Box sets for Christmas

'Tis ;the season for the record industry to be putting out box sets of some of your favorite artists. Here is a list of those we believe can bring you listening pleasure and lots of groovy fun:

1) The Band Academy of Music (live 1971) 4 CDs--I DVD (5.1 surround sound)  Excerpts of this show were previously available on The Band's Rock of Ages. Here we have an expanded version of the four shows The Band played at the Academy of Music in the week leading up to New Year's Eve.  Discs one and two give us every song The Band played during the concert series. Discs three and four are direct from the sound board stereo mix of the New Year's Eve show. The DVD puts the tracks from disc one and two into a 5.1 surround sound mix. There are also two archival film clips from the Dec 30, 1971 show.
  This is a must for fans of The Band. 

2) The Beach Boys "Made in California"  This is a six CD box set with 174 tracks of gorgeous Beach Boys music. Sixty of the tracks have never been released; of these seventeen are live. With the exception of disc number six, the set moves chronologically through the Beach Boys career. This is probably more for collectors than someone looking for a greatest hits collection (there are any number of these available).  Some of the tracks are striped down early takers, others are alternate versions. Still, there's no fluff in this baby and the entire 473 minutes of music are delicious, fun and wonder-filled.

3) Sly and the Family Stone"higher" The last few years have seen the re-issue of all Sly's albums: remastered and expanded.  So what else could there be from a band whose run began in 1967 and ended in 1974?  Well, as it turns out, quite a bit. This four CD set has seventy-seven tracks. And rather than covering the same ground as the previously mentioned re-issues, this box gives us a stunning collection of single mixes, mono mixes and live tracks. Seventeen tracks are unreleased. And the new mixes are powerful and can take some of us old travelers back to the early days of hearing this music as we rode around in vehicles long retired from road service. The remasters give the sound a punch and verve that reinforces our memory that this sound was as radical and revolutionary as we believed forty-some years ago. There is a 104 page booklet with great photos, picture sleeve reproductions and a track by track annotation. Every customer who has bought this returns with rave reviews.

4) Bob Dylan--Bootleg Series #1--Another Self-Portrait 1969-1971 (four CDs)--
When Bob Dylan's Self-Portrait album was first released, most people I know were perplexed. It was accepted that Mr. Dylan was a prankster and always trying to bend the norm.  But these songs: Blue Moon, Let It Be Me, She belongs to Me: what was he getting at? My friends who liked country but had never cared for Dylan loved the album. My friends who loved everything Dylan had done so far, tried hard to like this new side of Bob but felt betrayed and let down.
  So what is up with an issue of material from an album that many fans considered a disappointment?  I can only say that this set bears little resemblance to the music on the original LP and is, in a word, great. It begs the question, with these great tracks available, why did we get the album we got forty years ago. I've heard accounts that Dylan was feuding with his record label and deliberately gave them an inferior product. Sounds funny but who knows.
  David Bromberg plays on a majority of these tracks and his playing is very fine and captures perfectly the traditional feel that was being sought. The alternate cuts and new material occupy two discs and are drawn both from Self-Portrait and the subsequent "New Morning." There is a remastered disc of the original Self-Portrait and a beautifully remastered version of the 1969 Isle of Wight show with The Band backing Mr. Dylan. If you don't want to spring for the box, there is a two CD version with just the alternate material.

5) Van Morrison--Moon Dance (4 CDs)  Van Morrison is one of the most prolific artists in rock and roll history. He is never at a loss for a melody, a memorable lyric or surrounding himself with the most talented musicians in the business. Moon Dance is widely regarded as his master piece (with Astral Weeks a close second, if not a tie.) Songs like And it Stoned Me, Caravan and Into the Mystic have long bee FM radio staples and in forty years sound as mystical and urgent as the day they were laid down. One blemish on the album, however, was that it was never remastered in the CD era and so a low level tape hissing was present in the music. ON this new issue, that problem has been addressed and Moon Dance now sounds beautiful. 
  In addition, a truckload of out takes and alternate takes are presented, allowing us to see the development of the album. There is also a Blue Ray audio  disc that contains a 5.1 high resolution mix and stereo mixes as well 

6) The Grateful Dead--Sunshine Daydream 3 CD--1 DVD set.  Ask any Dead Head worth his salt what is the greatest show the Grateful Dead ever played. The Old Renaissance Faire Grounds in Veneta, Oregon, 8-27-72 will surely be at the very top of the list. After the band's epic European tour of 1972, they were primed, willing and able to deliver the goods night after night in the US of A.  The show is presented in full, including an epic version of Dark Star, which is worth the price alone. But add to that such gems as Playing In the Band, China Cat Sunflower and I Know Your Rider and you'll see why the show is held in such high esteem. And the transfer of the Sunshine Daydream film is beautiful. Although not the complete show, it's a sweet snapshot of The Dead in their youthful glory.

6) Stephen Stills--Carry On--Four CD Box Set  Sometimes Stephen Stills can get lost in the shuffle when people bring up great guitarists. Hendrix, Winter, even his band mate Neil Young always draw oohs and aahs. But Stills' songwriting ability, soulful singing and master fret board work were integral to the success of both The Buffalo Springfield and CSN. Lovingly compiled by Graham Nash and long time tape archivist Joeil Bernstein, Carry on starts with the earliest known tape of Stephen from 1962 singing "Travelin'"  We get such classics as "For What It's Worth" "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" "Love the One You're With" and twenty five unreleased tracks. This is a great set from an oft under appreciated artist.

7) Duane Allman Skydog  Seven CD set--Talk about a monster!  This seven CD set is one of the most thorough retrospectives I have ever come across. From the earliest know recordings of Duane with his band The Escorts through the Allman Joys, the Hourglass right through the Allman Brothers, you won't be disappointed. Filled with lots of unreleased goodies that even the most devoted ABB fan probably hasn't heard. There are too many high lights to list, but his slide guitar work with the Grateful Dead on Sugar Magnolia is a standout. His session work is well represented with such classics as Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" (cover of the wonderful Beatles classic), Boz Scaggs "Loan me a Dime," and "Hey Joe" with king Curtis