›› MUSIC
Meaty, beaty, big and pricey The season’s biggest box sets—with bargain-bin tips by G r e g Cahill
U
.S. consumers are moving through the fourth year of the economic downturn, but even in the twilight years of the CD format, record labels are pumping out big, pricey box sets that, well, 99 percent of us would be hard-pressed to afford. Still, the siren call of the music industry is hard to resist, and there are plenty of affordable smaller compilations available for budget-conscious shoppers. In the classical world, CD anthologies the size of a stereo speaker are becoming the norm. One of the latest examples is Jascha Heifetz: The Complete Original Jacket Collection (Deutsche Grammophon), which celebrates the life of the late violin virtuoso by gathering a whopping 104 discs paired with a 312-page hardbound book. Budget tip: You can buy a DVD of the remarkable new documentary, Jascha Heifetz: God’s Fiddler, for under $20. In the classic-rock department, not even Pink Floyd can top that, though Capitol/ EMI is trying. Last month, the label reissued the band’s entire catalog in a series of remastered recordings that range from the original single disc versions to two-CD expanded editions (with live tracks) to im-
mersion editions that include the original CDs, bonus CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, vinyl, and print product and present such desirable classic-rock albums as Dark Side of the Moon and the 35th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here (available here for the first time in surround sound) in all their psychedelic glory. Budget tip: The coveted surroundsound version of Wish You Were Here is available for $35 as a single hybrid multi-channel SACD licensed to Analogue Productions (available at acousticsounds. com), not just as part of the $125 immersion set. The ’80s revival is in full swing with the deluxe version of The Smiths: Complete (Rhino), featuring the British rockers’ eight albums (on CD and vinyl), 25 7-inch vinyl singles, downloadable cover-art wallpaper and more. Budget tip: An eight CD-only version also is available. The Hendrix family is continuing its authorized reissue series with The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Winterland (Sony/ Legacy), a four-CD set of incendiary concert performances recorded in 1968 at the legendary San Francisco music hall.
‘Dark Side’-era Floyd—the moment when the band’s talent finally lived up to its pretensions.
Budget tip: A single CD of highlights from the box set also is available. Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters (RCA/ Legacy) is a five-CD compilation (with book and glossy photos) that contains everything the King of Rock ’n’ Roll recorded in that pivotal year (including outtakes, live dates and interviews) in which he jumped to RCA and released the hit singles “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You” and “Love Me Tender.” Budget tip: Download the entire The Essential Elvis Presley for $12.99. Phil Spector Presents: The Phillies Album Collection (Legacy) dishes up six mini-album reproductions, and a previ-
ously unreleased bonus disc of B-sides of classic songs by the Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans and others. Budget tip: The two-CD anthology The Essential Phil Spector compiles 35 tracks from the Phillies soul label. Paul Simon Songwriter (Columbia/ Legacy) collects 32 tracks picked by the songwriter himself, spanning five decades and two labels, from Simon and Garfunkel to Simon’s critically acclaimed 2011 album, So Beautiful or So What. For the jazz buff in your life, Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1967, the Bootleg Series, Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy) features the trumpet legend’s second great quintet (with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams) on three CDs and a DVD, with nicely remastered recordings of five complete concerts and the only known video documenting this jazz juggernaut from 1965-’68.
Davis’s mid-’60s work with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams—known as the trumpeter’s ‘second great quintet’—is captured in all its free-jazz glory in ‘Live in Europe 1967, the Bootleg Series, Vol. 1’
Wynton Marsalis: Swinging into the 21st (Columbia) collects 10 mid- to latecareer albums, from the small combos of Standard Time, Vol. 4 to the two-CD symphonic jazz work All Rise. Budget tip: For the first time on CD, The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Their Last Time Out (Columbia/ Legacy) features the popular jazz group in its last concert (Dec. 26, 1967) romping through “Take Five,” “St. Louis Blues” and other jazz standards. 28 PACIFIC SUN DECEMBER 16 -DECEMBER 22, 2011