Boxed sets for ultra-fans, options for the rest of us

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Who says you can’t have it all?

All as in everything an artist recorded for a record label (or labels) packaged into one pricey boxed set.

Or all as in every note recorded while creating an album.

These collections may have special merit for the serious fans, the completists who have to have it all. But there are options. List prices are shown; most are discounted in stores and online. Here’s a look:

Paul Simon, The Complete Albums Collection, Legacy, 15 CDs, $149.98

What you get: His 12 studio albums and two live ones, which cross three labels. It starts with 1965’s The Paul Simon Songbook and ends with 2011’s So Beautiful or So What.

Extras: Bonus tunes not on original albums, and a 56-page book with an essay by music historian Ashley Kahn and photos.

Key songs: Lots, but particularly “The Sound of Silence,”“American Tune,” “Slip Slidin’ Away,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” “The Obvious Child,” “Late in the Evening,” “The Rhythm of the Saints”

Don’t want it all? Over the Bridge of Time: A Paul Simon Retrospective (Legacy, $11.99) is a single-CD, 20 song compilation of solo Simon and Simon & Garfunkel tunes.

The Band, Live at the Academy of Music 1971, Capitol, four CDs and one DVD, $109.99

What you get: One of the rock era’s best live albums, 1972’s Rock of Ages, came from these concerts. The Band was at its creative and performing peak. Allen Toussaint’s horn section enhanced these performances.

Extras: 48-page book with unreleased photos; essays by Robbie Robertson, members of Mumford & Sons and Jim James.

Note: The first two discs have one version of each of the 29 songs played over four nights. The last two are the New Year’s Eve concert. Bob Dylan joins the group for several tunes. The DVD is not footage from that concert; there was none. Music is presented with photographs and a few performance videos.

Key songs: “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Life Is a Carnival,” “The Weight,” “King Harvest”

Don’t want it all? A two-CD version lists at $19.99. In 2001, Rock of Ages (Capitol) was reissued with bonus tracks; 28 tunes on one CD ($17.99).

Donny Hathaway, Never My Love: The Anthology, Rhino, four CDs, $49.98

What you get: Greatest hits, duets with Roberta Flack, lots of unreleased studio material (including the killer title tune) and previously unreleased live performances from 1971. Hathaway was a greatly underappreciated singer and songwriter.

Key songs: “Where Is the Love,” “You Were Meant for Me,” “The Ghetto,” “Never My Love,” “Memory of Our Love”

Extras: Booklet has interview with Roberta Flack.

Don’t want it all? The Donny Hathaway Collection has 15 songs (Atlantic, $11.99).

John Mellencamp, 1978-2012, Mercury/Island, 19 CDs, $149.99

What you get: All of his albums, including the out-of-print film soundtrack Falling From Grace, which Mellencamp acted in and directed. Mellencamp is still a potent songwriter and performer, a restless explorer of America’s cultural and emotional landscape.

Extras: Bonus tunes on 12 albums.

Key songs: “Jack and Diane,” “Rain on the Scarecrow,” “Paper in Fire,” “Authority Song”

Don’t want it all? Words and Music: John Mellencamp’s Greatest Hits (Island, $19.99) has two CDs of his tunes.

Bob Dylan, The Complete Album Collection, Vol. 1, 47 CDs, Legacy, $299.98

What you get: Every album Dylan recorded for Columbia Records, from 1962’s Bob Dylan through 2012’s Tempest, including live albums and “Side Tracks,” a set of previously released songs from soundtracks and compilations.

Extras: Hardcover book with liner notes for each album, an introduction from Bill Flanagan and lots of photos.

Key songs: Lots, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Sweetheart Like You,” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”

Don’t want it all? The Essential Bob Dylan (Legacy, $13.99) is a decent overview on two CDs.

Frank Sinatra, Duets 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, Capitol, two vinyl albums, two CDs, one DVD, $69.98

What you get: Remastered versions of Sinatra’s Duets and Duets II albums, which teamed the American music legend with Julio Iglesias, Barbra Streisand, Luther Vandross, Natalie Cole and others. Unreleased duets with Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson and Tom Scott are included.

Extras: A 20-page booklet; CDs of Duets and Duets II with bonus cuts; a DVD with press kits, promo videos and new interviews.

Key songs: “One for My Baby and One More for the Road” with Kenny G, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” with Bono, “Theme from New York, New York” with Tony Bennett

Don’t want it all? A two-CD Best of Duets ($29.99) and a single disc version ($13.99) are available.

The Beach Boys, Made in California, Capitol, six CDs, $149.99

What you get: A thorough band history with the hits, but it emphasizes intriguing or obscure mixes over original versions. Lots of alternative mixes, instrumentals, radio commercials and live recordings. Not for a casual fan.

Extras: Some unreleased Dennis Wilson songs; the set is designed to resemble a high school annual with memorabilia, band members’ memories, photos and more.

Key songs: the wonderful, unreleased “California Feeling,” “Good Vibrations,” “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surf’s Up,” “In My Room”

Don’t want it all? Greatest Hits: 50 Big Ones (Capitol, $32.99), The Beach Boys Greatest Hits (Capitol, $13.99)

Van Morrison, Moondance: Deluxe Edition, Rhino, four CDs, one Blu-ray audio,$69.98

What you get: A remastered version of the 1970 album, multiple takes from the recording sessions (eight versions of “Caravan” for example) and an unreleased tune,“I Shall Sing”

Extras: The booklike packaging opens with a story by Janet Planet that was on the original album and liner notes by Elliot Scheiner, the original album’s engineer. The various takes on “Into the Mystic” are so interesting it leaves one wondering if the best version reached the original album.

Key songs: “Moondance,” “Into the Mystic,” “Caravan”

Don’t want it all? Moondance Expanded Edition is two CDs (Rhino, $24.99)

The Animals, The Animals: The Mickie Most Years and More, Real Gone Music, five CDs, $99.99

What you get: Th e group’s first four U.S. albums on CD for the first time, each with bonus songs. Remastered from first-generation, monophonic master tapes. Singer Eric Burdon and the band had a real affinity for the blues.

Extras: Sixteen bonus tunes, including the group’s first release, a four-song EP (1963); liner notes by Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke; a T-shirt.

Key songs: “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “The House of the Rising Sun,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Boom Boom”

Don’t want it all? Retrospective (ABKCO, $18.99).

Style, Pages 49 on 12/22/2013