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ShareBoxed sets may be woefully out of step in a culture with a shrinking attention span and a shrinking economy. But they keep coming nonetheless, offering music lovers (and the people who must buy them gifts) one last indulgence, and a chance to hold a fancy package in their hands, which you just can’t do with an MP3 file. (Though almost all of the boxes below are available in digital form, at reduced cost.)
You might think that the vaults had been picked clean by now, but this year there are retrospectives on major figures like Nina Simone, Roy Orbison and Philip Glass, as well as rewarding boxes on niche artists such as the Jesus and Mary Chain and Augustus Pablo.
The avalanche includes more than is covered here. There’s also a live Grateful Dead box from 1973, a Black Sabbath box aptly titled “The Rules of Hell,” and a set of folk label Red House.
Here, then, are some picks of the season:
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ANTHONY BRAXTON “The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton” (Mosaic, 8 CDs, $136, 3 stars)
This is both the most amazing collection of all time and the most indulgent.
Anthony Braxton, who never met a reed he didn’t like, blew and brayed though nearly the whole reed family on the nine LPs brought together in this collection. The combos from 1974 to 1979 exhibit astonishing variety - Braxton plays solo, duets, quartets and with up to four 39-piece student orchestras. Even alone, he’s crowded with ideas and wanderlust. Some cuts presage the founding of the World Saxophone Quartet. Others merely foretell the chaos at the end of the world.
—Karl Stark
CHEAP TRICK “Budokan!” (Epic, 3 CDs 1 DVD, $51.98, 2 stars)
This is an augmented edition of the band’s epochal 1978 performance record, Cheap Trick at Budokan. Even remastered, the music sounds murky in Tokyo’s cavernous arena. The big surprise here: how appealing Robin Zander’s voice was.
—David Hiltbrand
MILES DAVIS “Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition” (Sony Columbia, 1 LP/2 CDs/1 DVD, $109.95, 3 stars)
It weighs nearly five pounds. The price is ponderous too. The heft starts with a blue vinyl copy of the original 1959 session, the best-selling jazz recording of all time. Can’t play it? Well, there are two CDs, also featuring a 1958 session by some of the same players, 10,000 words of scholarly criticism, including 4,000 words from Philly’s Francis Davis, and a documentary. As a chaser, there’s Bill Evans’ handwritten liner notes, six photos, and a poster of the trumpeter.
Sony is repackaging the greatest session in the history of jazz with an impressive array of tchotchkes. Here’s asserting that the original was just fine.
—Karl Stark
THE FIRESIGN THEATRE “Box of Danger” (Shout Factory, 4 CDs, $59.98, 3 stars); “The Gonzo Tapes: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson” (Shout Factory, 5 CDs, $59.98, 3 stars)
The non-musical recorded work of two countercultural heroes. “Box of Danger” gathers mock radio-serial sketches by surrealist jokers Firesign Theatre dedicated to private detective Nick Danger, “a slick dick up to his wick in postmodern shtick.” Amusing, if limited.
“The Gonzo Tapes” are for Hunter Thompson enthusiasts only, but offer a fascinating look into the deranged author of “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas,” an obsessive chronicler of his own acid- and cocaine-fueled escapades, whether stalking Hell’s Angels or advising his traveling companion that mixing Chivas and Coke is “a crime against nature.”
—Dan DeLuca
GENESIS “Genesis 1970-1975” (Rhino, 7 CDs, 6 DVDs, $139.98, 4 stars)
Before drummer Phil Collins became their vocalist and turned Britain’s prog-rock outfit into a sleek pop machine, Peter Gabriel ruled Genesis with a velvet glove. The original band was theatrical, and not just because Gabriel often wore garish costumes and makeup, as can be seen in this set’s grainy music videos. On the double album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and others, he created deeply felt characters.
Genesis from 1970-75 was a grand, pulsating mess of layered keyboards and rhythms with Gabriel’s vocals and forlorn lyrics sandwiched in. Get this Genesis a reunion, quick.
—A.D. Amorosi
PHILIP GLASS “Glass Box: A Nonesuch Retrospective” (Nonesuch, 10 CDs, $99.87, 3 ½ stars)
Philip Glass is so prolific that this 10-disc set doesn’t begin to give the whole story. Even important works such as Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha are heard only in excerpts. But the set does capture the wide arc of his artistic development, from his early minimalism to later, more expansive symphonies. It’s great for those with only a superficial awareness of Glass, though veterans might guiltily confess that they enjoy merely dipping into Glass (as opposed to, say, the multi-hour immersion of Einstein).
—David Patrick Stearns
DARYL HALL AND JOHN OATES “Live at the Troubadour” (Shout, 2 CDs, 1 DVD, $26.98, 2 ½ stars)
Captured during a pair of relaxed sets in Los Angeles, H&O take a while to warm up but eventually lock into a satisfying if thin groove. Because the material extends all the way back to 1973’s Abandoned Luncheonette, Oates even gets a few turns at the microphone.
