The Blue Box Blue Note's Best (1997)

Cream - Those Were The Days (1997) {4CD boxset Polydor 31453 9000-2 rec 1968-1972}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.84 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 713 Mb
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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.

The Complete Jan Akkerman is a new 26 CD box set which brings together all the studio albums (and more) of Dutch guitar legend Jan Akkerman, who found international success with the band Focus. The creative guitarist is well known for his individualistic style, combining rock, jazz, blues, and baroque into his solo projects. This 26-disc set includes the solo studio long-players, his most important live recordings and a CD of rare and previously unreleased tracks.
The booklet includes a biography, some unpublished photos and an album-to-album breakdown, featuring full credits (including never-before-published facts about who played what on specific albums) and Jan’s own memories about the 23 studio and live albums, taken from recent interviews with Jan…

Excellent introduction to the early days of Steven Wilson and his seminal band Porcupine Tree, with a thoughtful collection of album tracks, b-sides and rarities curated by Wilson himself, with the same attention to detail that we’ve come to expect from his flourishing solo career.

The Complete Album Collection is Paul Simon's Complete Recorded Works – minus Simon & Garfunkel, of course, along with "Slip Sliding Away" – and, as a whole, it is a mightily impressive body of work, showcasing an artist who remains restless and curious four decades into his career. The package is handsome, presenting each CD as a mini-LP, the sound is terrific, the price is affordable, and the scope is complete, so The Complete Album Collection is in every way an upgrade over the previous The Complete Studio Recordings.

Apparently, the Move's discography is so complex that not even a lovingly compiled, rarities-laden, career-spanning box set like Salvo's 2008 Anthology 1966-1972 can fit everything within the confines of four discs. The devil is in the licensing, as it always is, something that always plagues Move compilations because their last album, Message from the Country, was on Harvest, while their first two - The Move and Shazam - were on EMI and the third, Looking On, was on Fly. Typically, the first three albums are grouped together - as they were on WestSide's 1997 box Movements - with Message from the Country left lingering on its own, a situation Salvo almost avoids on Anthology by cherry-picking the low-riding heavy blues-rocker "Ella James" and loading up the fourth disc with the wonderful post-Message singles that captured the band at some kind of a zenith: "Tonight," "Do Ya," "Chinatown," "California Man"…

Miles Davis & Gil Evans - The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (1996) {6 CD Boxset Columbia CXK 67397 rec 1957-1968}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.47 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.02 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 671 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957-68, 1996 Sony Music / Legacy / Columbia | CXK 67397 | Super Bit Mapping
Jazz / Cool / Modern Creative / Experimental Big Band

THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA STUDIO RECORDINGS compiles all of Miles Davis' collaborations with composer/arranger Gil Evans. Included are the original and alternate versions of the four albums that Davis and Evans made together–MILES AHEAD, PORGY AND BESS, SKETCHES OF SPAIN and QUIET NIGHTS–as well as various outtakes and unreleased tracks. More than half of the material is previously unreleased. THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA STUDIO RECORDINGS won 1997 Grammy Awards for Best Historical Album, Best Album Notes (by George Avakian, Bob Belden, Bill Kirchner and Phil Schaap), and Best Recording Package - Boxed.

Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant - Flamin' Guitars (1997) {4CD Set Bear Family BCD 15956 rec 1949-62}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 823 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 566 Mb
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© 1949-62, 1997 Bear Family Records | BCD 15956
Country / Jazz / Americana / Western Swing

Perhaps the most difficult thing in writing about a box set like this is how to convey in words – few or many – the magic, wonder, and intimidating musicianship that is contained on these recordings. Over four CDs, the seeds, roots, branches, and trees of a musical partnership were formed and lived out on the public stage, and remain all but unknown to those who were not country music fans during the era. While one Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant compilation has appeared on Razor & Tie, as a single disc it only begins to offer the legend of this pair of musical innovators.