Four-Star Boxes

Have a Nice Decade — The ’70s Pop Culture Box

This box is a sight to behold, starting with the hideous green shag carpeting that adorns the cover. 9 1/2 hours of music and 160 tracks on seven CD’s. Full of ’70s classics like “Got to Give it Up” by Marvin Gaye or “Wild World” by Cat Stevens. Also, really bad cheese classics like “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers or “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy. Instrumentals include the Deliverance theme, “Dueling Banjos” and “Love’s Theme.” The set includes several #1’s from the tackiest decade in history. There is also a 90-page booklet that’s full of all kinds of ’70s history and trivia. And, an added bonus, each disc has about five or six sound bites from the ’70s, from Nixon telling us that he “is not a crook” to the Gerald Ford pardon of Nixon. Also in the sound bites are reports on streaking, the ozone layer and a distress call from Apollo 13. A little on the pricey side because of the seven discs and the elaborate packaging. Worth every cent. 

John Lennon — Anthology

A four-CD set with 94 previously unreleased tracks. A good 35 to 40% of these tracks have probably not been available to bootleggers before. Even the most avid collector will find some surprises here. Rehearsals, out takes and demos aplenty. Bits and pieces of life in the John-Yoko-Sean household. A humorous highlight is the “Sean’s Little Help Vignette,” where Sean tries to talk John into playing “With a Little Help From My Friends” and John has no clue what he’s talking about. Another highlight is the newly-orchestrated version of “Grow Old With Me” that John never got a chance to finish.

Bruce Springsteen — Tracks

Another four-CD set, this one with 66 tracks, including 56 previously unreleased and 10 songs that have been available before as B-sides. This is the debut on CD for all 66 songs. Another case where probably even the bootleggers haven’t had their hands on most of this. Up to 1/3 has probably not been heard before. Nine of the 14 tracks on disc four are new. Just like the Lennon box, too many highlights to mention. But, my two faves are the “Born in the U.S.A.” demo and a brand new track, just recorded, called “Back in Your Arms.” 

Queen — The Crown Jewels

Here is a reason for Queen fans to live another day. This box has all eight of the first CDs from the self-titled debut to “The Game.” 90 tracks total, remastered from the original U.K. masters. There is also a 92-page book and the majority of the artwork has been restored from the original albums. The CD’s are housed in a velvet box. And, oh yeah…the important part! The nude bicycle poster has returned.

Nuggets — Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968

Four CDs, 118 tracks. Full of fuzz, acid rock and flower power anthems. Garage music. Compiled by Lenny Kaye who was a member of the ’60s bands The Zoo and The Vandals. He later became a part of the Patti Smith Group and helped create the albums Horses and Radio Ethiopia. This set that he helped put together is absolutely essential for garage and indie rock fans. In this set, you can find the beginnings of Ted Nugent (Amboy Dukes), Todd Rundgren (The Nazz) and Warren Zevon (Lymie & Cybelle).

Genesis — Archives 1967-1975

Four CDs, 52 tracks and just over four hours of music. This set covers some of the time frame that Peter Gabriel was with the band. The first CD is a rare live set that was recorded on January 24, 1975. It’s called “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” and includes the songs “In the Cage” and “Back in N.Y.C.” The second disc is more of the concert and includes “The Waiting Room” and “It.” The third CD collects more live recordings from SLUG various times and locations, most of which have not been released before. The last disc is made up of unreleased demos and outtakes. This set also includes an 80 page book.

Tommy Boy Box Sets — Perfect Beats and Greatest Beats

The four volumes of Greatest Beats will show why Tommy Boy has been alive and kicking for all these years. A history of Tommy Boy funk and hiphop with Coolio, Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifa and Afrika Bambaataa. Perfect Beats is another four-CD set which has a history of electronic and underground dance music. Gives you a pretty good history of where our current electronica comes from. Tracks by New Order, Yaz, Kraftwerk and Shannon. The thing really great about the Tommy Boy boxes is that you can buy these as a four-CD set, or you can buy any of them separately.

Joy Division — Heart and Soul

This box set is currently only available as an import. Four-CD set with 81 tracks. The complete albums of Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Still, Substance and the Peel Sessions are all here. All four tracks from a rare EP, An Ideal for Living, are included, “Warsaw,” “No Love Lost,” “Leaders of Men” and “Failures.” The tracks from a rare flexidisc, “Komakino,” “Incubation” and “As You Said” are also included. Two huge highlights are the tracks “Ceremony” and “In a Lonely Place,” which were re-recorded by New Order after fan Curtis killed himself. —T.R.

Read more obscure and half-forgotten gems in the underground archives:
Locals Only
Written in Blood: February 1997

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