—David Hiltbrand
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN “The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides and Rarities” (Rhino, 4 CDs, $59.98, 3½) stars
The boxed-set dilemma is whether it’s worth shelling out for music you already own to get a few rarities in a fancy package. The Power of Negative Thinking super-serves enthusiasts of ‘80s Scottish noise-pop band the Jesus and Mary Chain with 81 outtakes and covers, none from brothers James and William Reid’s major releases. Like Dylan’s Tell Tale Signs, the set works as an alt-history of a band - here, one whose catchy cacophony predated Nirvana’s, and holds up surprisingly well.
—Dan DeLuca
REBA MCENTIRE “50 Greatest Hits” (MCA, 3 CDs, $39.98, 3 ½ stars)
Though her career began in the ‘70s, 50 Greatest Hits starts in 1984, after Reba McEntire moved to MCA and turned from country-pop toward a more neotraditional sound. The move was a commercial and artistic success. The set goes on to chronicle her move back to country-pop, crossover success, and no-last-name-necessary superstardom. Despite the pop glitz that occasionally crops up, the big-voiced McEntire maintains a high level of quality and taste.
—Nick Cristiano
ROY ORBISON “The Soul of Rock and Roll” (Monument Legacy, 4 CDs, $59.98, 4 stars)
With his soaring, one-of-a-kind voice, Roy Orbison brought operatic grandeur to rock and made it work. This career-spanning set offers excellent testimony to his incandescent talent. It starts with his rockabillyish sides of the ‘50s (a few too many unreleased demos) before moving on to the ‘60s, when his signature sound coalesced. His ‘80s comeback suggests he was entering another golden age before he died of a heart attack at 52 in 1988.
—Nick Cristiano
AUGUSTUS PABLO “The Mystic World Of Augustus Pablo: The Rockers Story” (Shanachie, 4 CDs, 1 DVD, $48.98, 3 ½ stars)
The melodica, the handheld keyboard with a blow-hole at one end, gave the Hooters their name, and it gave Jamaican Rasta man Augustus Pablo one of the most haunted sounds in pop music. This set gathers solo masterpieces like “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” from Pablo (1953-1999) as well as production work he did for artists like Delroy Williams and Junior Delgado. Pablo was master of a minor-key dub-reggae style that plays like a Jamaican version of the blues.
—Dan DeLuca
NINA SIMONE “To Be Free” (Legacy, 3 CDs, 1 DVD, $49.98, 3 ½ stars)
As the liner-note writer Ed Ward points out, the unavoidable conclusion to be drawn from this first-ever, career-spanning compilation of the imperious Nina Simone, who died in 2003, is “she’s still contemporary.” Landmark civil rights-era recordings like the swinging “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” retain their heartbreaking poignance, and “See Line Woman” shows Feist a thing or two. Stylized, theatrical, and one of a kind.
—Dan DeLuca
VARIOUS ARTISTS “Atlantic Vocal Groups, 1951-1963” (Rhino Handmade, 4 CDs, $99.98 3 ½ stars)
The star vocal group of Atlantic Records’ 1950s roster was the Clovers, the Washington quintet that has 10 cuts on this fetching set, including “One Mint Julep” and “Blue Velvet.” And there are more harmony-happy thrills in store from well-known players such as the Drifters (“Fools Fall in Love”) and the Chords (“Sh-Boom”), as well as little-known worthies like Philadelphia’s the Versatones.
—Dan DeLuca
VARIOUS ARTISTS “Cult Opera of the 1970s” (Arthaus, 10 DVDs, $119.99, 3 stars)
The title isn’t quite accurate: The 10 operas here - including Mozart’s Magic Flute and Berg’s Wozzeck - are long-buried TV films, mostly from the Hamburg State Opera in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Though singers mostly lip-synced to recordings, these thoughtfully produced color films haven’t always aged well but are full of great performers who didn’t have great U.S. careers, like sopranos Anja Silja and Sena Jurinac.
—David Patrick Stearns
Various Artists “Hommage a Nesuhi” (Rhino Handmade, 5 CDs, $149.98, 4 stars)
The day before he died in December 2007, legendary Philadelphia producer Joel Dorn turned in the track list and liner notes for this fabulous tribute to his mentor, Atlantic Records producer Nesuhi Ertegun, who had worked with John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Ornette Coleman and Ray Charles. Hommage’s expertly programmed discs move from strength to strength and do their subject proud. Out Dec. 15.
—Dan DeLuca
VARIOUS ARTISTS “200 Years of Music at Versailles” (MBF, 20 CDs, $119.99, 4 stars)
Death by frou-frou? That might seem to be the listener’s fate in these 20 discs of opera excerpts, choral, instrumental and symphonic music from ultra-ornate pre-revolutionary France in a period from Louis XIII through Louis XVI, from Lully to early Mozart. For those who love this period, this set is a treasure, brimming with vital performances at a 2007 festival.
—David Patrick Stearns
