CD boxed sets have encouraged wretched excess in packaging pretty much since the format was pioneered in the mid-’80s. (Anybody know what was in the very first CD boxed set? Some classical crap, probably.) But lately, I’ve received some that have been downright absurd, way out of proportion to the niftiness of their sonic content. And they’ve all been released by Rhino Records.
The new Goth anthology, A Life Less Lived, contains three CDs and a DVD spotlighting acts ranging from Joy Division to Xmal Deutschland (?), all three phases of Ian Astbury’s artistic “development” (Southern Death Cult on Disc 1, Death Cult on Disc 2, the Cult on Disc 3), Bauhaus, Tones On Tail, Love And Rockets, Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, the Birthday Party, Nick Cave…the list goes on and on, obviously. A reasonable selection, offering a decent overview of a genre that was at its top-dollar best never worth more than a cursory glance. But as seen above, the thing comes in a faux-leather-bound book, with the front made up to resemble a corset—with actual laces! That’s what you’re paying for, far more than the sounds on the discs (or the videos on the DVD).
In a similar spirit, the new Tori Amos collection A Piano has its five CDs encased in a box, the lid of which is made to look like…you guessed it, a piano. The keys don’t move, or make any noise, so I guess some sort of budgetary limitation did emerge midway through the likely laborious series of concept meetings that led to this thing’s being dropped in the lap of all the faerie princesses (of both genders) who make up the Amos fan base. The forthcoming Robert Plant box, Nine Lives, containing all his solo albums including the Honeydrippers EP (but neither of the Page/Plant releases), one per disc, plus a DVD with videos and a documentary, looks like it’s going to be packaged in a coffee-table book, or something similar.
As more and more people express (through their purchasing habits or lack thereof) a preference for pure digital distribution channels, it’s easy to see why a label might attempt to attract purchasers with ever more elaborate packages. But I’m still left wondering who this sort of thing appeals to. Is there someone out there slowly, gently unlacing and re-lacing their copy of A Life Less Lived as “”Temple Of Love” blasts from the speakers? Is there a Tori Amos fan who wants to pretend they’re playing along with her cloying, hideous music? I guess it’s like air guitar, but just a little bit sadder.
The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way. I have also received boxes recently by Waylon Jennings, Bob Wills and Weather Report (seen above), and those came in minimal, functional packaging. Each of those was released by Legacy, not by Rhino, and each contains four or five CDs, a semi-informative book, and an attractive cardboard box to keep 'em in—and nothing else. Maybe, because I’ve been doing the vast majority of my music listening on an iPod for the past several months, I’ve been seduced over to the “dark side.” But I just don’t have the time or inclination to moon over a pleather-coated box or fake plastic piano keys.
It's the desperate attempt by a part of a dying industry to hold on to the cd as a viable product/delivery vehicle. It's over. Very soon it will just be download everything, and listen to it on an Ipod or burn a cd and listen to it on good speakers. Let's just declare it dead right here. CDR's maybe for a bit longer, if they are done in unique packaging. Download as the only way is inevitable and soon to come. Music will be everywhere. Everyone will have the same chance to get an audience. The audience will matter again. I'm happy about it.
Posted by: Joe Morris at October 6, 2006 9:41 PMDamn, Phil, I was mulling over an entry myself on the Bob Wills & Waylon sets. Received advances of both (just 4-pack jewel cases w/ track info & generic titling/info) & have been enjoying them a lot, esp. the Wills- best career cross-section of his work I’ve encountered thus far. The Waylon has some clunkers in the mix, but by & large it’s a great one-stop shop too.
Rhino’s (in)famous for extravangant packaging, esp. the Homemade off-shoot. Check out his ancient thread:
http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/frontpage/000144.html
Far as the cd’s extinction, I have a feeling I’ll be spinning them decades hence, a counterpart those those current-day vinyl freaks who doggedly swear by outmoded technology. Despite some fleeting flirtations, I still haven’t succumbed to the mp3 bug.
