This box set containing the remastered, expanded editions of all five of Simon & Garfunkel's original LPs on five CDs just – but only just – misses a top rating, by virtue of its packaging. The sound is, as with the individual editions of each title, a significant improvement over any prior releases of this material and proves to be utterly impeccable, and the annotated booklet, containing the original credits and notes off the albums as well as the lyrics and all of the new annotation for each individual album by Bud Scoppa, is fairly handy…
The most comprehensive Simon & Garfunkel library anthology ever assembled, The Complete Albums Collection includes the duo's five studio masterpieces (first released between 1964 and 1970), newly remastered from first generation analog sources, and first-time remasters of The Graduate (the groundbreaking motion picture soundtrack album released in 1968) and the long out-of-print The Concert in Central Park (recorded in 1981).
After she mixed post-bop, soul-jazz, and jazz-funk with nimble ingenuity over three albums for the Prestige label, Patrice Rushen moved to Elektra, and with labelmates Donald Byrd, Lenny White, and Dee Dee Bridgewater extended the imprint's commercial reach while continuing to obscure the distinctions between jazz and R&B. Elektra VP Don Mizell promoted the term jazz fusion. Musician James Mtume referred to his similar approach as sophisti-funk. Whatever the category, Rushen was in the top tier. She continually moved forward as a keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer with the five LPs – Patrice and Pizzazz, which hit the Top Ten of the jazz chart, followed by Posh and the Top Ten R&B albums Straight from the Heart and Now – expanded and gathered for this boxed set.
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…
The Collection: Simon & Garfunkel is a box set comprising six discs. The set includes all five studio albums, plus a DVD of the September 19, 1981 free concert in Central Park. All six discs are in a mini-LP format and the albums come with the bonus tracks that were presented in The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1970). All of the discs, and their cases, are housed in a box set featuring a silhouetted image of the duo with Paul Simon holding an acoustic guitar and Art Garfunkel sitting on a stool.
Guitarist Joe Pass was known for his forthright, straight-ahead style, gorgeous tone, and melodic concepts. This magnificent five-CD set collects his entire output in 1963 and 1964 as a leader, with additional sessions in which Pass plays in a trio led by Les McCann. Most of the tracks feature a quartet (the five exceptions adding the saxophone or flute of Bill Perkins), with the guitarist virtually always a key voice.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Columbia Studio Albums Collection features each of the 19 albums in a replica mini-LP sleeve which reproduces that LP's original front and back cover artwork. Where applicable, the albums in each box include the bonus tracks that have been released on the expanded CD editions over the years. As noted above, nine of the titles in The Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Columbia Studio Albums Collection are making their debut appearance on CD in the U.S. with this box set.
While as an interpreter he is remembered most readily as an advocate of the piano music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Artur Schnabel's own favorite among the so-called "Great Masters" was Franz Schubert. Largely, Schnabel was able to record his little sips of Schubert in between great heaping gulps of Beethoven, and over a period of eighteen years managed to amass the 5 CDs worth of music that makes up Music and Arts' magnificent Artur Schnabel: The Complete Schubert Recordings. This set is "complete" in the sense that it includes every disc of Schubert that Schnabel made and approved for commercial release.
This five-disc box collects Reinhardt's first 124 recordings between 1934-1939. Curiously enough, these sides aren't chronological. Rather, while each disc's featured sessions are presented mostly chronologically, the discs themselves are rather awkwardly sequenced, with different discs covering different years in a seemingly random order. That doesn't really detract from the set's appeal, however, as this music is terrific no matter how it's presented. If there is a flaw, it's that the remastering isn't nearly as superb as the fawning front-cover quotation would lead one to believe. To his credit, however, Kendall admits that he has attempted no "enhancement" of the sound, but has instead concentrated on clearing away much of the audio rubble. His work is, in fact, generally excellent - especially on the later sides, many of which are virtually devoid of hiss…
Old Friends is the second box set of Simon & Garfunkel songs, released in November 1997. The three-disc anthology collects most of the duo's best-known works, and also includes previously unreleased outtakes…