Why So Many Box Sets?

I'll buy the odd one that I Really Want, but at this point am primarily interested in the live tracks that take up 2 of 5 CD's. For the money they're charging they sound damn good on Qobuz.

 

I enjoy buying the odd boxset but they're too prolific and too damned expensive. I don't want the demos; just B Sides, anything worthwhile from the vaults and an era-appropriate live outing. For half the price they ask for these things. I don't mind paying up to $80 but these $250 boxsets are taking the proverbial.

 

I’m trying to curb back on purchases but it’s not easy when single and under all the restrictions, what else is there to do?

 

Yeah. I buy too many guitars and too many damned boxsets.

 

Didn't the Zappa Estate release a boxed thumb drive set?

I'm kind of kidding, but I'm thinking one of the large live releases, a few years ago, was on a thumb drive.

 

This is one of the few threads where I agree with nearly everything everyone has said. And this is simply because, box sets, especially the more recent ones that have been released in abundance, are both rewarding AND annoying. And mainly for reasons already stated. When they're done well, you can easily get lost in them for weeks at a time. But on the other hand, since there's only 24 hours for each day, they severely detract from the listening experiences you have with other favourite artists...

And say what you want about Yes' new Union 30 Live box (26 CDs & 6 DVDs). But I've thoroughly enjoyed it thus far. I'm nearly half of the way through it and only have a few minor complaints...

 

All of the Grateful Dead boxed sets I have are more than worth the $$$ I've paid for them (not just financially, but also in terms of personal value). Same goes for Dylan BS 12. Choose what you want and avoid what you don't. A substantial part of my listening these days is live material that I have on archival boxed sets. Music I never heard back in the day.

 

Sell 500,000 copies of a new album @$10 = $5 million. Or
Sell 52,000 copies of the new Metallica box at $250 = $13 million?

 

Album anniversary releases with bonus material by female artists are so rare though. Toyah, Kim Wilde, Debbie Gibson, one Bobbie Gentry album - can't find any more.

Even rarer are deluxe box sets for individual albums. I've seen only Jewel and her debut album, Pieces Of Me - with book and several CDs of bonus material. Maybe Joni Mitchell and the archive series can be considered "deluxe". That's about it.

 

I am just waiting with hope and expectation that Cat Stevens will release Teaser and the Firecat as a deluxe soon. 50th year. C'mon Cat.

 

Who is this "Bear family" that people keep mentioning?

 

Love my Karajan 1960s set, picked it up for a fantastic price due to minor cosmetic damage to the lid itself. Trying to get hold of the 1970s and 1980s boxes still but the prices only ever seem to go upwards.

Beautifully put and absolutely describes my own feelings towards these sets.

 

It's interesting. There are quite a few people on here that say things like, "and demo discs I'll ever listen to once" and label ephemera are "junk", but while I see their point of view, I can't truly get my head around it. Big box sets are there to be enjoyed, and enjoyed again, and enjoyed once more. Quite how anyone extracts all the pleasure and enjoyment from a song with one listen is beyond me. At least, I can't do it. I think it comes from a frame of mind that says, "I want the hits", and nothing more. Except in this case, we're not talking chart placing, but instead tracks with that extra sprinkle of sugar you went for straight away. In this case I think they'd be better off skipping the box, or streaming.

I've been playing through the Elvis Costello Rhino release recently, and the second disc on those are great. I don't play them as often as the original release, but man they're great to have every now and again. The ephemera is great too if you take the time to enjoy it rather than picking it up, deciding it doesn't actually do anything, and throwing it back in the box. A well compiled book is an incredible value add. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but you're on the money when you talk about immersion.

Another great example is Henry Cow. Their (fairly) recent box set is amazing. I was new to them, so had nothing. The set is almost complete, which is incredible. But the main thing about the sets are the two booklets - and I use the term loosely, because they're thick deep dives into the band - are a huge win too. I could of found the music elsewhere (albeit the remastering is excellent) but it would have been more difficult to do such a deep dive. And yet, there it is in a reasonably priced box.

Which is why I have disdain for the Sabbath Super Deluxe releases. Patchy extras, no attempt at being the last word on the album being released, missing tracks, missing mixes, and books that consist of old quotes and newspaper articles cut and pasted, it's all very slapdash. Whoever is compiling them is, to say it kindly, working to a budget. Yet great sets do exist, and they're pretty special.

We're in the middle of a time like no other. I don't know what will happen with box sets moving forward, I don't know if they will grow in value, fall in value, or whether anyone will want them or if they'll go to landfill once I'm done. But here, in this moment, they're giving people a level of insight into a band or album that we only could have dreamed about in the 1970's. Long may it continue.

