There comes a point in the career of most musicians where someone will compile an unbelievable amount of stuff in a box and market it to the salivating masses for some outrageous price. And we, like idiots, will go and drop the money for material that has never been commercially available before, so we can show it off to other people.
This past week Columbia Records released a massive Miles Davis retrospective box set. It includes all 52 of the albums he recorded for Columbia on 70 CDs, the CDs are even designed to look like miniature vinyls, along with a live DVD of rare concert footage and a book of photos and essays on Miles. I’m not going to tell you the price tag, you’ll cry, but for what you get there is no substitute. If you are a casual listener, I wouldn’t recommend jumping in with this. For a die-hard fan, you probably have many of these albums from the remastered editions that were put out a few years ago. Although, if you happen to pick this up, I’d love to borrow it from you any time.
Back in 1997 Soundgarden disbanded, and grunge officially died. For over a decade we, the fans, have had to suffer through Chris Cornell’s side projects and solo albums in hopes that he’ll get the original band together. A little Internet poking lead me to an article that Cornell and co., will be releasing a Soundgarden box set. Not of their albums, instead B-Sides and new material that was recorded after their last album but never formally released. The biggest ‘if’ of the whole deal is that the band could get back together next year for a tour. Don’t get your hopes up yet; I want the box first before anything else.
