A boxed set can be great way to encapsulate an artist's career. If there's an established artist I enjoy even remotely, the chances are pretty good that they'll have a career wrap-up on a few discs with a handsome little book showing them backstage and sweaty, or toiling studiously over a mixing desk. This article is meant to highlight the bands that have already brought out some fantastic collections, and a few who've needed at least one set for years now. As such, I elected to include some "artists" I feel shouldn't even have record deals, much less commemorative cartons with their names up the spine.

[Pictured: Merzbox sampler]

In the nuts and bolts department, artists or bands must have at least three albums to be considered. In unique cases they can have just one full-length album, but a slew of singles too. I say three because Merzbow has so many albums (at last count there were approximately 62 in print) that I don't even think he has an accurate estimate as to his catalogue. His Merzbox Sampler is great, but with a mere ten songs included in it only scratches the surface when it comes to the mountains of stuff he releases, sometimes monthly. Excel, the former skate-punk Venice Beach band on the other hand, released two great records, received some Suicidal Tendencies-related hoopla, and I became a fan, buying everything I could, as well as seeing them live several times. Then Excel shifted gears, and found a whole new sound back behind the couch. I promptly stopped listening.

There are some excellent CD collections by the likes of Abba, the "American Folk Music" box, AC/DC, "American Roots Music," The Beach Boys (both of them), Bee Gees, James Brown (the real king, fuck Elvis), Burt Bacharach, Black Sabbath, The Beatles (their "EP Collection." You knew they had to have at least one set), Booker T & The MGs, "The Brill Building Sound," David Bowie, The Carpenters, Chicago, Cocteau Twins, Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Can You Dig It?," Alice Cooper, "The Cream of Vintage Soul," "The Cream of Northern Soul," "Chess Blues," "Cowabunga" (the surf box), Depeche Mode, Neil Diamond, Doobie Brothers (regardless of what I may have said about them in my previous column), Fats Domino, Bob Dylan, ELO, Brian Eno, The Fall, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Genesis, Al Green, Guided By Voices, Galaxie 500, Woody Guthrie, Herbie Hancock, Kiss, King Crimson, Los Lobos, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, "The In Crowd" ("the ultimate Mod collection"), Bob Marley, Magnetic Fields, Steve Miller, The Misfits (A+!), Manfred Mann, Motorhead, Napalm Death, Nuggets Volume 1 (one of the better-known boxes around), Oasis (they have superb singles boxed sets for their first two albums), Pink Floyd, The Police, Richard Pryor, Roxy Music, Otis Redding, "Raging Hessian" (very limited and very stupid, but hilarious), Carly Simon, Phil Spector, Suicidal Tendencies/Venice skate-punk sound (very early Sui stuff only), Soul Train (the television show), The Small Faces (their singles), Stax Records (the Singles Volumes 1-3,) "The Best of Sugarhill," Bruce Springsteen, "Songs of The West," Smashing Pumpkins, Stiff Records, Sue Records, The Stranglers, Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Tangerine Dream, The Temptations, Thin Lizzy, Tina Turner, Velvet Underground, The Ventures, Barry White, The Who, Stevie Wonder, XTC, Yes, and The Zombies.

The following artists and record labels deserve to have their own collections brought out pronto, even if, in some cases, it's a single cd collection because the band's never had their albums legitimately released, so I'm including them: GG Allin, Atheist, Anthrax (Joey-era only), Beck, Bjork, Black Flag (you could dig up old rehearsal stuff, and songs with Ron Reyes, my favorite Flag singer), Boogie Down Productions, Blowfly, The Boredoms, The Cardiacs, Carcass, Chameleons, Cat Power, Cave In, Coldcut, Coil, The Cramps, Death, DJ Shadow, Dark Angel, Dropdead, DJ Krush, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Einsturzende Neaubauten, Fugazi, Final Conflict, Flux of Pink Indians, Gangstarr, Groove Armada, Nina Hagen, Half Japanese, Helmet, Huggy Bear, Husker Du, Daniel Johnston, Killing Joke, Manic Street Preachers, Method Man, The Minutemen, Masonna, Mission of Burma, Mr. Bungle, Nirvana (I can think I can hear it already in the distance), Nuclear Assault, Gary Numan, Poison Idea, Paradise Lost Public Enemy, Raw Power, Ruins, Rudimentary Peni (early material), Slayer, The Smiths, Squarepusher, Sonic Youth, The Specials, Stone Roses, Slick Rick, Stupids, Scorn, Swans, They Might Be Giants, Teenage Fanclub, Tower of Power, Uncle Tupelo, Voivod, Wonder Stuff, and The Wu-Tang Clan (who, with ten members, have enough material lying around for at least three great boxes).

Some of these artists are very prolific to say the least, so the boxes would have to be in multiple volumes (for example, Anticon, Kool Keith, or John Zorn, volumes 1 - 15). A few of these guys do have single and double cd retrospectives, but I want more! Even old, crappy demos will do (example: Red House Painters. Especially considering the fact that their entire first album was just a demo their label-head liked). I'm especially looking forward to hearing the studio outtakes, forgotten tracks, rehearsal bits, throwaways or joke songs, and miscellaneous live songs from them.

The following is a brief list of so-called artists who have boxed sets, which I seriously doubt anyone dumb enough to purchase them ever listened to. Maybe they look good next to the stereo at parties, or when you're trying to impress girls: Yoko Ono (barf!), The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane aka Jefferson Starship aka Starship, Johnny Cash (sorry, but he's just an old hick to me), Charlie Daniels (same) Kenny Rogers (ahem), ZZ Crap, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Metallica (it's called "Live Shit" for a reason), Alice In Chains (Staley's death did fuck-all to improve their songs, most of which were adequate, but not great.)

Bad Religion has an entire album they like to pretend doesn't even exist. I bought a bootleg of it on the web last year, and it's great - very, very different for them. Imagine early BR being with keyboards way up in the mix, and their sing-a-long Journey-isms being aired proudly without regard to whether or not the kids will approve. The album is called Into The Unknown. Also, the very first by Mr. Bungle, (The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny) can be quite a challenge to find, but it's excellent as well. Probably the one and only time you'll get to hear Mike Patton singing like Roger from Agnostic Front. Then again, he just did an EP with Dillinger Escape Plan.

Revel in the collections I listed here that are available. Hunt them down. Kill if you must, and with the others, you'll simply need to harass their record labels. If they're not on a label, or never were, your best bet is to make a boxed set yourself.

Of all the collections listed, I'd have to say my personal favorite is "The Pet Sounds Sessions" by The Beach Boys, closely followed by the collection of the first five Guided By Voices albums.

(C) 2002 - Jason Thornberry

Disclaimer: The publisher and editors of Cosmik Debris remind you that this is a column and therefore solely the opinion of Jason Thornberry, a man of radical, cutting edge tastes that run to the urban side of th...

... did he fuckin' say Abba?