 

Bear Family Records - Vinyl, CD, DVD- Musik Mailorder Online
German reissue label that releases complete, career-spanning box sets. Mainly American music from the 50's and 60's, and mainly country and early rock 'n roll.

 

Ah, thanks. So I gather it's just a made up name, and there is no Mr and Mrs Bear, Baby Bear, etc.

 

I find it unpredictable. With the Beatles and solo releases, I haven't found the extras terribly engaging. I'd had The White Album Escher Tapes as bootlegs for ages, so they weren't a new discovery for me. I enjoyed the George Harrison demos during one listen, but I haven't been pulled back.

I adore SMiLE, but I didn't spend that much time with the diorama box set discs. As Brian Wilson described, "Fragments. Just fragments."

On the other hand...

The two discs of early takes from Gene Clark's No Other, and the two new remixes have gotten numerous plays. I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars on a surround sound system and take possession of the living room, but I'd love to hear that mix as intended, rather than as a foobar fold-down. Clark's 1970 solo White Light demos that were released on Here Tonight and The Lost Studio Sessions (and bonus disc) are also a treasure, one that I've listened-to endlessly.

The Go-Betweens box sets have been a wonderful gift, even though I had almost all of the rarities in my collection. I cherish Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and can't wait for Vol. 3 to appear.

Every Bear Family box set that I've purchased has been absolutely well-spent money. And I had the pleasure of participating in the George Jones Musicor sets.

I love the Dylan Bootleg Series... there have been multiple revelations, the books are chockful of great photographs.

Syl Johnson, the complete sessions Miles Davis sets... digging deep gives great satisfaction.

 

Gee, I'm not sure.

This link to 'box sets' will give you a better idea of what people are referring to in this thread:
CD Box Set

 

My general impression is that these sets are both cash cows, and wanted (rather than unwanted). Hence the rise in volume of these being released. On the cow milking metaphor, cows get mighty uncomfortable if they aren't milked. Milking isn't necessarily always a bad thing. If those who have the cash want to spend it in such a way, fair dos. I think that it won't last through the generations for reasons explained thoroughly in this thread already, but I'm not displeased with a lot of these boxes. Some are crap mind you.

 

Thanks. I checked the site, and it doesn't look as if they market much that's of interest to me. Of course that is a statement about me, rather than a criticism of Bear Family records.

 

Lavish boxes with the same old albums plus remixes, single versions, 12" versions, etc. don't interest me at all.
I only get the ones that have loads of previously unreleased material.

 

Their box sets are complete and definitive, with consecutive releases for prolific artists (Johnny Cash, George Jones, etc.).

Many of the artists that they give the box set treatment to are in no danger of becoming household names. That's what's so great about the label; virtually forgotten artists are given serious respect.

 

The question of why there are so many box sets had clearly been covered here, but for me I love that we are inundated with box sets. I find it very easy to pick and choose and be very selective about the ones I buy.

Over the last few years I have bought a number of incredible sets but yet only a small amount so that I have the time to actually play them, and in each case I have found them to be excellent value for money with a wealth of material that I keep returning to.

 

I think that if it's a genuinely fantastic album, with a wealth of outtakes that match or even better the original content, then a box set certainly has merit. But we seem to have hit a point where every album by a major artist is now considered by the record company to be a classic album. I actually like Wings 'Wild Life', but when that lavish box set came out, I was astonished.

 

I'm not so negative about the box sets. Of course we all know the target group of the record companies and so on.
And some prices have been over the top for what they offer, like the CD SDE of "All Things Must Pass".

But in the end I must say that I am very thankful for the box sets. I buy the ones that I have really been waiting for.
Many are well done. There are some cases, though, where I miss some comments on the individual tracks, e.g. on the recent "Feel Flows", a kind of description of the content, what to pay attention to etc. - like Mark Lewisohn did it in the Beatles Anthology sets. It used to be quite common.

All in all, though, I am not complaining. I don't want to imagine if those SDE's were only being released digitally. It does not give me the same kind of experience. Or if they were not issued at all.

The box sets give me much joy. I just think we have to make clear what we expect for a certain price. The CD SDE of "All Things Must Pass" was NOT the way to go.

 

The bottom line is, the box sets are exactly what some people want, so they'll be happy - and those who don't want them can ignore them.

The only people that bother me are those who complain that they "have to" buy these box sets, because they are there, and they cost so much. I find it hard to work up any sympathy.