Happy Valentines Day To Me!
Here we go with another gratitude post!
We are fully aware it’s a Hallmark holiday, but my lovely wife and I are still sappy enough romantics to celebrate Valentine’s Day. And we usually exchange a small gift – it’s fun to look for something we know the other will like.
This year, my lovely wife really outdid herself. 3 CD sets, (5 CDs total)!
1) George Harrison – All Things Must Pass (2CD, 2014 RM version)
I’ve wanted this album for a loooong while, and I’ll be very curious to dig into this classic album.
2) Etta James – At Last: The Best Of Etta James
A no-brainer for me. I do love me some Etta James and this 16-track compilation of hits is gonna be bloody and beautiful.
3) R.E.M. – Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 (2CD, hits set)
Another one I’ve wanted a long while. I love R.E.M. but do I love them enough to get the entire discography? Maybe listening to this 2CD set will make me want more than I already have here.. Hey Rich, Compilation Or Catalogue! 😉
keepsmealive 
One day I will inherit an original copy of ‘All Things Must Pass’ … (looks simultaneously very guilty, slightly excited and then REALLY guilty again …)
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Haha I’ve done the same thing with my Mom’s old original Beatles LPs. And that big box of over 300 45s from her jukebox… It’s OK. Call it inheiritance.
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I have to also say catalogue when it comes to REM. Their earlier albums are too darn great to pass up!
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Another vote for catalogue! So far it’s unanimous! Yup, I’m in agreement, too. Over time I’ll try to snag them here and there. Perhaps when we trek south out of the hinterlands (read: go to Taranna) in the spring, I can find a few for good prices!
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Well I dig REM and they actually sauntered to Tbay! Hahaha….dig Monster/Green and Automatic …cool stuff with the Harrsion album …..Cloud 9 was good…..
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I’ll bet Stipe LOVED TBay! Yup those are cool records, and if you go further backwards the earlier stuff is really excellent too!
The Harrison is all kinds of gorgeous. What a lovingly-prepared set. I think I have Cloud Nine here… yup, looked it up and it’s here alright, on LP and cassette!
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Inspired me to do a live review…..working on it
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REM Catalog up until Green and New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Compilation of everything after.
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Big Bill Berry fan eh? 😉
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Not necessarily. I’m not one of those people, however who is all that interested in Every Shiny Happy People Hurting, but they still did some good stuff. Its just those albums, in particular, Fables, Pageant, Document and Green are huge favorites of mine.
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Gotcha! I was just thinking your cut-off date was the last record on which he played… Yeah, I’m coming around to the idea of the catalogue for these guys. At least this comp will tide me over (very happily) while I collect!
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That’s a nice little Valentine’s haul you got there. I was fortunate to find a copy of that Harrison set at a tag sale last year for $1. I already had the original CD pressing but couldn’t pass up that deal. As for REM, although they have a number of spotty releases throughout their catalog, especially in the later years, a 2-CD set couldn’t possibly do them justice. For me everything from the beginning through Out Of Time is essential, and then it’s hit-and-miss. Hopefully that compilation will inspire you to check out more, but it depends how much of their early stuff is included.
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It certainly was a wonderful gift – I was shocked when they just kept coming! 😉 Oh man, getting that Harrison (the 2014 RM, and brand new??) for $1 has got to be the steal of the century!
I figured you’d say catalogue for this band. And I wouldn’t disagree! For your list, though, I’d add Automatic For The People as a possible last one in the For Sure pile, I do still love that album completely. As for this comp, it’s really cool, mostly the hits all along. And with those 30 years to pull from, it’s really an embarassment of riches!
Here’s the track list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_Lies,_Part_Heart,_Part_Truth,_Part_Garbage_1982–2011#Track_listing
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Oh yeah, and three new songs tacked onto the end of CD2, too!
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Nice. That Etta James compilation looks like a winner!
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Yes indeedy! I could listen to Etta sing anytime, anywhere. And this is a sweet comp – she even sings It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World hahaha!
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Marvellous. Etta was one of the very best …
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She sure was. I still wanna get the Chess box of her stuff, but this’ll tide me over ’til then! 🙂
From Amazon:
Product Description
Etta sang, sizzled and swaggered her best during her 1960-1976 Chess period-which, at long last, is thoroughly anthologized here: 3 CDs with 72 tracks comprising all her key Chess sides, 10 unissued cuts and three singles not previously on any album! Joined by a 40-page booklet, this set includes 20 pop hits ( At Last; Tell Mama; Pushover; Trust in Me ), 24 R&B hits ( Don’t Cry Baby; All I Could Do Was Cry; Stop the Wedding ), unissued covers of Light My Fire and Never My Love and more-close to four hours.
