Oh Mr Amazon, with this cheap box set / bargain item, etc...

xpost yes that's the same set.

Pretty excited!

all i want is a killing joke boxset ...
is that really too much to ask for ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Albums-Dances-Night-Boxed/dp/B0093LKOGM/

;-)

not good enough.

want a nice boxset with all the classic emi/virgin era albums in replica cardboard sleeves a la elo/byrds/simple minds etc ..

its surely only a matter of time ..

Thanks for the heads-up on the enlightenment box CtC - seems insanely good value + is just the sort of thing I feel like I want to spend some time with now, find out something new.

This Stravinsky box is definitely worth a look: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Works-Igor-Stravinsky/dp/B000PTYUQG/

Anyway, I thought we were all meant to be boycotting Amazon.

Why?

In Britain, a lot of anger lately over their tax-dodging:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/03/amazon-google-starbucks-tax-avoidance

Plus the usual more general issues - squeeze on smaller merchants, emerging monopoly, bad terms offered to affiliates, publishers, authors etc

Not worth trying the "we" thing here.

Tax issues may be one reason to feel slightly peeved at Amazon (I don't myself but understand why others might) but the rest of it appears to be the usual denial routine.

None of the "smaller merchants" will admit to themselves that they are rubbish; it makes them feel better to bleat about an "emerging monopoly" rather than get off their backsides and restructure their business and their attitude (the latter especially important) so that they can offer decent competition to Amazon, rather than waiting for someone to come and drop a succession of fifty-quid notes through their front door.

i'm all for crushing capitalists of any size but i think economies of scale might make it not v. straightforward to "compete" with hulking sales behemoths? i dunno, economics is shit to me

xp Not sure how those smaller merchants are supposed to compete with the combination of Amazon's relentless squeezing of suppliers and shall we say "favourable" tax arrangements. I think it's perfectly legitimate to expect a more level playing field, and Amazon are becoming a monopoly provider if not de jure then certainly de facto. How would you suggest small providers "restructure their businesses" to be able to compete in these circumstances? Redundancies all round?

The book industry should maybe look at what happened to HMV and how all the indie record shops in London have survived, which seems a complete inversion of the David/Goliath competition set-up. Doing it on an unequal playing field is possible, even if sometimes you have to wait for Goliath to trip up.

I would say that small providers need to stop being lazy and complacent, learn about running a business and stop regarding their little independent shop as a display of their own collection.

The EMI Mahler box is pretty good. The complete works on 16 CDs for only £18, all good recordings and conducted by Klemperer, Rattle, Barbirolli etc. Packaging is minimal but attractive nonetheless:

www.amazon.co.uk/Gustav-Mahler-Complete-Works-Anniversary/dp/B003D0ZNWY/

woof: You are very welcome and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

xxp Can you provide examples of this complacency? Or is it just a question of Amazon's prices being consistently lower? Because if it's the latter then there are structural reasons for this that can't simply be blamed on laziness or complacency.

oh wow if i had £18 that i wasnae going to waste on rum :\

I have lots of sympathy for small record stores, but in here Internet distribution had sadly already done its damage before I even started ordering stuff from Amazon. Most of the records I order from there are the sort of stuff no record store in Helsinki has sold in years, so I feel no guilt over that. The local and more obscure stuff I still get from local stores, as well as used records.

Another Mahler bargain on Amazon is the Tennstedt box. 16 CDs for 16 squids as of right now and rumoured to be one of the best cycles.

Here it is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Klaus-Tennstedt-Complete-Mahler-Recordings/dp/B004OGDW4M/

fuggit i am treating myself to the Mahler next payday if it's still that price. also it will be good to give a shoeing to lazy complacent independent retailers.

stickin' it to that lazy old man

they should get on their bikes and look for customers

Noted independent record store devotee Norman Tebbit

Mary Portas vs ILM up in here!

Looks like that Tennstedt box sticks to the symphonies, so if you want yr Kindertotenlieder etc then go for the EMI box instead.

Can anyone recommend one of the Sibelius Symphonies boxes? I have a couple of Rattle discs but wouldn't mind a complete set.

I was kinda wondering: why are these classical box sets selling for so much lower price than box sets in most other genres? Is it because they don't have to pay royalties for the composers? On the other hand, many/most of them feature a lot more players than your typical pop/rock record... Do these performers get any royalties from records sold?

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk looks half decent although no doubt they are struggling to compete with Amazon prices.

