21 CD box of Art Ensemble of Chicago on ECM

[mgraham333]

I found everything in this box in Amazon Music except - The Third Decade.

I still like having the physical product though.

I made a playlist on Amazon Music - AEC Box

Edited November 28, 2018 by mgraham333

[felser]

Got my shipping notice from ImportCDs yesterday, so it's available now.  

[Harbour]

Has anyone got this yet, am really tempted by it but waiting to see what the packaging is like, is it a hard shell box, how are the CDs packaged, what’s the book like etc 

[Adam]

I have received it.

The box is ok, a heavier plastic.  If hard shell is like a DVD case: it is not that hard, just a firmer cardboard.  The booklet is fine.  The individual discs are uniform cardboard, black text on white.  Original album cover art has been reproduced in b&w in the booklet and not on each record.  There is no color ink anywhere except some red on the box.  The booklet reproduces original notes if there were any, and has new short essays or notes or memories for some albums but not all, plus full production notes. I guess I could take a picture or two later. Overall, I would say the production matches the price point.  I have yet to listen to any to comment on mastering.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Adam
update on color ink & hard shell issues

[felser]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

I have received it.

The box is ok, a heavier plastic.  I don't know what hard shell means.  The booklet is fine.  The individual discs are uniform cardboard, black text on white.  Original album cover art has been reproduced in b&w in the booklet and not on each record.  There is no color ink anywhere.  The booklet reproduces original notes if there were any, and has new short essays or notes or memories for some albums but not all, plus full production notes. I guess I could take a picture or two later. Overall, I would say the production matches the price point.  I have yet to listen to any to comment on mastering.

I also received it from ImportCD's today.  Description as above, and I have not listened either.  But at under $4 per disc, I have no complaints.  

[Adam]

Trying to upload images.  My images are all below 100 kb but not matter what I do, it just has a message saying that the maximum I can upload is 102.4 kb.  Even just for one image of mine, 44 kb, it shows that message and won't upload. What's an alternative solution?

here they are on Flickr

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmuJrtyc

Edited December 4, 2018 by Adam
added link

[Harbour]

Thanks! Looks like a decent package overall, shame they couldn’t have used the original artwork on covers though

[BFrank]

I got mine. It's budget all-cardboard packaging ... but considering the price, I'm not surprised OR bothered. Happy to have ALL these albums together!

[Adam]

Ack - I retract my prior statement.  near the start of the booklet they have a section called Artwork which DOES have color reproductions of the original covers.

They did make some effort to gather some texts.  For example, they have a few pages from Jack DeJohnette's book to use as text on one of his albums.  More substantial are four essays at different points by Steve Lake, Craig Taborn, George Lewis, and Vijay Iyer.  There are clippings of reviews and other b&w photos scattered throughout the booklet.

[CJ Shearn]

I ordered mine directly from ECM as they had a special deal for journalists, so it should be here in a few weeks.  I want to hear a bunch of this music and review the box set, but there are albums in the set I've wanted to hear for a while like Divine Love, and I've wanted a copy of New Directions in Europe for a while.  I did review Bells For The South Side when released.  The pictures of the box, the style looks like that of the two big Jarrett boxes for Sun Bear and Live At the Blue Note.

Edited December 5, 2018 by CJ Shearn

[greggery peccary]

I don't think that this has been mentioned, but my set was numbered as 2133 out of 6,000.

[Chuck Nessa]

12 minutes ago, greggery peccary said:

I don't think that this has been mentioned, but my set was numbered as 2133 out of 6,000.

Never noticed this. Mine is 4996.

[felser]

Mine did not get assigned a number, shows as "     /6000".  I should run over to the Hoffman site, where it no doubt would be hailed a great collector's item (as is every version of every CD ever made).

[Adam]

Where do I look for the number?

[Chuck Nessa]

26 minutes ago, Adam said:

Where do I look for the number?

Turn it over.

[kh1958]

No. 3231. An excellent number.

[JSngry]

2145 - If anybody has 2142, look out. Having three two-digit multiples of seven within the space of a four-digit number itself that adds up to 3 x 3 (aka 9) is power I'd like to have for myself, thank you.

[CJ Shearn]

Got mine yesterday morning, and it's numbered 3,496/6,000.  Up to disc 1 of Urban Bushmen  and this is my first real introduction to AEoC outside of hearing some of There's A Jackson In Your House, and Bap-tizum. I'm loving it.  Think I'll get thru to The Third Decade before bed.  The percussion sections of "Folkus" and "Bush Magic" are great. The "issues" some people over at Hoffman are having with the disc packaging and crushed spines, honestly is silly.  I'm a collector too as we all are, but I laughed reading their reactions.  Yeah a few of the disc spines are crooked in my set, but you can get them to straighten out, and by squeezing the mouth of the jackets the discs come out easily without damage.  I am very happy to be able to hear Divine Love, New Directions and New Directions in Europe for the first time and although I liked Bells From The Southside and gave it a good review, after hearing all these discs it'll put it in better context and my appreciation will grow, I think.

[BFrank]

Enjoying a lot myself, so far. GLAD I made the investment.

As far as numbering, mine is like Felser's: "  /6000". 

[BFrank]

I just realized that I’m missing the Leo Smith disk (#5). The cover is here, but no disk. Amazon will send a replacement. 

Anyone else have this happen?

[bluesoul]

https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/12/this-thing-never-stops-roscoe-mitchell-and-phillip-greenlief-in-conversation/

[CJ Shearn]

7 hours ago, BFrank said:

I just realized that I’m missing the Leo Smith disk (#5). The cover is here, but no disk. Amazon will send a replacement. 

Anyone else have this happen?

No, but now that you mentioned it, I went to check the remaining discs and they are all there, not even a quarter through the set yet.  But the doubles do have minor scuffing/surface scratches for me b/c both discs tend to want to slide out  on top of each other in  one pocket.  They play/ripped fine so no problem.  Last night before I ripped it to my hard drive, disc 1 of Urban Bushmen slid out of the jacket onto the floor, thankfully label side down, but the discs do slide out of the jackets  VERY easy.  Be very careful removing them.

[BFrank]

I got the replacement set already ... unbelievable! Everything seems to be there. I checked each cover to make sure there was a disk inside, AND that it matched. As to CJ's comment, the slip covers ARE very loose and the CDs can fall out easily.

BTW this box IS numbered (3286), unlike the previous one. Maybe THAT's why the disk was missing? 

[felser]

2 minutes ago, BFrank said:

I got the replacement set already ... unbelievable! Everything seems to be there. I checked each cover to make sure there was a disk inside, AND that it matched. As to CJ's comment, the slip covers ARE very loose and the CDs can fall out easily.

BTW this box IS numbered (3286), unlike the previous one. Maybe THAT's why the disk was missing? 

All 21 disks are present in my unnumbered set.  Though I haven't played them or even removed them from the sleeves yet.  My set was direct from Importcds.

[Adam]

I have #4160, direct from import CDs.  All the discs are present.