Amazon.ca
You can’t have too much Etta James. Really. This long-overdue collection of the singer’s Chess recordings includes much of her best work. Three CDs’ worth. 72 tracks. Shivers abound just thinking about it. Of course, all the songs you’d expect are here: “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” “Spoonful,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” “Tell Mama,” and, naturally, “At Last,” among many, many others. But you don’t need me to convince you why Etta James is worth hearing; what you want to know is, is this box set worth the price? Well, it’s got almost everything you’d find on At Last, James’s first studio album and widely considered her best, and it includes the same material as Her Best, which up to now was hands-down the best introduction to the glory that is Etta James. But say you’ve already got that stuff, why would you want this? Well, first of all, the packaging is stellar. A 40-page booklet comes in a handsomely presented box, which contains a wealth of pictures, quotes, and perspectives that do much to illuminate what made James’s 16-year period at Chess Records so special. There are definitely a few musical chestnuts here; several previously unreleased tracks, as well as a few that were released as singles only. Notable inclusions are a previously unreleased version of “You Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” and a live version of “At Last.” Whether or not it’s possible to distill the work of a singer like Etta James down to three CDs, this is a very strong collection and an admirable effort to get the best of Etta all in one place. –Genevieve Williams
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Awesome gifts! We don’t bother with Valentine’s Day so no goodies for me… Or Eva for that matter! And I’ve actually been pretty well behaved on the buying front lately too. Starting to get withdrawal symptoms.
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They are indeed awesome gifts, any of the three alone would have been enough – but all three? Holy mackerel!
A few years ago we talked about Valentine’s, whether to knock it off or not but we still keep doing it so I guess we’re just hopeless romantics! 😉 It’s OK, we also celebrate our first date-iversary every year too, so maybe we’re just geeks.
I’ve done very well pulling back on the buying, and I was starting to get the withdrawal symptoms myself. These gifts will stave that off for a while!
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Is that George Harrison a box set kind of thing or a jewel case? I do prefer that Black and White cover to the coloured one that came out.
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It’s a single CD-width, 3-panel digipak, with a CD in either side and the notes/booklet thingy in the middle inside. One nice touch – the CDs were in their own paper sleeves inside the cardboard of the digipak, and the tracklist is even printed on each paper sleeve. The R.E.M. set just had the CDs shoved into the cardboard, no protective paper sleeves.
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Sounds like a cool set. The Zep CD reissues I got are the same as the REM. The CDs just shoved into the cardboard. It’s a pain in the ass getting them out as well!
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The Harrison is gorgeous, they really put some thought into the packaging of it. Of course, so is the R.E.M. and the Etta… I may be biased…
I’ve got the Zeps on LP, so it’s interesting to hear about the CD sets. Myself, I never ever store the CDs in the digipaks where they’re in direct contact with the cardboard. They always come out of the package, get ripped post-haste to the iTunes, and then get stored beside the digipak in slimline pastic cases with proper center spindle holders. If it’s a digipak that has the plastic tray liner glued in, then I’ll store the CD in there.
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Ahh, yes, thats why I rip the discs then put them away for good.
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Another good point, J! I still play my physical discs, but in the last little while it’s an even split between the ol’ iTunes and CD/LP/CS.
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I didn’t know about this 2014 All Things Must Pass. I have the 2001 version which is also 2 CDs I think but with 10 bonus tracks. What is this cool thing you have??
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I know it’s been re-released a bunch of times. It just says it’s a 2014 Digital Remaster.
I looked it up on the Amazons, and this one has the same back cover as mine – this might tell you if it’s different from yours. I doubt it’d have more tracks, could just be another remaster of it.
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Same tracks as mine. BUT yours has the original cover. Mine has a 2001 redo of the cover. Original always trumps a redo!
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Yeah I looked yours up, it looks like a bad colourization of the image, kind of hilarious actually!
But if the tracks are the same, it’s just a picture on the cover. I don’t know how the 2014 remaster will go compared to the 2001 remaster. This is the first time I’ve ever owned this album!
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I am sure that, considering the level of awesomeness of this album, then it’ll be just as great a listening experience as my copy.
My only suggestion is, take the bonus tracks aside and listen to them in another folder, so you can just play the whole album in sequence as originally envisioned.
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That’s a great suggestion, thanks for the pro tip!
I’m spinning the R.E.M. right now though, so George will have to wait a little while longer…
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