I dont have ANY, and I've got to ask for some for christmas. I want the VU one for sure, but lay some good ones on me.

sam cooke the man who invented soul (though it gets points subtracted for not including a change is gonna come)
cheap trick sex, america, cheap trick
bob marley songs of freedom

those are the only box sets i own.

oh, Ive got songs of freedom too..soo good.

http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=74645

Bob Dylan - Biograph

It has a really cool booklet and it covers most of his recognizable work, other than what's taken place or been re-released in the last five years. The sound recording is ace.

I heard a review of this on NPR a month or so ago and was really impressed by the tracks they played. I'm glad you posted this... thanks for the reminder.

here ya go...

http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDetai ... mber=75466

The VU one is good, there are some great rarities in there.

But here are the negatives:

1. All artwork for each album are missing, they all have similar covers, none of which are the ones they were released with.

2. Their self-titled album is the "closet mix" which Reed is convinced sounds better or at least intriguing enough to place it in the box set. Personally i like the one that has always been released.

3. The track listing for each album is messed up. For instance on the White Heat/White Light disc, the actual album doesn't begin until track 8 . Demos and rarities compose the first 8 tracks. This always bothered me.

4. This is not really a complete box set. The band was great live and the live tracks in this set are seriously lacking.

I would just buy each album on its own. They have repackaged most of them with extra track listing.

I've got Peel Slowly and See. It's worth it. But yeah, if art work and proper track listings important to you, then maybe it won't be for you. I don't give a fuck, it sounds great to me. Other sets I've got are Johnny Cash's Columbia set, Led Zep, Clapton's Crossroads, Tragically Hip and the new Springsteen.

EDIT: also the Kiss box set too.

Patsy Cline - The Patsy Cline Collection

Two words: fucking fantastic.

I don't own any box sets. On my list, though, are:

Beat Happening - Crashing Through
Galaxie 500 - s/t
Hank Williams, Sr. - The Complete Hank Williams
Joy Division - Heart And Soul
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Simon & Garfunkel - The Columbia Studio Recordings, 1964-1970

The new Nirvana Box set is really good. Especially the songs that were never released.

don't get the cheap trick boxed set...just buy the first three albums. Poof, you're done.

Actually, Reed's mix was the way it was first released and that's why they use that one in the box. Val Valentin did the first mix but Reed wanted his voice more out front so he redid it and that's what became known as the "closet mix", I think because Sterling said it sounded like they were playing in a closet. But by that time it was Lou's band. I always prefered the Valentin mix too, but over the years both have been used on various releases. It's true that the last Sony remaster used the Valentin mix, though, and it does sound pretty good.

I'm not very big on box sets since most are just marketing ploys to get you to buy a bunch of stuff that probably wasn't good enough to release on its own, but Joy Division's Heart and Soul box is pretty nice. Some of the early stuff isn't essential, but the box sounds better than the early CDs if you don't play vinyl, and the albums are all complete.

Agreed that Bob Marley's Songs of Freedom is nice because it includes more of his early ska stuff which is a real treat, and the popular stuff is taken from alternate mixes.

Just got Nina Simone's Four Women box which is her 7 mid 60s Philips recordings on 4 CDs. Only $23+ from yourmusic.com. $5.99 delivered per disc - great deal, right to my Christmas stocking

The Blasters box is pretty cool if you don't have those first three Slash albums. Great band back in those days. Only a 2-CD set with some extra live stuff and rarities, but the main thing is that you get all the Slash albums complete. Still have to get their American Music debut on Hightone though to be complete. Great live band, but most people probably don't need that much Blasters.

The Anthology of American Folk Music is a classic 6-CD box that's been the inspiration for many a young men

i have these two:
two of the best purchases i've ever made.
vu - peel slowly and see
bob marley - songs of freedom (one of the greatest ever)

here's a fun one some special person sent me:


i also have these.....definitely cool:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000 ... nce&n=5174

and


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000 ... nce&n=5174

i don't have images on, so i don't know if it's been mentioned or not yet, but:

NUGGETS

well that's mom's gift.

Albert Ayler - Holy Ghost
Scott Walker - 5 Easy Pieces

I have and like this but do you really consider it a box set? I have lots of things like this but really don't consider them box sets.

I'll third the Nuggets. Everyone's recommending the first set. I probably like the second UK collection even more than the first more American focused set but both are great.

Others I really like:

Merle Haggard "Down Every Road"
Ray Charles "The Birth of Soul"
Jorge Ben "Serie Grandes Nomes" which I think is now out of print unfortunately

I'll second that Joy Division one and add:

New Order, Retro (but only if you're a fan)

I bet I'm like a lot of people who like box sets which squeeze a bunch of whole albums into fewer total CDs, e.g., the Steely Dan 'Citizen'. Of the typical box set, one of the best still has to be JAMES BROWN: Star Time. It's a top of the top shelf artist you can't get the best portrait of with regular issue LPs. Got good sound. Good annotation. Not the usual head scratching track choices. Perfection.

Why do you say that?

The Federal stuff is compilation only so you can't LP it there; he had so many albums on King/Polydor that they inevitably include what some would call filler. So I guess one could buy a ton of albums to get the essentail tracks but even then some hot singles were non-LP. And, of course, he is known for live performance (I should have said studio LP in my comment/the live albums are justifiably famous). Here is a titan as big as anyone in popular music but if you compare by famous studio albums he doesn't have the catalog of a Dylan or Beatles. It's not fair to compare that way really, kind of like with country music legends whose stature is greater than the quality of their typical studio album.

Nuggets
Playboy's 40th Anniversary: Four Decades of Jazz 1953-1993
Smithsonian's Classic Jazz
Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music, 25th Anniversary Edition
Stax/Volt complete singles