Which boxset was the biggest disappointment to you?

Good deal. I bought the set used a few years ago, and only ever play disc 2.
I love Plundered My Soul especially.

 

I have quite a few box sets, but I'm not disappointed with any of them. I don't buy a box set when it's immediately released, and so I know from reviews and comments on message boards pretty much what to expect. I see a lot of people -- including lots on these forums -- jump in and pre-order music, often for gobs of money, without knowing anything other than the track names. Caveat emptor, is all I have to say.

 

Plundered My Soul is great (as is the accompanying film clip) and thankfully I bought the bonus disc stand alone Target fan pack.
It took me 8 years to buy the Some Girls Deluxe 2 CD (free with a voucher) as I hate having to buy a poorly mastered album I already have to get a bonus disc.
Oh yes I enjoy both bonus disc's too!

 

Abbey Road isn't brilliant but I got it for 30 odd dollars.

 

Kiss Alive! 1975-2000. It is literally the first three Alive albums (which were all common standard releases) plus an incomplete concert from 2000 that was originally supposed to be released on its own as "Alive IV." The only difference on the first three albums is that Alive III includes the bonus track "Take It Off" that was exclusive to Japan, Europe, and South America on the standalone CD release. I'm not sure the older three albums were even newly remastered for this box set either. Additionally, Best Buy offered an "exclusive" version of this set that was advertised as containing two bonus tracks (which still didn't make the concert complete) on the fourth disc...except all the copies they were initially sent were just exactly the same as all the other releases, so Universal Music had to ship out a special batch of the correct fourth disc to Best Buy stores so they could give them to customers who came back and complained. Basically the only reason to buy this set was if you didn't have the first three Alive albums on CD yet, otherwise you were just paying out the wazoo just to get one incomplete album.

 

Yes. Yes. Yes. ... 100 times Yes. (As I mentioned before, I would have also liked some demos, some alt. takes, some full versions of edited songs, more stuff like the Nicky Hopkins Tape, etc. ... In other words, stuff from the Exile recording sessions!)

Exile Deluxe was billed as a look at the Stones during "the Exile era". ... I do not agree that describing 2010 as being far outside "the Exile era" is "highlight[ing] the negative". It strikes me more as stating a simple fact.

Some Girls Deluxe was supposed to concentrate on when Some Girls was recorded. The Promise was billed as a look at Springtseen's creativity during the recording of Darkness. This seems like common sense.

But lest anyone fear I'm relentlessly negative, I was thrilled that Dylan opted not to add some 2018 vocals to the recently released 1967 JWH outtakes.

 

Has Bob added any contemporary vocals to vintage recordings before?

 

I'll say No. ... Just thinking about what an instrumental Blood on the Tracks outtake would sound like with Bob's 2018 voice is frightening.

 

Oh gawd! I hope not!!!

 

I was soooo pissed at the extremely BAD sound quality of the CDs i listened to the bluray a couple times then packed it up n returned it

 

For people who say “the unreleased songs were garbage”, if the music was previously unreleased, isn’t that kind of a sign that it probably wasn’t up to normal standards in most cases?

 

No, I was wise enough to borrow it from my local library before throwing my money at it. Fortunately, I didn’t. I find it an incredible bore. Backing track upon backing track with little to no difference from the finished arrangement. Stack-O-Vocals with the music missing.

Then there is the booklets where the writers makes no excuse to praise Brian Wilson as next to the second coming. Then the musicians interviewed sounds forced into praising Wilson as the 20th Century’s greatest writer, based on Pet Sounds alone. Hyperbole in it’s purest form.

As I have said MANY times: BEFORE 1990 where the album was re-released on cd, you would rarely find Pet Sounds near the top on any music critic’s lists. The album was considered as a 1960’s curio and an odd-ball from an otherwise has-been surf-band.
When the re-release came, Capitol Records almost stuffed all their praisings down the throats of the critics. It was advertised all over as the most important record ever made. And suddenly, all people started to fall over each other in praising the record!

The stereo mix was a fine thing to do. I bought that one and found it great.

And, I must point out, I’m a great supporter of this album. But I also find it a bit overrated. The Beach Boys never made an album as ‘complete’ as this one, but they certainly made just as great music before and after it.

 

What's wrong with the Yes box set?

 

The doors

 

Quite a few people here are complaining about box sets that have few rare or previously unreleased tracks. I have no problem with that. In fact, I actually prefer it when a collection includes either rarities or previously unreleased material, but not both. Take Stevie Wonder's "At the Close of a Century", for instance. It is an excellent selection for casual fans who just want one comprehensive set. If collectors who already have all the tracks want to buy it anyway, fine, it's their money. (I did.) The rationale for including a few rarities in "best of" sets seems to be that, since completists are going to buy them anyway, why not include a few rare tracks to give them more value for their money? I know this "mixed bag" concept has become the norm, but I prefer it when they separate the wheat from the chaff.

I also prefer box sets to include as many original albums in as few CDs as possible, even if this means splitting an album between two CDs. Steely Dan, Police, The Mamas and The Papas and Hot Chocolate have released box sets this way.

Biggest disappointment? Probably "Genesis Archives Vol. 2". Even though it is a rarities-only set, which is great, it omits "Match of the Day" from the "Spot the Pigeon" EP and it has only three CDs. A lot more live material could have been included if it were a 4-CD set like "Vol. 1".

 

Wasn’t it confirmed some noise reduction was used? I think it was posted on the forum a while back. In searching the most recent thread, I came across this:

Steely Dan Albums Ranked

Not consistently on the box from what I read.

 

Yikes. You and I are a long way from agreement on that. Just horrendous when they cram CD's full and split albums. Just no.

 

I totally agree - I've just got the Elvis Complete Albums set and it's 60 cds that could probably fir on 40 - yes it might be cheaper but it would feel wrong to do it that especially. Especially in sets like this when the recreate the original album packaging etc. But I do have a classical set (Szerying) where they often have two albums on one cd and for some reason that doesn't bother me!

 

I think with Classical works, it can happen. Classical pieces aren't usually written with the album format in mind. With rock, Jazz, and so on - generally things were recorded having an album in mind. The integrity of the album should be preserved, imo.

It's interesting, because we've had discussions on how long an album should be, with some citing the 35-40 minute length as some kind of magical number. I've always argued against that. However, you can't rewrite history. What was, was. Legacy albums generally fall into those time limits, and I do feel it should be preserved. The integrity of the album should remain. Just as album released in the CD era, that are longer, should be maintained.

I've just begun to play the Henry Cow box set. It's 17 discs. Each album is so far between 35 and 40 minutes, and they've even inserted a 15 silence between Side One and Two of the orignal Vinyl. This is the way to do it, imo. They could have halved the number of discs covering those early years, but it just would have been wrong. IMO.

 

Going to post this as a major turnaround for me. The 20 Years of Jethro Tull box set took me aback when I first bought it. Very few original versions of the classic songs. Dumped it shortly upon buying it!

But I am so glad to have it back!! Love it!!

 

Yeah, it wasn't the treasure trove I'd daydreamed, or that the White Album box truly was. The alt "Ballad of John and Yoko" and an official "Goodbye" weren't sufficient sirens for me to shell out. Have only spun the 2-discer twice.

 

To me, some of the live versions of songs in that box are versions I enjoy more than the originals, Living In The Past being tops among them.

 

Station to Station box set, no recording sessions, demos or outtakes, just live material and different edits

 

interesting.

 

I love the idea of 15 seconds of silence to preserve the gap between sides 1 and 2 of the vinyl!