12 of the year's Box Sets are featured in our music gift guide for the 2011 holidays.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience "Winterland"Based on some of the prices of the box sets in this article, economic tough times have not hurt the music industry.
Wrong.
They’ve hurt plenty of less-accomplished artists, but the industry insiders know they can keep repackaging material from classic stars, throw in some bonus cuts, package it up with some nice photos and a book and – voila - you’ve got yourself some serious gift-giving temptations.
Here’s an alphabetical sampling of 12 the most intriguing CD and DVD box sets that have been released this year, as well as five rock ‘n’ roll books. Keep in mind that all prices are suggested list price, and usually can be found cheaper than the price seen here. Have fun shopping!
Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Winterland” (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) $49.98.
Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Hank Williams are just a few of the artist who never cease to run out of material to release, even though they each died decades ago.
In the case of Hendrix, he’s recently re-issued several individual titles along with this box set of material from six performances at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in 1968.
It’s a four CD set – that’s also available as an eight LP vinyl package - filled with the revolutionary guitarist’s best, from “Foxey Lady,” and “Purple Haze,” to covers of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love.” Among the many rarities is a backstage interview with Hendrix from the Boston Garden.
Billy Joel, “The Complete Albums Collection” (Columbia/Legacy) $249.99.
Billy Joel’s entire solo recording career is neatly encompassed in this lavish 15-CD box, which contains everything from 1971’s once incredibly rare “Cold Spring Harbor” to “Collected Additional Masters,” which includes various B-sides, contributions to movie soundtracks and 2007’s “All My Life,” a non-album selection which marked the first pop song Joel had written since 1993’s River of Dreams.”
Two 60-page booklets are featured in the package, containing rare photos and Joel discussing his career, as well as the lyrics to every Joel song ever released.
And beyond the extras, the mega-hits are all in place as well, from “Piano Man,” and “Only the Good Die Young,” to “Angry Young Man” “Uptown Girl” and countless others.
Paul Kelly, “The A to Z Recordings” (Gawdaggie) $142.98.
Paul Kelly, Australia’s greatest living songwriter has been staging some fascinating shows during the past several years, playing many of his best songs, as well as some obscurities in alphabetical order.
This 105-song, eight-CD set, chronicles this Bob Dylan-like songwriter is his prime and is often sold with what Kelly calls his “mongrel memoir, “How to Make Gravy,” a 550-page autobiography detailing his life and times. It’s named after one of his most unforgettable songs, about a prisoner calling home on Christmas Day.
The CD set offers an intimate portrait of Kelly, with such diamonds as “From St. Kilda to Kings Cross,” “Deeper Water,” “Other People’s Houses,” “When I First Met Your Ma,” “Dumb Things,” and many, many more.
Pink Floyd, “Discovery Box” (EMI) $214.98.
For the total Pink Floyd fanatic, this offers the 14 Pink Floyd studio albums in one huge package, from the early works with mind-blowing Syd Barrett, through the band’s masterpiece “Dark Side of the Moon,” on through the final couple of discs recorded after Roger Waters departed.
And it’s just one of many Pink Floyd products you can buy this year including digitally remastered versions of all the band’s releases as well as five-and-six-CD “Immersion” versions of sets like “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here,” which include live tracks, plenty of previously unreleased cuts, books, essays, rare photos, etc., etc.
Elvis Presley, “Young Man with the Big Beat” (RCA/Legacy) $139.98.
With packaging befitting a king, Elvis Presley’s “Young Man With the Big Beat: focuses on the singer’s historic year of 1956, when he went from a rising star to a superstar, seemingly overnight.
Housed in an LP-replica 12-inch square box, it contains five CDs, an 80-page book, and a website offer that includes a bonus 45 rpm EP.
The material in the box includes studio sessions, live tracks including a recently discovered previously unreleased concert in Shreveport, La., outtakes and interviews. This one’s a magnificent addition to the Elvis fan’s collection.
The Smiths, “The Smiths Complete” (Rhino) $69.98.
Numerous configurations await The Smiths’ aficionado on your gift-giving list this year.
The extremely influential British band, which featured Morrissey on lead vocals and Johnny Marr on guitar is saluted on this eight-CD collection (presented in vinyl replica sleeves), which covers early classics like “The Queen is Dead,” “The Smiths” their only live album, 1985’s “Rank,” as well as latter-day compilations including “Louder than Bombs.”
Along with vinyl ($249.98) and digital ($39.99) editions, there is also a special individually numbered “deluxe collector’s edition” with an additional 25 singles, rare artwork and more. Limited to 4,000 copies it has a list price of $499.98.
Phil Spector, “The Phillies Album Collection” (Legacy/Phillies) $79.98.
While Phil Spector sits incarcerated for the 2003 second degree murder of an actress at his home, many of the “Wall of Sound” producer’s best works have been re-issued during the past several months.
The seven-CD “Phillies Album Collection” is certainly among the most, and includes six albums that were never re-issued in their entirety during the CD-era, as well as a bonus disc of “flipsides” featuring very rare material.
