Greatest Love Songs of The 60's [5 Discs]

Cream - Those Were The Days (1997) {4CD boxset Polydor 31453 9000-2 rec 1968-1972}
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© 1968-72, 1997 Polydor / PolyGram | 31453 9000-2
Rock / Blues Rock / Hard Rock / Psychedelic / British Blues

Those Were the Days is an ambitious four-disc, 63-track box set that divides Cream's career into two halves. The first two discs feature every studio track the group ever released, plus a handful of unreleased cuts, alternate takes, and rarities. The other two discs are devoted to live material, which is segued together in an attempt to recreate the "ideal" Cream concert. It's a remarkably comprehensive collection, complete with an extensive booklet and remastered sound, yet it doesn't reveal any new insights about Cream, nor does it offer any invaluable rarities. Therefore, it's only for die-hard collectors or listeners wanting to acquire the entire Cream catalog at once; casual fans will be satisfied with individual albums or greatest-hits collections.

Maynard Ferguson - The Complete Roulette Recordings Of The Maynard Ferguson Orchestra (1958-1962) {10CD Set Mosaic MD10-156}
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© 1958-62, 1994 Roulette / Mosaic Records / Capitol | MD10-156
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Trumpet

Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson led his greatest big band during the years that he was signed to Roulette and all of the music from his 13 Roulette LPs (plus 11 previously unissued selections) are included on this deluxe limited-edition ten-CD box set. Although three of the LPs were originally recorded as dance records (and stick close to the melodies), this box as a whole finds Maynard at his peak and with an orchestra that includes such talented soloists as trombonists Slide Hampton and Don Sebesky (both of whom contributed arrangements), altoist Lanny Morgan, the tenors of Carmen Leggio, Willie Maiden, Joe Farrell, and Don Menza, pianists Jaki Byard and Joe Zawinul, and drummer Rufus Jones in addition to the leader. The music is very jazz-oriented and contains more than its share of classic moments, particularly the sessions that resulted in A Message From Newport and Newport Suite. It's highly recommended.

Frank Sinatra - The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings (1995) {20CD Box Set, Reprise 46013-2 rec 1960-1988}
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© 1960-88, 1995 Reprise Records / Warner | 46013-2
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Standards / Traditional Pop

Frank sinatra The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings (1995 US limited edition 20-CD set containing a total of 452 songs [over 24 hours sequenced in chronological order] recorded between 1960 & 1988, with 70 songs previously unavailable on CD & a further 18 previously unreleased titles, presented in embossed deluxe leather and brass bound 'trunk' carry case with individually numbered brass plaque, complete with 96-page hard back book with extensive liner notes and insightful essays by respected Sinatra scholars like Will Friedwald, interviews and photographs.)

This triple-disc 79-song compilation looks pretty impressive, and in some ways it is, representing most of the best work of each incarnation of the Drifters from 1953 through 1976. There's a lot of classic music here, including all of the big hits and many interesting (even musically glorious) flops and B-sides, but the limitations of three CDs make this less than ideal. Atlantic had already released a pair of two-CD sets, Let the Boogie Woogie Roll: Greatest Hits 1953-58 and All-Time Greatest Hits & More: 1959-1965, eight years earlier, each of which covers those major periods in question far more generously than does this box – although it must be conceded that the sound on the cuts included on Rockin' & Driftin' is improved over those late-'80s digital transfers, good as they seemed at the time…

There has never been a better box set than the Faces' Five Guys Walk into a Bar…. There has never been a box that captures an artist so perfectly, nor has a box set taken greater advantage of unreleased and rare material, to the point where it seems as essential and vital as the released recordings. Simply put, there's never been a box set as necessary as this, since it tells the band's entire tale and explains exactly what the fuss is all about…

Johnny Smith - The Complete Roost Johnny Smith Small Group Sessions (1952-64) {8CD Box Set Mosaic MD8-216 rel 2002}
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© 1952-64, 2002 Roost / Mosaic Records / EMI | MD8-216
Jazz / Cool / Guitar

Johnny Smith is an exquisite jazz guitarist known mostly to fellow musicians and serious jazz fans. This beautifully packaged and expertly annotated eight-CD limited-edition boxed set from Mosaic includes his complete small-group recordings for Roost, most of which have languished out of print for decades. Smith's unique voicings on his instrument set him apart from other players, yet he maintains a lush, crystal-clear tone no matter the tempo or setting.

The Ikettes - Can't Sit Down… 'Cos it feels so good! (The Complete Modern Recordings 1963-65) (2007) {Ace Records}
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© 1963-65, 2007 Ace Records / Kent Records | CDKEND 276
Rhythm & Blues / Soul

Like Ike & Tina Turner, the Ikettes had a pretty confusing recording career, releasing numerous discs for several labels and enduring several lineup changes. They did, however, settle at Modern for a while in the mid-'60s, releasing six singles and one LP for the company. This 27-track compilation includes all of that material, as well as some solo recordings by Ikettes Venetta Fields and Flora Williams (aka Delores Johnson), adding quite a few outtakes and alternate takes not issued in the '60s. It's not, it should be a clarified, a greatest-hits compilation; it doesn't include anything not recorded for Modern, which means it doesn't have their biggest hit, 1962's Top 20 single "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)" (released on Atco), though it does have their only other Top 40 pop entry, 1965's "Peaches 'n' Cream."

The GSC compilation 36 All-Time Greatest Hits does offer three-dozen solid songs by Dinah Shore, one of America's foremost entertainers from the '40s to the '60s, though they're scattered across three discs and the performances are of a dodgy vintage…