Hey Physical Media Lovers! Original Album Classics, Original Album Series (Budget Mini-LP Album Box Sets): Search & Destroy

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One of the coolest things about these waning days of the Physical Media-era and the "Throw Everything At The Wall And See What Sticks" approach utilized by some major label catalog divisions re:selling product to those who still buy it is the advent of these cheapie little box sets collecting 4 or five catalog albums on cd in mini-LP jackets & slipcase from an artist or genre.

Earlier this evening I was at Barnes & Noble, where I found they are currently offering a number of Warner Music "Original Album Series" (Sony calls their version "Original Album Classics") for $9.99 each (that's $2 an album, and a discount of over 60% from what they quote as list), covering performers like ZZ Top, Little Feat, Yes, Randy Newman, John Coltrane, and Emmylou Harris among others. I picked up the Bonnie Raitt set pictured above, which really worked out for me as I had been planning on ordering the currently OOP on its own Green Light for about as much this whole set. Many of these sets a baited with otherwise OOP titles

The downside of the Warner sets is they are always shorn of whatever bonus material they added to other editions of these titles. And sometimes too, they don't use the best masters available. OTOH, Sony usually includes extra material whenever the title has been previously issued that way, although naturally you still lose any liner notes, aside from whatever was on the back covers of the LPs, as the booklets are 86'd for these collections.

I haven't picked up that many of these, but between what I have and know about, I can get the ball rolling with these:

Search:

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Album Series, which has there first five albums sounding about as good as they ever will on CD. Pretty good one-stop shopping for this band.

Bonnie Raitt Album Series: I haven't gotten deep into this one, which has her run from Streetlights to Green Light, but it sounds like these are sourced from the early 2000s remasters, which just had the original artwork restored and weren't laden with new notes or extra tracks. All it appears you lose are the jewel case packaging and the HD CD pressing quality.

Destroy:

ZZ Top Album Series, which I don't have, but I'm pretty sure contains the old remixed versions of Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres & Fandango!, along with the OG CD of Eliminator (the other title in this one is Deguello). Save up your money for the Complete Studio Albums 1970-90 albums box instead.

Little Feat Album Series: Their first five albums, which are better heard on their Complete Warner Years box, which is worth the extra money.

Elvis Presley Original Album Classics Vol.1 (pictured above): Sony axed the bonus cuts from three of the albums. Seeing as these were essential singles as opposed to remixes/alternate takes, and that you can score the cuts-augmented versions of the albums for cheap, this is an easy pass.

Entire Slowdive catalogue, cheers

I mentioned buying this on a Louvin Brothers thread a few months ago:

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I got through a couple of LPs, put it aside, haven't gone back. It just felt like the same song over and over again--sorry, Louvin Brothers worshippers. Never played the 30 or 40 vinyl box sets I own much either. If there is such a thing, I don't have a box-set approach to listening. (But I am a completist when it comes to acquiring music--go figure.)

I bought me a Cheap Trick version of this and by fuck are they ever overrated (apart from first album and choice cuts on In Color and Heaven Tonight)

Entire Slowdive catalogue, cheers

minus the EP tracks and "Some Velvet Morning" :(

Looking it up now, it looks like that Slowdive set is a good example of Sony cutting corners.

Ah shit.

I love these! I own the following Warner ones:

Black Oak Arkansas (s/t; Keep the Faith; If an Angel Came to See You, Would You Make Her Feel at Home?; High on the Hog; Street Party)
The Cars (s/t; Candy-O; Panorama; Shake It Up; Heartbeat City)
Ministry (Twitch; The Land of Rape and Honey; The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste; In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (Live); Psalm 69)
Pantera (Cowboys From Hell; Vulgar Display of Power; Far Beyond Driven; The Great Southern Trendkill; Reinventing the Steel)
Wilson Pickett (In the Midnight Hour; The Exciting Wilson Pickett; The Wicked Pickett; The Sound of Wilson Pickett; I'm in Love)
Ratt (Out of the Cellar; Invasion of Your Privacy; Dancing Undercover; Reach for the Sky; Detonator)
Testament (The Legacy; The New Order; Practice What You Preach; Souls of Black; The Ritual)
Dwight Yoakam (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.; Hillbilly Deluxe; Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room; If There Was a Way; This Time)

I also have an RCA Sonny Rollins box with The Bridge, Our Man in Jazz, What's New, Sonny Meets Hawk, and The Standard Sonny Rollins. Three of those five have bonus tracks appended.

I also have a bunch of slightly more deluxe "complete discography" boxes:

Black Sabbath
the Eagles
Dexter Gordon (Columbia albums)
Mahavishnu Orchestra (only the original lineup; comes with a previously unreleased disc of bonus live stuff)
Obituary
Woody Shaw (Columbia albums)
Van Halen
Weather Report (Columbia albums 1970-75)
Yes (the discs in this one include all the bonus tracks from the 2003-4 reissues)
ZZ Top

Jazz fans should note that the Cam Jazz label has been reissuing the Black Saint and Soul Note catalogs in boxes like these, too; I have sets by Bill Dixon (9 CDs), the David Murray Octet (5 CDs) and Henry Threadgill (7 CDs, including some by Air). I had one by Muhal Richard Abrams, but I got rid of it - bought it unheard and just didn't like his music. But the remastering job is great and the prices are really hard to argue with.

http://i.imgur.com/PEGAjId.jpg

this is unimpeachable even though I mostly just listen to the Blues & Roots disc over and over

the Eagles

I took part in a thread once that talked me out of that one toot suite.

