The end of the Box Set.
This year’s christmas box set selection was the poorest in living memory. What am I supposed to buy myself for christmas? Aside from a couple of overpriced and stingy offerings from the Rolling Stones, a nice box from 10cc (that I can’t get excited about), all that seemed to be out was a super deluxe version of Slowhand by Eric Clapton.
The box set craze started 25 years ago with “Biograph” an extended greatest hits set from Bob Dylan. A good box set would include all of the band’s hits, select album tracks and a number of unreleased tracks and live cuts. At least 7 or 8 of the latter would be required to satisfy completists (who already have all the albums). My favorite of these was “Message in a box” by the Police; it included everything.
In the late 90s and early 00s, I mopped up dozens of boxsets: but didn’t spend a lot of time listening to them. Some bands (e.g. the Byrds) released more than 1 set, following the first (and best) remastering phase between 1997 and 2003. Eventually, after what seemed to be decades, the mother of all seta “Archives” vol. 1 by Neil Young was released. I bought the blu-ray version and grumbled that I had bought much of the fresh material (Canterbury/Massey Hall) previously; released as teasers. More importantly, the box that contained Archives was huge; the real material was in a slot inside the big box. Just where did Neil and the marketing department at Reprise records think we were going to store this beast? Similarly the overpriced and generally underwhelming box “Grr” by the Stones is a big ugly mess of a thing. I would have trouble finding a place for it in the attic. <Hint to box-makers – we like the LP form factor; also fill all that space with stuff not air.>
Things have shifted along over the past 5 years. We have had the Deluxe Edition cash-in by the record companies. These usually include one or two additional discs of demos, alternate takes or live material. Then they morphed into the Super Deluxe boxsets. Some of these, such as “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos, were truely wonderful. Some of these, such as “The Wall Immersion Edition,” by Pink Floyd, were not. In fact, DSOTM immersion was one of the best boxes that I have ever bought; the Wall was the worst. Nothing new, no 24 bit, little or no video, no vinyl:WTF?
What has really killed off the box set is the huge devaluation of the individual CD. This started with British newspapers giving away free CDs. In some cases these were nicely remastered versions (I got Atlantic Crossing by Rod Stewart for free in the Daily Mail; beautifully mastered). Then the motherload struck: the Original Albums series. Suddenly one could buy a box of albums (usually 5) for less than 20 euro. Of course the covers are the crappy cardboard with illegible typing and no liner notes. I bought load of these sets – often for only one or two CDs (having previously purchased the others). On the bright side, a full set of Joni Mitchell and Green Day albums, in beautiful packaging, could be had for less than 30 Euro. Why cannot the OAS have such good packaging? The greatest of these sets was, of course, the Miles Davis complete 
Columbia album set – which was truly fantastic value for money. Columbia have also released a couple of Jazz album sets (both excellent), and now the complete Johnny Cash. I have bought 3 or 4 large collections of classical music in big boxes – including 2 from Deutsch Grammaphon. The sum effect of buying these great box sets is that I now really resent paying more than 5 euro/dollars for any catalogue recordings. Then there is the rip off situation. “Never mind the Bollocks” was recently re-issued in Deluxe Edition. I read a review that gave the reissue 4 stars on the basis that the set included the original demos of the album, as well as the fairly polished 1977 original; remastered. Unfortunately for your 20 euro/£13 what you got was a badly remastered (virtually all post 2005 remasters are too bright and too loud – the previous late 90s remaster was wonderful) and included a Swedish concert that was previously released with “Kiss this”. Where were the original demos: instead of packaging these with the Deluxe Edition – you had to cough up 100 euro/£80 for the Super Deluxe Edition – just to get disc 2. I don’t want the tour diary and all that other crap – I want the Dave Goodman demos. What a load of bollocks!
The bottom line is the era of box sets is over. The music industry has milked the Deluxe Edition for all it’s worth, and there is little left in the catalogue. At some stage, I am sure, Columbia will re-release all of the Dylan albums with the outtakes from the Bootleg sessions, and EMI will re-release all of the Beatles albums with the outtakes from Anthology and various bootlegs. Like the sucker I am, I will continue to buy them, hoping that they will become collectable someday. But this is an ever decreasing circle. Presumably, the music industry will eventually use high resolution as a way of milking the catalogue for one last time (after the current vinyl craze dies off); sooner or later the suckers will say – Enough!
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