Included within the box are “The Crystals Twist Uptown;” The Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel;” “Zip-A Dee-Doo-Dah” by Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans;” “The Crystals Sing the Greatest Hits, Volume 1;” “Phillies Records Presents Today’s Hits;” and “Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica.”
Sting, “25 Years” (Cherrytree/A&M/Universal) $124.95.
It’s sometimes hard to imagine that Sting has been playing solo for 25 years, especially considering that he had a long and fruitful career with The Police before that.
But this heavyweight box is a great place for someone who wants to get all the good stuff in one place, as it features 45 remastered tracks, a bonus DVD and a fully illustrated hardcover book.
Songs like “Englishman in New York,” “We Work the Black Seam,” “All This Time” and “Field of Gold,” are situated next to lesser-known delights, while the DVD features a previously unreleased performance live from Irving Plaza in New York on the final night of Sting’s 2005 tour.
The DVD features a health dose of reworks of Police material, such as “Message in a Bottle,” “Synchronicity II” and “Roxanne.”
U2's "Uber box"U2, “Achtung Baby” - 20th anniversary edition (Island, Interscope, UMe). Various prices, depending on configuration.
If you want to break the bank, here’s a good place to start.
The “20th Anniversary Edition” of U2’s seminal 1991 album “Achtung Baby” expands the original album into five different editions, from a simple one featuring the original album all the way up to an “Uber Deluxe Edition” featuring six CDs, four DVDs, a double vinyl set, art prints, an 84-page book, sunglasses modeled after Bono’s and much more. That baby checks in at just at $469.95 on the band’s website.
With the other various editions there is a mixture of enlightenment and excess. The “Super-Deluxe” edition includes the far less essential follow-up album “Zooropa” among its six discs, a version of “The Wanderer” featuring Johnny Cash, B-sides, variations, outtakes and demos.
Two discs feature remixes for those into that sort of thing, but things get interesting on the fifth and sixth CD, from the “One” flipside “ UV1 Lady with the Spinning Head” a “Temple Bar remix” of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,” wild covers of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” (the former is better than the latter but both are interesting), and raw renditions of “Mysterious Ways” and “One” are among the many cuts worth hearing on this motherlode.
It’s a lot to wade through, a magnification of what many consider U2’s finest hour. Whether even that deserves a few of the grand editions being released is questionable but the music is rarely short of thrilling.
Loudon Wainwright III, “40 Odd Years,” (Shout! Factory) $59.98.
Loudon Wainwright III had exactly one relatively minor hit, “Dead Skunk,” a novelty song which went all the way to No. 16 on the charts in 1972. And despite going against nearly every rule in the singer/songwriter business, he has nevertheless enjoyed a remarkable career dating back 23 albums and 40 years.
This jam-packed four-/CD, single-DVD box set does a great job at chronicling the life and musical times of the man affectionately known as LWIII.
The three-hour-plus DVD featuring the fine Dutch documentary “One Man Guy,” which includes some awkward but revealing interviews with Wainwright’s then young son Rufus Wainwright, as well as Loudon’s ex-wife, the late, great Kate McGarrigle. There are also a ton of film clips from everything from a 1975 appearance on “Saturday Night Live” to some ultra rare footage of the songwriter’s 1978 spotlight on “The Mike Douglas Show.”
Latter day TV appearances on “Austin City Limits” The BBC, and numerous other sources can be seen, among them a hilarious version of “IDTYWLM” (also known as “I Don’t Think Your Wife Likes Me”) from the BBC in 1987.
Hank Williams, “The Legend Begins: Rare and Unreleased Recordings” (Time Life) $39.98.
For the country music fan on your gift list – and we’re talking real, authentic country music here – a new Hank Williams three-CD box set has been releases, just when it seemed like every tape in Williams’ voluminous archives had been unearthed.
Alas, there’s more and the kicker about this box is the inclusion of a full CD’s worth of “Rare and Unreleased” recordings including two songs from his recording debut in 1938 and four songs from 1940, including “Freight Train Blues,” “New San Antonio Rose,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “Greenback Dollar.”
Other material includes songs from his “Health and Happiness” Radio shows, including Williams’ favorites like “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “I Saw the Light,” “Lovesick Blues,” and “A Mansion on the Hill.”
Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, “Collector’s Edition Box Set” (Ripple/Proper) ($49.98)
Current rumblings indicate original Rolling Stones’ bassist Bill Wyman will be sitting in with Mick and Keith and the boys when they hit the road for their 50th anniversary tour next year, but it’s not like Wyman has been doing nothing since leaving the band.
He’s had his band The Rhythm Kings reelin’ and rockin’ for a decade and a half and four of their albums (including one double CD set) are neatly packaged into this box.
Wyman has had a traveling array of A-lists guests on his albums and among those included here are Eric Clapton, Gary Brooker, Mick Taylor, Georgie Fame, Peter Frampton and George Harrison, along with many others.