That Cars one is interesting in that it's the currently the only way you can get Panorama on cd. The OOP remaster is getting pricey.

I'd like to grab that Mingus set, mostly because I used to own the old Passions of a Man set and foolishly sold it.

Roberta Flack's Original Album Series is pretty good, especially since it includes Quiet Fire, her third album, which has been long out of print on CD and is quite pricey these days. Though the compilation inexplicably omits Chapter Two, Flack's second album (the box has albums number 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6), even though it's possibly her best... And if you want that on CD, you probably need to pay twice as much for the new Japanese reissue or the old European version as for the five-disc compilation. I really don't understand what they were thinking there, Chapter Two was on the same label (Atlantic) as all the other albums on the comp, so it shouldn't have been a rights issue not to include it?

Just ordered the Mingus set, and a Bad Company one.

got the Slave and Curtis Mayfield ones

soft machine one is great for anyone (like me) that's never ventured past the wyatt years before - covers third up through seven

really wished I got the Miles Davis box one before it went out of print

For the slightly pricier "deluxe" comp, I'd definitely recommend The Complete 1970s Epic Albums Collection by George Duke. It has all the 6 jazz-funk/jazz-disco albums he released in the late 1970s, and if you dig that kind of sound, it's a really nice buy! (Duke's output from this era more uniformly good and funk-based and less uneven or excessive than, say, Herbie Hancock's or Stanley Clarke's.) The thing that's lacking in a lot of these comps, i.e. good liner notes, is remedied here, as it has both the original notes plus Duke's new comments on each album written for this comp. (Rest in piece, George.) Though of course it also costs more than those cheapo 5 CD sets.

You can still order this in time for Christmas, folks

Combine that with this other comp that collects the more experimental albums Duke released on MFS in the early 70s, and you have almost all of his 70s output. I gotta say, even though I still dig Herbie Hancock more than him, Duke's output in the 70s really was more solid than Herbie's - all those 12 albums are more or less enjoyable, there's not a single dud among them.

(xpost)

guess the miles not part of this series, but w/e

Both those Duke comps are on Spotify - might give 'em a listen this week.

ribeiro box seconded, that was an absolute revelation to me

I bought me a Cheap Trick version of this and by fuck are they ever overrated (apart from first album and choice cuts on In Color and Heaven Tonight)

That pretty much sums up Cheap Trick perfectly. It seems like they started with a stockpile of songs, but by the time they ran out, they forgot how to write songs. They're The Band of power-pop.

I got a Prefab Sprout one recently - the Jordan The Comeback album is all out of sequence and missing the last four songs.

XP The Band, at Budokan

"On the drums, Mister Lee-Von Helm!"

I have these sets:

Lou Reed
Patti Smith
Big Audio Dynamite
Alice Cooper
The Pogues
Henry Mancini

All (apart from maybe the Hank set) are their first albums, and all are fine.

best thing about these is that they are on spotify

Still buying a bunch of these - recently got one by Donny Hathaway, and just ordered two volumes in a related series, the Complete Remastered Black Saint & Soul Note Albums, by Anthony Braxton and David Murray. (There are actually two Murray boxes in the series, one containing just albums by his octets - which I already had - and one with a bunch of unrelated stuff.)

These collections are fun to get. Crazy thing is you can get many of them through the Amazon marketplace so cheap. I've gotten lots of 60s/70s rock and soul in these compilations.

Just bought the Rickie Lee Jones set at Barnes & Noble last night for $8.99, even though I already have 4 out of the 5 albums. But it's got the otherwise-unavailable-on-CD Girl at Her Volcano EP, which is worth the 9 bucks on its own.

some of those budget major label box sets are kinda sketchy. for instance, Sony's 10-CD Louis Armstrong set

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is really just a repackaging of the original '80s and '90s Columbia Jazz Masterpiece CDs, which are notorious for their poor transfers, heavy-handed noise reduction, and pitch issues (apparently some of the material is pitched a half-step too low). at least the 5-disc Original Album Classics set is transparent about it sources, reproducing the purple-bordered Jazz Masterpiece artwork on the front cover. and then there's the Curtis Mayfield set, which is sourced from the original CDs (with no bonus material) even though all of the albums had previously been remastered and issued with bonus tracks. if you care about that sort of thing, then you should definitely check to see where the material is sourced from before you buy.

the Jordan The Comeback album is all out of sequence and missing the last four songs.

