Peter Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Single CD category: Winter & Winter is a run-away winner, with an honorable mention to Hatology. Box Set: Many strong contenders here, but my vote goes to Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar Box. Of course Verve has a great many strong contenders. Quote
Noj Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Monk Columbia 3cd--Upon removing the shrinkwrap and pulling out the flimsy cardboard sleeve, all three cds fell out and rolled around on the floor at my feet. The rubber thingies that are glued to the cardboard didn't hold the cds in place worth a damn. I took all three cds and put them in jewel cases, so now the piece of shite is taking up more space than necessary on my shelves. Quote
Brandon Burke Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Evidence's Sun Ra Saturn reissues look pretty awful if you ask me. Quote
Big Wheel Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 The BN Herbie Nichols box. Broke one of the mini jewel cases the first time I pulled it out of the box. I am not a fan of LP-style cardboard either. Quote
etherbored Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 one word: never has a box actually kept me from enjoying it the way this packaging has... -e- Quote
AfricaBrass Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 I figured the Evans box would be the winner... I hate to admit it, but the packaging kept me away. In the non-jazz box set category, I have to nominate the recently released Beatles Capitol box. The artwork is ugly, but the box itself is worse. It is smaller than a regular box set, the cardboard is thin, and when you slide the sleeve out of the box, the contents fall out. Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 The Bill Evans Verve box is the worst, but this comes a close second... Quote
etherbored Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 why the *hell* do artists and designers have to re-invent the wheel seemingly every time out on box sets? we want to keep it very simple and accessible. jewlcases augmented with a nice lavish book inside a cardboard box with a tasteful graphic/photo combination is all it takes to makes us happy and want to buy your product. listen to us - we're your market, -e- --- Quote
Aggie87 Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 The Bill Evans Verve box is the worst, but this comes a close second... Tom - I just saw a "revised" box of this at Fry's the other day. It's in a tall book form, like the re-released Miles boxes. If you're looking for it, it might suit ya better... Quote
AfricaBrass Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 The Bill Evans Verve box is the worst, but this comes a close second... Tom - I just saw a "revised" box of this at Fry's the other day. It's in a tall book form, like the re-released Miles boxes. If you're looking for it, it might suit ya better... I also saw a new version like that of the 3 cd Monk box that Noj mentioned. Quote
RDK Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Box Set: Many strong contenders here, but my vote goes to Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar Box. Of course Verve has a great many strong contenders. Same thing happened to me. So I sold it and bought a promo copy instead. It came in a standard jewel box. Much better! Quote
Brad Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Yup, Verve gets high honors here. Also disappointing but nothing for the worst category are the Fantasy box sets. To cut costs, they've given us little booklets in straight cd cases like the MJQ and Dexter box. I would have liked to see something like the Miles or Coltrane box, a la Mosaic. Quote
neveronfriday Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Box Set: Many strong contenders here, but my vote goes to Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar Box. WhaT#s wrong with that one? I don't have it yet and was thinking of picking it up soon. Cheers! Quote
king ubu Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 The Bill Evans Verve box is the worst, but this comes a close second... Tom - I just saw a "revised" box of this at Fry's the other day. It's in a tall book form, like the re-released Miles boxes. If you're looking for it, it might suit ya better... I also saw a new version like that of the 3 cd Monk box that Noj mentioned. Yes, I saw both of these in long box versions, but I never yet saw a miles in long box version, strangely. The Monk, in my opinion, is a very nice one (the small one). Quote
DrJ Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 deus62 Posted: Dec 1 2004, 03:39 PM QUOTE (Peter @ Dec 1 2004, 08:10 PM) Box Set: Many strong contenders here, but my vote goes to Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar Box. WhaT#s wrong with that one? I don't have it yet and was thinking of picking it up soon. Cheers! Well my friend, while the outside looks kind of nice - a little repro vintage amp - when you pull off the lid, all you see are the CDs literally wedged into slots in regular old gray spongy foam. They're just hanging there in space, no protection, and they easily roll right out onto the floor. By far, hands down the WORST boxed set packaging ever, and certainly the chintzy-est. Quote
