It seems like I buy more box sets these days than anything else. Especially as we get nearer to Christmas there seems to be a tempting set or two released every week. Just yesterday I got the new box set reissue of Porcupine Tree’s 2007 career-peak Fear Of A Blank Planet. Loads to take in here: the album, documentary, bonus tracks, radio sessions, live stuff etc… So far, I can say that the album sounds superb, the documentary is very interesting and the packaging is very deluxe.
But all this box set activity has got me casting my mind back to a time when a box set purchase was just an annual treat, if that, and what my earliest box set purchases were.
Might as well start at the beginning so I looked out the oldest one I’ve got: Iron Maiden’s The First Ten Years. Released in 1990, my copy is not much to look at any more as it’s missing the lid but it’s still a worthwhile 10CD set of the band’s classic singles. And as a bonus it has the entertaining Listen With Nicko spoken word series from the band’s drummer Nicko McBrain. Possibly the first metal podcast ever? Anyway, I stuck on the first disc which features the Running Free and Sanctuary singles, the highlight of which was a barnstorming live version of Drifter.
The Maiden set is sadly bereft of any reading material which is a shame as one of my favourite features of a box set is a good book. That got me rummaging around for my copy of Free’s Songs Of Yesterday box from 2000. This was a very good box set for the time, comprised almost entirely of unreleased recordings and alternate versions. But it sprang to mind because it also had a particularly good book and I’ve had a great time today reading that and listening to the first two discs of the set. Phil Sutcliffe had written an excellent history of the band for Mojo magazine in the late 90s and expanded it here for the box set. It’s a fascinating read about a talented, tortured band.
It’s been a fun weekend of listening and reading with a wee bit of nostalgia too. I think I’ll be giving Cheap Trick’s Sex, America, Cheap Trick from 1996 a whirl next. Got any recent box set purchases or any memories of your first ones? Pandora’s Box? Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B? The Misfits? All belters.
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 
Great post, Scott. With you all the way re the proliferation of (usually expensive) box sets. I’ve paid a bomb of some that have delighted for months and others that sit, weighing down the shelves, like a box full of rusted Mecanno.
This is a conversational question… Do you distinguish between boxes that contain the original albums (eg: the Wilson Yes remix box from a couple of years ago) and the expansive compilation sets (usually CD) like the great-looking Free book above?
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I feel like the compilation sets are less prevalent now? Seems like it’s multiple original album sets (like the Focus one) or a specific album expanded out (like the recent Aphrodite’s Child 666 reissue). I like them all but probably gravitate towards the original album sets as I’m more likely to listen to those regularly. I’ve had good experiences with the Focus, Pentangle, VDGG sets in recent years. I’ve really loved the ones Tull have been doing where it’s a single album with lots of excellent bonus stuff that you actually want to listen to more than once! Any preference yourself?
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While you are pondering that question, it gives me time to search the dusty shelves of memory for my first box set. Let me wander into the music room…
Gee, it’s hard to remember. I’m pretty sure the Beatles CD album set in the roll top box (1988) was one of the first. It was the first time I’d owned the complete Fabs set. Springsteen’s 3CD Live / 1975-85 box was early too. I rather like the LP-sized 4 CD boxes, such as the Clapton and a marvellous BB King set. I recently picked up the Modern Jazz Quartet box in this style.
One of the first of those almost-DVD-sized booklet sets was Steve Winwood “The Finer Things” (1995); that was a beaut collection. Janis, too (1993). Shit, this is getting embarrassing; better stop.
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Interesting. The Beatles one sounds familiar and I remember the Springsteen one being quite a big deal. The 90s does seem to have been where these kinds of releases kicked into gear?
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Yep, it does look like that. The different physical presentations over the years are fascinating (and really annoying in terms of storage!). There are some outliers, too. Like the Talking Heads long-form book, or the Hunters and Collectors set of drawers.
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Great stuff Scott. That Maiden set I have never seen before but my buddy had a VHS tape I believe titled The First 10 Years By Maiden. Cheap Trick is a great box as well. Have you checked out Ross Warners new book on CT? CT from Bars to the Budokan and Beyond is a good read. Check it out..
My two recent box sets have been The Tragically Hip (Up To Here) on CD and I also scooped the VH F.U.C.K box set as it was half price on Amazon. I didn’t need another vinyl copy of the studio album but I wanted the 91 live show which is fantastic and it’s LIVE….lol…
Friggin reissues….haha
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Yeah that’s right there was a First Ten Years video too… It was a bit meh. Didn’t know about the CT book, sounds interesting.
Good scores on the Hip and VH. I never pulled the trigger on the VH but might still… I think the live set is getting a separate vinyl release? If it any good?
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Yes the live show is great. It was a free show in Dallas as when they played there in 88 they cut the show short so Sam said they would go back and play a freebie.
I think they were playing at noon or something but it’s a total live performance and it’s worth owning.
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Very tempting. Might pick it up in the new year if it’s still around then.
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I’m sure it will still be around come the new year
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I think the first box set I got (as a gift for Xmas) was Metallica’s Live Shit: Binge & Purge. That was quite the mammoth amount of material at the time: 3 CDs, 3 VHS and a 96-page book. I still get all the nostalgia pangs when I see it today all these years later.
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Nice one, I forgot all about that. I never bought it cause the VHS wouldn’t play in UK players. I had to wait until the DVD version came out in the mid 2000s. The Justice concert on that is phenomenal. Great box!
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There was a UK version on PAL! That’s the one I got. Well… my Mum got for me!
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Oh wow, I didn’t know about that one.
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Really enjoyed this one HMO
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You got the first 10 years!!! Nice!
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