The mighty box set has been a staple of the CD era. Much more than a stocking stuffer, it's the gift that makes music geeks go wild.
The multi-disc boom began when the 1985 Bob Dylan collection "Biograph" proved highly profitable with a Top 40 appearance on the Billboard album chart.
Columbia's ace Dylan presentation - all the essential hits sweetened with rarities and lavish liner notes - has been the template for repackaging the work of veteran artists ever since. Super-prolific artists including Dylan have even dropped boxes of completely unreleased live (see Bruce Springsteen) or studio (see Johnny Cash) tracks.
"Various artist" box sets can be traced back much farther.
In fact, the original "Anthology of American Folk Music (Edited by Harry Smith)," which collects tracks made during the 1920s and '30s, came out on vinyl in 1952.
Every year a rush of new box sets flood the market (see accompanying story). Here's a list of 10 excellent single and various artist box sets.
These collections should appeal to both novices and longtime fans.
The problem with most box sets is that diehard fans must pay for material they already own in order to get their hands on previously unreleased tracks; however, "Bruce Springsteen Live/1975-85" is nothing but goodies. It's three discs documenting a decade of rich and intense concert performances.
Many of these recordings - "Thunder Road," "No Surrender," "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" - easily outstrip the studio originals. Plus, this is the place to find Springsteen's definitive version of Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl."
Phil Spector, "Back to Mono (1958-1969)" (ABKCO)
Long before Phil Spector became a tabloid star, he was pop music's top producer.
This four-disc collection features the impresario's famed "Wall of Sound" in all its glory. The girl groups are front and center with ample selections from The Ronettes and Crystals. The Righteous Brothers' best work is here, too, along with other gems like the undervalued Tina Turner classic "River Deep-Mountain High.
" Special bonus: the inclusion of Spector's outstanding 1963 holiday album "A Christmas Gift For You."
This outstanding four-disc collection features more than 100 tracks, many of which rank as the catchiest songs in pop music history. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Supremes, The Jackson 5, Four Tops, Martha the Vandellas, Rare Earth - these artists and many more are here with those smile-inducing hits that never grow old.
Bob Dylan, "Biograph" (Columbia)
Three discs featuring a mix of hits and previously unreleased material like the "Blood on the Tracks" outtake "Up to Me" that is as strong as anything in the Dylan catalog. Other selections that make this mandatory for Dylan fans include the "Desire" outtake "Abandoned Love" and the previously unreleased "Percy's Song." Rolling Stone scribe-turned filmmaker-Cameron Crowe delivers a first-rate essay for the liner notes.
George Strait, "Strait Out of the Box" (MCA)
There's a reason this is one of the best-selling box sets of all time. This four-disc set includes all of the No. 1 singles Strait recorded from 1976-1995, great unreleased material from early in his career, plus previously unreleased gems like his duet with Frank Sinatra on "Fly Me to The Moon.
" The set was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard country album chart in 1995.
This five-disc beauty is the place to start for anyone interested in exploring jazz music. The collection focuses on the classics: the recordings by greats such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis that define the genre.
There are also choice tracks by modern torchbearers like Cassandra Wilson and Wynton Marsalis. The 44-page booklet includes informative notes on each track.
Allman Brothers Band, "Dreams" (Polygram)
This four-disc set released in 1989 does an excellent job of chronicling the Allman Brothers Band from its beginnings to Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts' post-breakup solo careers.
In addition to mandatory selections like "Rambling Man" and the "Whipping Post" from "At Fillmore East," we get a slew of rarities, including cuts by Duane and Gregg from back when they were The Allman Joys and Hour Glass. The greatest treasure is a live, previously unreleased, 20-minute version of "You Don't Love Me" that segues into "Soul Serenade" while featuring guitar hero Duane Allman in top form. This is the box set that earned rave reviews in publications such as the New York Times and prompted the Allman Brothers Band to reunite.
Contemporary artists such as Beck and Elvis Costello contribute to the newly released "Harry Smith Project Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited" (see accompanying story). But we recommend listeners start with the original, which was first released on vinyl in 1952. Music historian Harry Smith's masterpiece finally came out as a six-CD box set in 1998.
The collection is divided into three volumes - Ballads, Social Music and Songs - and features amazing recordings made by artists from Appalachia and the Deep South during he 1920s and '30s. These are the hillbilly, gospel and mountain music selections that spawned the folk revival of the early 1960s. Haunting recordings by The Carter Family, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Dock Boggs are among the many highlights.
Johnny Cash, "Cash Unearthed" (American)
Johnny Cash is one of the few American music greats to go out in style thanks to the spectacular comeback he enjoyed with producer Rick Rubin. The cuts "unearthed" on this five-disc box are every bit as good as the recordings that round out the five proper albums he made with Rubin. Highlights from the first three discs include a duet with the late Joe Strummer on the Bob Marley classic "Redemption Song," a chilling reading of the murder ballad "Banks of the Ohio" and terrific covers of the Neil Young favorites "Pocahontas" and "Heart of Gold.
" Disc four is "The Best of Cash on American" and the last disc is the extraordinary gospel album "My Mother's Hymn Book." The 100 page "text" is insightful interviews with Cash and Rubin conducted by author/Mojo magazine editor Sylvie Simmons.
Eric Clapton, "Crossroads" (Polydor)
Eric Clapton was rock 'n' roll's most deserving recipient of the box set treatment.
By the time the 1980s rolled around the original "guitar god" had recorded with the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes, Bonnie and Delaney and others in addition enjoying a solo career that had also produced a slew of memorable hits. The best of that material is collected on this banner, four-disc set from 1988 that also includes material from an aborted second Derek and the Dominoes album. 1988 release of "Crossroads" brought Like Dylan's "Biograph," Clapton's "Crossroads" also cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard album chart.
Wade Tatangelo, features writer/music critic, can be reached at 745-7051 or wtatangelo@
HeraldToday.com. His blog, "In Tune with Wade," can be found at .
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