Joe Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 I deem Sony and Verve the worst offenders by far. Sony's original THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN RECORDINGS box (odd-shaped book with CD's "plugged" in back) is pretty horrendous. I also think the Verve Pres box is damn unwieldy. Nor am I much into faux wood paneling. Quote
neveronfriday Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 deus62 Posted: Dec 1 2004, 03:39 PM QUOTE (Peter @ Dec 1 2004, 08:10 PM) Box Set: Many strong contenders here, but my vote goes to Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar Box. WhaT#s wrong with that one? I don't have it yet and was thinking of picking it up soon. Cheers! Well my friend, while the outside looks kind of nice - a little repro vintage amp - when you pull off the lid, all you see are the CDs literally wedged into slots in regular old gray spongy foam. They're just hanging there in space, no protection, and they easily roll right out onto the floor. By far, hands down the WORST boxed set packaging ever, and certainly the chintzy-est. Hm. I'll try to get a cheap one and repackage it. Quote
DrJ Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Yeah, I immediately put the discs into those slimline jewel cases and took the booklet out and just store it right next to the discs. But it's crazy to have to do this! Quote
neveronfriday Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 Sony's original THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN RECORDINGS box (odd-shaped book with CD's "plugged" in back) is pretty horrendous. Yeah, and the "slipcase" is so damn tight that you need pliers to get the damn box out. I actually like the booklet though and the overall look. Quote
wesbed Posted December 1, 2004 Report Posted December 1, 2004 (edited) I deem Sony and Verve the worst offenders by far. Sony's original THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN RECORDINGS box (odd-shaped book with CD's "plugged" in back) is pretty horrendous. This isn't a cheap box to purchase. It's really a nice box to look at and to page through. Nice pictures, nice inner liner with the appearance of lace, and nice fabric on the outside of box (although it picks up dust like a somebitch). The disks, however, are housed on each side of the box, on the inner-side of each outer cover. No protective liner, no room for the disks to breathe. Just slide the disks right across the hard paper. If you're lucky, you can get some dust caught between the paper and the disk. If you listen carefully you can hear the dust particles grind against the disk each time a disk is removed/replaced. Edited December 1, 2004 by wesbed Quote
LAL Posted December 2, 2004 Report Posted December 2, 2004 On the Hot 5 & 7 box, quite a few complaints have been made about glue leaking out from the sleeves and getting stuck on the discs. Bird Complete Savoy and Dial Studio set: Not the aesthetics of the box but the storage of discs (what's new?). The cardboard sleeves, with horizontal opening, are made to just fit the CDs to prevent them from rolling out. As a result it takes tremendous effort getting them out. I nearly wanted to cut open the cardboard sleeves to remove the CDs when I first got the set. Resulted in quite a few (minor) scatches on the discs too. Quote
GregK Posted December 2, 2004 Report Posted December 2, 2004 I really like the look of the Coltrane on Impulse! digipaks or whatever they are called, but they get destroyed quickly. My copy of Africa/Brass has a big folded part on the top of the spine (I have no idea how that happened either), my Live at Birdland has a faded, scuffed cover and it looks like the spine is going to let go soon, and my Love Supreme is looking pretty ragged too. And I try to take care of these things, I file them away from other discs on a shelf, all of them together, and I take precautions to try to protect them, but still they get beat-up rapidly. Quote
BruceH Posted December 2, 2004 Report Posted December 2, 2004 Yeah, I immediately put the discs into those slimline jewel cases and took the booklet out and just store it right next to the discs. But it's crazy to have to do this! Not so crazy. You want to have these babies accessable and ready to play. Quote
medjuck Posted December 2, 2004 Report Posted December 2, 2004 Box Set: Many strong contenders here, but my vote goes to Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar Box. WhaT#s wrong with that one? I don't have it yet and was thinking of picking it up soon. Cheers! "Picking it up" is the problem. When you do so the bottom drops out. Quote
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