Maclean's From 29 September 2014

Spring 1990 (The Other One) is a live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. Packaged as a box set, it contains eight complete concerts on 23 CDs, recorded during the band's spring 1990 concert tour. It was produced as a limited edition of 9,000 numbered copies, and was released by Rhino Records on September 9, 2014.

Lavish is an understatement when it comes to describing the cover and booklet for this interpretation by the late Rafael Puyana of these six partitas. They are a tribute to a breathtaking odyssey in which Puyana’s teacher Wanda Landowska first saw the three-manual harpsichord used in this recording – back in 1900. The instrument was acquired and painstakingly restored by Puyana, but not until 2013 was his 1985 recording made public on these CDs.

Motown’s legendary songwriting/production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, left the fold in 1967, to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of labels. They had worldwide hits with their flagship act, Chairmen Of The Board, debuted the first album by Parliament, as well as scoring a UK #1 with Freda Payne’s ‘Band of Gold…

This boxed-set features all three albums Herbie Hancock released for Warner Bros Records between 1969 and 1971. They were an extraordinary creative three years, a little island of free-wheeling experimentation between his stint with the Miles Davis Sextet and his later career as the presiding genius of jazz-funk. Herbie Hancock’s Warner Brothers recordings represent the emergence and unfolding of his Mwandishi Band. This genre-crossing group pioneered an expressive use of sound and technologies, a blend of beat and abstraction, Afrocentric sensibilities, and while fronted by a strong leader, a collectivist approach to making music. The band prepared the groundwork for Hancock’s emergence as a proponent of a synergy between jazz and funk.

R-Kive is a career-spanning box set by English veteran progressive rock band Genesis. It was released on 22 September 2014 in the UK, and on 29 September 2014 in the U.S. The set consists of three CDs that span Genesis' career. In addition, it includes tracks from solo albums and other projects from members Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins.

Average White Band are widely and rightly regarded as one of the best ever soul and funk bands. Although probably best known for their global hit, the US #1 single ‘Pick Up The Pieces’, this extensive anthology delves back into their musical history, from the early sessions in 1971, right up to the most recent studio album released this millennium. ‘All The Pieces…’ features the band’s entire catalogue of recorded material on a 19CD box set, which includes all of the original studio albums (and ‘spoilers’ ‘Put It Where You Want It’ and ‘Volume VIII’) in mini-vinyl replica wallets, alternate versions and selected mixes, in this 172-track collection…

Excellent five CD set containing five original albums in mini LP sleeves (featuring original cover art) and all are housed together in one slipcase. Includes the albums Teddy Pendergrass, Life Is A Song Worth Singing, Teddy, TP and It's Time For Love.