WHAT

My Jordan the Comeback started with Wild Horses, and had a few other sequencing issues. Last song was 'One of the Broken', and the last four songs were totally missing.

from http://z6.invisionfree.com/sproutnet/ar/t1879.htm

Jordan Disc 04
01. "Wild horses (Album Version)"
02. "Looking for Atlantis (Album Version)"
03. "We let the stars go (Album Version)"
04. "Carnival 2000 (Album Version)"
05. "Jordan: the comeback (Album Version)"
06. "Jesse James bolero (Album Version)"
07. "All the world loves lovers (Album Version)"
08. "The wedding march (Album Version)"
09. "Machine gun Ibiza (Album Version)"
10. "Jesse James symphony (Album Version)"
11. "Moon dog (Album Version)"
12. "All boys believe anything (Album Version)"
13. "The ice maiden (Album Version)"
14. "Paris Smith (Album Version)"
15. "One of the broken (Album Version)"

that's f'd up...album was pretty much perfect as it was...wonder how many others get similarly butchered in these boxes...

I just got the Lovin Spoonful one.

A Pity they didn't make an album that used "Summer in the city" as a jumping-off point. It would have been more awesome than "Pet Sounds" etc.

Looking for some new collections to check out, anyone have any opinion on any of these? Most of these are bands/artists I might know a track or so or know them by reputation.

The Professionals - Complete Professionals
The Ruts - Virgin Years
Terry Reid- Original Album Classics
Penetration - Virgin Years
The Motors- Virgin Years
The Skids- Virgin Years
Brinsley Schwarz- Original Album Classics

Of these, I'll rep for The Professionals, Ruts, Penetration and The Skids. If I had to pick one of those, it's The Ruts easily. Fantastic dub punk. The Professionals are dumb fun and The Skids start off strong but fade towards the end. Penetration are great, they'd be my second choice.

i'll rep for brinsley schwarz -- swell country-flavored pub rockers with strong songwriting chops courtesy nick lowe, ian gomm.

I've had The Crack by the Ruts for quite a few years. That is a good record.

I have the Schwarz one, which annoyingly stops short of their sixth and final album. Kind of wish Parlophone stepped it up a little like they did with Hawkwind and did all the albums plus non-lp singles and live stuff in a bigger box.

Still worth having even if it takes 'til album 3 (Silver Pistol) to hit their stride.

I was at a record show today, and the one CD guy had a ton of these. Discovered on the slightly more lavish front that EMI UK has done a Raspberries "complete albums" box.

I had no idea that this existed but clearly everyone should own a copy:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album-Classics-Marit-Bergman/dp/B002ZLNNII?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

http://www.theguardian.com/music/commentisfree/2016/may/15/selling-cds-spotify-digital-music-streaming

As the guy rifled through them, he sadly informed me that they hadn’t exactly aged like a fine Margaux. Instead, I would be getting rid of over 1,000 of them for around £700. “Consider yourself ahead of the curve,” he said, trying to offer solace. “If you’d waited another five years, you’d be paying me to take them away.”

haha, "something with taxidermied cats having tea on the sleeve" = Piano Magic, Low Birth Weight.

My favorite are the two volumes of Otis Redding, though it's weird that the ten albums do not include The Immortal Otis Redding (Christgau's all-time favorite).

Had no idea De La Soul got one of these in 2012, courtesy of Rhino. Their first five albums, and judging by Amazon's reviews, people were still able to buy these for less than $20 as late as 2016:

https://www.discogs.com/release/4734854-De-La-Soul-Original-Album-Series

Still look for these occasionally, got two in the mail today.

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Total cost: just under $30 including shipping. I've got two of the Bos and two of the Buddys on vinyl, but that's pretty damn great. Many more in the series I want to look into.

There's a Psychedelia volume in this series which has 3 no-brainer killer albums by Tomorrow, July and Idle Race. All three are celebrated by psych-heads but completely unknown to normie rock fans. Tomorrow wasn't really a tough one to get, but the other two weren't exactly common finds in the CD era. It's almost like a before-they-were thing with Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds, Steve Howe in Tomorrow, and Jeff Lynne in Idle Race. The two others included: final Yardbirds album is ok (White Summer is nice). The Gods album? Don't remember being impressed by that one.

The Gods and July also had members who went on to join Uriah Heep and form Jade Warrior respectively. I'm interested in all those records but hadn't got around to listening yet, I'll look out for that package.

is there one of these for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers?

and wow, had no idea about the July-Jade Warrior connection

There are some Blakey boxes around. All the albums in this one are great, especially A Night In Tunisia and Free For All:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/816TONoNR5L._SL1400_.jpg

thank you!

There’s also a nineteen (yep, nineteen) classic albums Blakey box (10 CDs). Dunno how hard (or cheap) it is to find now, but it’s got so many of the classics (Moanin’, The Big Beat, At The Cafe Bohemia) in addition to several all-percussion albums, and lesser-known gems like his date for Impulse! and later-released early ‘60s dates like The Witch Doctor. As the kids say, it’s all killer, no filler.

is there one of these for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers?

Two of them on Amazon, one for $8 and the other for $14.

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xp looks like a US copy for $60, not a bad deal tbh but I'll prob start with the 5-disc one, not much overlap between the two!

not the thread for it but i love Tunisia so much. SO MANY DRUMS ALL AT ONCE!