Which Box Sets do You Regret Buying, and Why?

[northwood]

Which Box Sets do You Regret Buying, and Why?

[JSngry]

5 LPs + various printed materials all in a thick bigass box. HPB wanted just five bucks for it, and hell yeah, five bucks is a Instabuy price for me for something like this. I thought it would be good for a laugh or a lot of laughs, but I've yet to be able to muster the courage to do anything with it but move it to the back of the backroom, so who's laughing now, eh? Sure as fuck isn't me. 

[Teasing the Korean]

I bought a London/Decca film music LP box set because of a rarity:  It contained the Bernard Herrmann The Day the Earth Stood Still suite, but with two cues that were deleted from the suite on The Fantasy Film Worlds of Bernard Herrmann.  One of the two cues was the classic "Klaatu," which was also used frequently in Lost in Space. The problem was that the Decca/London version was played poorly, which is probably the reason it got cut from The Fantasy Film Worlds. 

So, in other words, I bought a box set for two tracks, and they were duds.  At least I didn't pay much for it.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Teasing the Korean

[Larry Kart]

2 hours ago, northwood said:

Which Box Sets do You Regret Buying, and Why?

Not a single one of many, I'm happy to say.

Closest would be, though it's not really a boxed set, a 2-cd collection of four Sam Most albums from the '50s. I like Most's later work on Xanadu, but early Most is mostly twiddling, on flute or clarinet. Pretty damn annoying to tell the truth.

[mhatta]

I always regret buying The Complete Bill Evans On Verve.  Not because of the music (of course it's superb), it's the packaging.  It comes in a steel case, which is supposed to become rusty and degraded.  I think the designer who comes up with this idea should be executed.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

Just now, mhatta said:

I always regret buying The Complete Bill Evans On Verve.  Not because of the music (of course it's superb), it's the packaging.  It comes in a steel case, which is supposed to become rusty and degraded.  I think the designer who comes up with this idea should be executed.

Is that the same idiot who designed the diabolical Billie Holiday on Verve?  A lunchbox with hideous artwork, and the discs fold out accordion style.

[Chuck Nessa]

I bought a Euro PD set called Archie Shepp Early Albums Collection because on the front it says "Includes the complete works of the New York Contemporary Five". As you can see from my review on Amazon, this is BS. I returned it.

[clifford_thornton]

boxed sets: the only regret is not having more time and space to listen to them.

[Rooster_Ties]

That absurd Bill Evans Verve box that was designed to rust — and get rust all over your hands (and clothes) more and more, increasingly more, with every passing year.

I finally traded it off after about 5 years.

[Ken Dryden]

My father came up with a brilliant solution to the rusty Bill Evans Verve box: clean it with Bon Ami. It removed the rust and it seems to have stabilzed it.

 

[GA Russell]

Am I the only one to accidentally buy something twice?

In my case, it was the Elis Regina OAS.

[tranemonk]

Honestly... I know it's sacrilegious to say this but every Mosaic Armstrong box (except the most recent one which I didn't buy). The ONLY Louis Armstrong I can get into is his dates with Ella. No matter how many times I listen and try, he just doesn't work for me. I get his importance - I just can't get into his sound. I also regret getting the Bing Crosby set (mainly because I wish it was like 4 discs and not the 8 or 10 it was).

[Face of the Bass]

Pretty much any time I bought a Mosaic box based off of the fact that it was Mosaic rather than really wanting the music. Mosaic has done so many forgettable (from my perspective) sets. 

[felser]

Leonard Cohen Columbia big box.  

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, felser said:

Leonard Cohen Columbia big box.  

Why??

[Dub Modal]

Yeah, the Mosaic Condon/Freeman Decca/Commodore set.

The Freeman material - and really just the trio stuff - is all I really enjoy there. 

[felser]

6 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Why??

I decided I really don't like him. And I can't get decent resale value on the set.  Would love to trade it off.  

[Brad]

The Woody Herman Mosaics. Not a big fan of his singing. Sold one but haven’t gotten around to selling the others. 

[Ken Dryden]

12 hours ago, felser said:

I decided I really don't like him. And I can't get decent resale value on the set.  Would love to trade it off.  

I have never been a fan of Cohen's vocals or "Suzanne," which many jazz vocalists can't resist, for some reason.

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I have never been a fan of Cohen's vocals or "Suzanne," which many jazz vocalists can't resist, for some reason.

I've always liked Leonard Cohen. Different strokes apparently.

[JSngry]

I like him, but perhaps not a box set amount of like.

Has anybody put out the Night Music performance of him and Sonny Rollins? That and Death Of A Ladies Man are all I would really want. Everything else...plentry respet, just not a lot of bonding, not a whole lot anyway, certainly not a box set's worth.

[T.D.]

2 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I have never been a fan of Cohen's vocals or "Suzanne," which many jazz vocalists can't resist, for some reason.

+1. No interest in a Cohen album, let alone box set. FWIW, YMMV, of course.

Back on topic, I don't regret any jazz box set acquisitions. I do regret the 2 classical mega-boxes I purchased: Sony Vivarte 1 and HM Lumieres. The content of both is outstanding, but it turns out that many discs go unplayed, and the physical boxes just feel like overkill (especially Vivarte, which is 60 single discs; Lumieres has a number of opera/vocal sets).

[Rooster_Ties]

13 hours ago, Brad said:

The Woody Herman Mosaics. Not a big fan of his singing. Sold one but haven’t gotten around to selling the others. 

The only Woody Herman I have is the 3cd Select — and while I don’t mind it — it’s also probably not something I would replace for $50 if my copy ever got lost/damage.

Lou Donaldson Blue Note 57-60 Sessions Mosaic is pretty much the same for me. Nice enough, but not something I’ve spun more than a couple times in the last 10 years (when I got it, used).

[Ken Dryden]

I can't think of any jazz box set that I have regretted purchasing. I've griped about the poor design of several of them already, but the music contents and generally, the liner notes and photos have been excellent. At least no one I can think of hired Stanley Crouch or Thom Jurek to write the notes for any of them...

[Dub Modal]

Re Herman Mosaics, I’d straight up trade my Condon/Freeman set for that Herman Mars box.