Nothing says “I love you” —or “please put your headphones on and leave me alone” — to a music fan like a comprehensive box set from a favorite musician or band. Multitudes of shiny platters offering up rare b-sides, out-of-print classics, alternate takes, live cuts, demo versions and more, along with copious photos and liner notes for that full-body experience. CL‘s swag, er, music department has collected some of the best box sets released this year in our attempt to share what we consider some of the cream of the crop…
Faces/Five Guys Walk Into a Bar… (Rhino) — The perfect box set is a rare animal. Even the best omit something vital, while others often bury the best material with redundant alternate takes and cell phone-quality live bits that only OCD completists could possibly see merit in.
But Five Guys Walk Into A Bar… is quite literally without flaw, a perfect document from an imperfectly beautiful and grossly under-appreciated band who were arguably the best straight-up rock & roll act on the planet in the early 70s. This 67-song, four-disc collection was produced by the band’s keyboardist, Ian McLagan, who in putting together this box eschewed any rigid sequencing chronology or thematic order to simply do it the Faces’ way: Because it sounded right.
Despite the fact that these are rare studio recordings, cassette tapes from rehearsals, mobile recordings made at Mick Jagger’s country house, live performances, unreleased tracks and BBC radio shows, they are as vital — sometimes more so — than the Faces’ recorded output, and the sound quality is unanimously top-notch. You’ll hear alternate versions of the tracks you know — “Had Me A Real Good Time,” “Ooh La La” and “Stay With Me,” — and rarities galore (43 tracks are non-LP cuts, including 31 previously unreleased), riveting covers and Ronnie (Lane and Wood)-sung tunes, and a handful of Rod Stewart’s best solo songs (a much better version of “Maggie May,” for instance).
It’s often written that the always well-lubricated Faces were a sloppy band, both in-studio and live (first act to keep a bartender on stage?). But what you hear on Five Guys… is a collection of musicians so tight — in both senses of the word — the music always seems effortless. What’s loose sounds great loose, and going to the pub in the middle of a studio session or grabbing a gin & tonic between solos is purely inspirational if these were the results. Don’t eat for a week; utterly recommended. ($59.99)
— John Schacht
Various Artists/Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the ’80s Underground (Rhino) — Writing about this box set is tricky, as the rise of college rock documented herein also brought with it an unfortunate pox: that of college rock snobbery. And who am I to break with tradition? Suffice it to say, if you like most of the bands on this box set — REM, Joy Division, Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Black Flag, Mission of Burma, The Replacements, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, and dozens more — you’ll probably think it worth picking up. However, at one song apiece, you’re not necessarily even getting the song you like (sure, they’re the obvious choices, but do we need “Radio Free Europe” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart” for the 97 gajillionth time?), and in addition — thanks to the democratic method of picking bands — also-rans and period pieces like Aztec Camera and Wall of Voodoo get equal billing with, say, Dinosaur Jr. That said, the album works well downloaded into a portable MP3 player, whereupon you can hit random and occasionally hear a nice little 80s nugget you’d forgotten about in the midst of listening to all the “hits of today.” Listen a little too long, however, and you’ve got an only-slightly-cooler version of those cheesy 80s music stations that seem to be sprouting up everywhere. However, the moderately priced set should make a great gift for those who came of age on the stuff, as well as those kids of today who’ll have you believe that the world begins and ends with Franz Ferdinand. ($64.95)
— Timothy C. Davis
Various Artists/Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans (Shout! Factory) — Over the years, record companies have released numerous collections of New Orleans jazz, or New Orleans zydeco, or New Orleans funk, R&B, Cajun, blues or whatnot, but this is the first big collection to showcase all of those genres jointly as a tribute to America’s most musical city. Even better, the various musical forms are presented together on all four CDs, creating a riotous, expect-anything feel that comes close to matching the New Orleans scene’s powerful vitality and joyous, street-smart vibe. The word “diversity” could have been invented for New Orleans, and the Crescent City’s music scene has long been the archetype for American culture’s glorious hybrid nature. As one of the compilers puts it, “It’s a real mess, and we like it like that.” The box set includes the likes of Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, the Neville Brothers, Little Richard, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Jellyroll Morton, Ellis Marsalis, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Buckwheat Zydeco, the Radiators, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Zachary Richard, Lloyd Price, Kid Ory, Earl King, Allen Toussaint, Johnny Addams, and on and on. The set includes a terrific 84-page book that, along with a thorough parsing of the box set’s music, actually gives a good facsimile of what New Orleans is really like. ($59.99)