Posted by: derek at October 6, 2006 10:10 PMGood to see you upholding audio standards in today's world, Derek. The massive (90%) compression used in mp3 is too sonically appalling for words. That's how 1950's AM radio sounded.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at October 7, 2006 3:13 AMOh, we've been round this particular bush before. Yawn. If the only way for you to get hold of an album you'd been looking for for ages Graham was to download it as an mp3, would you pass up on the opportunity in the name of "audio standards"? I wonder. When forced to choose between music and audio standards, audio standards can go take a jump. There's nothing more dreadful than the sound quality of the old Saturns, and there's no music more extraordinary. I'm with Joe on this one. And my own stuff - free downloads anybody? Go to Conv & Stasisfield now! end of commercial - sounds OK on mp3 to me
Posted by: Dan Warburton at October 7, 2006 3:36 AMNo Dan, I would not pass up on a wanted recording if mp3 was the only option, but equally I would not stop hunting for a higher quality sound source of it. Then I would dump the mp3 in the garbage at the earliest opportunity.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at October 7, 2006 3:54 AMSeems like the history of formats is a move towards putting as much information into as little of space as possible - in that light, MP3s and other compression formats aren't going anywhere ever..
though I don't like the experience of listening to MP3s - archaic in that way - they have taken fire away from the elitist collectors and have made a deep music education available to everyone with internet access... and I'll be damned if I have a problem with that!
..it's funny to say that about MP3s on this thread, since box sets are often made with the opposite in mind - making the music take up as much space as possible. But I won't complain about my 'Screamin and Hollerin the Blues' set - I can't think of many subjects worth that lavish treatment though.
Posted by: Bryan K. at October 7, 2006 6:06 AMSurely the problem is that the audio/computer industry has got the wrong end of the stick. Rather than search for ways to compress digital sound into ever smaller formats, the poor quality of the conventional CD, as compared to SACD, DVD-audio and other future formats, has already taught us that the real need is how to handle much greater amounts of such information far more efficiently.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at October 7, 2006 7:16 AMback to packaging--anybody have that four-disc Charlie Christian box from some four years ago? Also a Sony, but the discs come housed in this scratchy foamy stuff--all the better to scuff you up, dearie!
Posted by: marc at October 8, 2006 1:53 PMhi there,
strange enough, none of you have mentionned the most important aspect of listenning/encoding to mp3: chosing the compression rate.
a mp3 track in 224kb/s or AAC doesn't sound (at least for me) really different from the original.
only a audiofile maniac sound engineer would hear the difference (and i'm supposed to be kind of one but nevermind..)
less than 192kb/s, you start to hear that the sound has suffered from compression.
of course, you cannot compare with an sacd, it's a total different sound world.
another important thing to add is that a lot of people have not a good enough sound system to even appreciate the differences.
I don't expect these to go away soon. I recently talked on a plane to a guy who does the music industry at at Boston Consulting Group, he said that box set sales are increasing as cd sales are decreasing. The more luxurious the packaging and more expensive the better they sell.
My local music stores now have shelves full of these http://www.earbooks.net/en_titel.html
Maybe people buy them as presents for people. Someone gave me the Complete Lady Day on Columbia set, very nice it is too.
Posted by: jb at October 10, 2006 3:37 AMBaz is correct on perhaps the most important aspect:serious variations in sound quality are virtually negliable on anything other than serious hi-fi equipment.
So yes, in a recording studio there probably slightly discernable differences when comparing different compression rates.
In the real world, for people who do not or cannot spend a fortune on a dedicated listening room equipped with top of the range equipment, and who live next door to noisy savages, these discrepancies are irrelevent.
Its not about sound quality-if it were the LP would still be the most widely used format.
Posted by: Gary at October 10, 2006 10:03 AMI suspect most of the folks who buy these boxes know what they're getting and why. They dig the artist/genre and they want to have a bit of fun, bagging the CD equivalent of a coffee-table book. If I had the discretionary income I might get a few of them myself, though god knows the Tori Amos would not be among them. Funhouse and Lifehouse might be another story. :-) I also feel that you might be painting "goth" with a very wide brush. Joy Division & Birthday Party do not deserve to be dissed along with Daniel Ash and X-Mal Deutchland, in my opinion - but point well taken on a dodgy genre.
Posted by: john bullabaugh at October 10, 2006 1:02 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................