This is the Sibelius bargain of the minute: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sibelius-Complete-Symphonies-Tapiola-Finlandia/dp/B0091JQH2Q/

look at that lazy website tho, they shd get rid of all that content nonsense and concentrate on bunging me tax-exempt CDs from the Channel Islands hand-packaged by children

Presto is great. Fast delivery and often cheaper than Amazon. One of the better examples of a well-curated online shop.

Cheers OG - looks like promising.

ShariVari xp: agree, that's where the competition needs to be. Constructive answer in amongst mounds of misplaced student union sarcasm.

personally I wasn't being sarcastic, but thanks.

For a Sibelius box (and yay we are talking about my other favorite composer now) I would give the slight edge to this older EMI set. The symphonies here are with the Helsinki SO and recorded in the 80s rather than the 70s (but the digital sound picture is not bad in the way a lot of early-digital stuff can be, and the Helsinki are great and there are no dud interpretations) plus you get 4 and a half discs of the equally important tone poems, theatrical incidental music, and myth-based cantatas:

http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-Complete-Symphonies-Tone-Poems/dp/B00005MIZT/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1359736483&sr=8-5&keywords=sibelius+berglund

More compact, beautifully recorded in 70s analog, and brought off with tons of personality is this set of the symphonies and a few tone poems with Colin Davis and the Boston SO. Davis' later Sibelius recordings with the London SO are not near this level:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sibelius-Symphonies-Boston-Symphony-Orchestra/dp/B007CW2FFM/ref=sr_1_39?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1359736428&sr=1-39

For the two Mahler sets discussed above, I would DEFINITELY opt for the mixed-conductor Klemperer/Barbirolli/Rattle set rather than the all-Tennstedt one. I know the idea of a whole cycle in one conductor's interpretations is seductive but with Mahler's symphonies there simply is no one conductor who's gotten all nine (or ten) right.

cant wait for the scott walker boxset.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scott-Collection-1967-1970-Walker/dp/B00BCOL5YS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1369336963&sr=1-1&keywords=scott+walker

have held back from buying any of his 60s solo albums knowing that a boxset like this would at some point be sorted out.

seems that labels are totally going for this now.

in recent months i have seen (and left unloved) : motorhead, uriah heap, van halen, eagles, type o negative, sepultra, rob zombie (!!!) ..

personally i love this as it means i get the whole set of the good stuff in one go ..

hence why the scott walker is one of this years most anticipated purchases for me as i know it will hit so many spots for me.

there's a 5cd bowie set featuring the 3 berlin-era cds and the double Stage(?) for little or no money too (£12):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zeit-77-79-David-Bowie/dp/B00BQ8ZWO4/

oh yes .. saw that the other day ..

having recently just bought the complete set of limited bowie japanese mini vinyl editions from a friend i let this one go ..

and yes .. the complete set : space oddity -> never let me down

my friend had no idea he had the lot, until he checked at which point i offered over the odds as they are just gorgeous.

original inserts (where applicable), original inner sleeve notes, original gatefolds etc ..

just gorgeous ..

anyways .. back to the cheap seat bargains that i normally involve myself with ..

this as well (as been out a while)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Release-Series-Discs-1-4/dp/B0081QZJ6A/ref=sr_1_4

first 4 neil young albums for £12

That Bowie Berlin box, are those all in jewel cases in a card slipcase or something? Sounds like it from the product reviews. My vinyl of this stuff is oh so scratchy now.

jewel cases with a cheap cardboard thing ..
nothing new/special ..

oh, and i got that neil young set. my first intro to the young catalogue.
reaction : 'oooh now i get it .. '

THESE ARE ALL VERY GOOD, BEWARE LOW AND HEROES ARE BOTH HALF INSTRUMENTAL.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=original%20album%20series&sprefix=origina%3B%2Caps%2C

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51q8BbSNwHL.jpg

Packaging is the usual cheap box with no booklet or notes or anything, but I just got this for £13 or something ^^^

I posted that link again here btw as I assumed most wouldnt be reading the funk listening club thread, Ordered the Slave and Curtis Mayfield sets.
Theres loads more I'd want tho like the Warren Zevon, Chic, Dr John etc

The Zevon is pucker.

Yves Nat Beethoven sonata cycle and much more. V. good.

1930-1956: Comp Recordings
http://amazon.ca/dp/B000BS6Y74

I could do with the Avant Garde box set right now.

Sorry to hear this. I can only think I got my order in slightly ahead of yours - or was lucky enough to land a sympathetic picking+packing elf.

I was thankfully able to order it when sales were first announced last fall

Me too, ordered it as soon as it was announced and had no problems receiving it.

Yes well done but you weren’t trying to get it for twenty quid on Amazon

Bingo