— John Grooms
Dexter Gordon/The Complete Prestige Recordings (Prestige) — While it’s often argued that iconic tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon made his best records for Blue Note in the mid 60s, this 11-CD Prestige box shows that Gordon’s chops were still quite formidable at the end of that decade. Recorded mostly from 1969-72 (with a few exceptions, such as a 1950 date with Wardell Gray and The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon from 1960), this box set documents Gordon’s mastery of extended bop improvisation, earthy blues, and heart-wrenching ballads. Over a dozen or so studio and live sessions, Gordon is caught fronting various quartets featuring such musicians as pianists Barry Harris, Wynton Kelly, Junior Mance, and Bobby Timmons. There are also several stellar quintet sessions where he goes head-to-head with Freddie Hubbard, Thad Jones, and Gene Ammons. Throughout this set, Dex’s playing is loose and engaging, exemplary of a master comfortably plying his trade. Recommended. ($139.99) — Gene Hyde
Al Green/The Immortal Soul of Al Green (Hi Records) — Most contemporary R&B, with its over-produced and over-buffed vibe, is a shadow of what soul music used to be. While a slew of performers defined soul music in the 60s, it was Al Green that owned the early 70s. Green not only influenced rookie artists with his sinewy blend of horns, strings and his soaring falsetto, but greats such as Marvin Gaye as well. Green joined the ministry at the height of his fame in the mid-70s, after a violent incident in his life. Green’s spiritual records, however, are as soulful as his secular works. Green fine-tuned his Southern Soul sound with the help of partner and Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell. The Immortal Soul of Al Green is a 4-disc set highlighting Green’s career into themed discs: Sex, Love, Salvation and Soul. Indeed, folks can gravitate toward a favorite disc, but all can bask in the glow of an original. ($69.99) — Samir Shukla
Grateful Dead/Beyond Description (1973-1989) (Rhino) — This is the sequel to Rhino’s previous Dead box, The Golden Road, and chronicles the Dead’s final decade and a half. During this time they emerged as one of the most popular live acts in rock history. Between 1973 and 1980 the Dead produced a series of frequently inspired, yet mostly uneven, studio albums. While inconsistent, these albums each contained several strong cuts that would become concert favorites, including extended, structured works like Wake of the Flood‘s “Weather Report Suite” and the title track to Terrapin Station. The Dead also released Reckoning, a marvelous live acoustic album. This box contains plenty of intriguing bonus material, such as Bob Weir’s solo demo to “Weather Report Suite” and an entire second disc’s worth of acoustic live material from Reckoning. Ironically, after 1980, when the Dead reached the peak of their popularity as a concert draw, their final studio recordings were marred by some of their weakest selections. All in all, pass on the box set, and wait for the expanded offerings of Wake of the Flood, Blues for Allah, Terrapin Station, Reckoning, and Shakedown Street. To truly catch the band in this era, pick up some of the live discs available through the Dead’s web-site. ($149.99)
— Gene Hyde
Various Artists Can’t You Hear Me Callin’: Bluegrass (80 Years of American Music) (Sony) — While some of the selections herein are iffy at best (The Dixie Chicks?), Can’t You Hear Me Callin’ is a nice four-CD collection that spans some eight decades, and features music from such Sony-affiliated labels as Columbia, CBS, Epic, Monument, Bluebird, Capitol, Decca, Dot, E-Squared, OKeh, RCA, King, Mercury, MGM, Monument, Rounder, Sugar Hill, and Vocalion. If you’re looking for an instant bluegrass primer for your iPod, you could do a lot worse: see multiple tracks from The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, The Monroe Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, The Osborne Brothers, Charlie Poole, The Louvin Brothers, and many more. Latter-day bluegrass-inspired bands include The Byrds, Alison Krauss, Mark O’Connor and others. If you like pickin’, this is one box set sure to keep you grinnin’ for hours to come. ($49.99)
— Timothy C. Davis
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2004.
