the intricate original packaging. I'd bet (as others have) that they are breaking up unsold Genius sets they found or found some they didn't realize they had in a warehouse somewhere. It will be interesting to see if we ever find out. I've been tempted many times to pay the big bucks to get sealed versions of the four that I still needed. For once I'm glad I held off. I'm now picking up all four of them for the less than what a sealed On The Corner would have typically cost me in recent years.
I wish they would re-remaster at least the Gil Evans set, kill that screamin high end and bring back the lower mids.
Yes it was available around 2010-11 or so.........I bought my copy then for around $100 or so and was quite happy to have been able to do so.
I'm with you there. I finally found a version of "Miles Ahead" that I love to listen to--SRCS 9703 ("Miles Ahead +4" ). . . . And I find the Mobile Fidelity SACDs of "Sketches of Spain" and "Porgy and Bess" to be excellent. But a lot of that additional material would be great to have in improved sound. But. . . as Jerry was fond of saying for an episode. . . "Not bloody likely."
In terms of extras, the Gil Evans set is one of my least favorite. Along with the Jack Johnson set, which simply has too many takes of the same tracks for my taste.
Just got an e-mail regarding the Gil Evans set stating "Limited Quantities Available," so yeah, probably warehouse find/fell off a truck or unsold Genius set stock. Luckily, I don't want/need all of 'em. Still don't understand why one version of Seven Steps is $50 more than the other one.
I'd love to hear the SACDs but I don't have a player unfortunately. Luckily the original.CBS Jazz Masterpieces are significantly better than the box.
My thoughts as well, as they do not seem to be available anywhere else. My order is scheduled to ship in two weeks so these sets may be NOS (New Old Stock).
I just noticed the Miles site has a sweepstakes right now to win a Genius trumpet box set. Despite it not even being for sale on the site anymore. For me that seems to make it even more likely that they came across some unsold Genius trumpet boxes and decided to sell them off in individual sets knowing they would move more quickly that way with most big fans just looking to fill in gaps in their collection vs. wanting the whole thing at this point.
Well it wasn't cheap, particularly with the added shipping, GST, and relatively poor Aus dollar at the moment - but I just put an order in for Silent Way, Jack Johnson, and On the Corner. These sets have been high on my wishlist for a long time, and if they really are as exclusive as what this thread is guessing, then I didn't want to sit around!
Well, I've simply got to have The Complete Bitches Brew set. A friend bought this way back in the early 2000's when it was released, and it served as all of our introduction to Miles and I haven't looked back since. Over the years, I've pieced together a majority of the Complete In A Silent Way set on vinyl (via Water Babies, Circle In The Round, Directions and the recent Early Minor release) and probably won't need that. But that box is also a stunning set overall. I still have the Complete Jack Johnson CD set I bought used years back, there is some great stuff on there as well. Too bad they're not offering vinyl copies. I know these were issued on super-limited vinyl sets that go for a ton of money used now.
It depends on what vibe you're going for, obviously. Much of Silent Way is ethereal and expansive, where a lot of the Jack Johnson complete material I find jagged, funky (and very incomplete-sounding). I do love the take of "Konda" on Jack Johnson that sounds like a different mix to me at least than the one that's on Directions. It's not all the Bitches Brew out-tracks on the RSD release, maybe you could piece it some of it together with the upcoming RSD and Big Fun but I think you would still be missing some. That said, I can't wait to get my hands on that RSD release.
Whoa, just realized the Porgy and Sketches SACDs are hybrid. Is the CD layer the same master as the SACD? Has anyone compared to the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces original release?