Tag: Box Set

Robbie Williams – ‘Life Thru A Lens” (25th Anniversary 7×7″ Box Set Edition)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic9 Comments

After a very tumultuous time in the boy band Take That, Robbie left the group, recorded an album and went in to rehab. Robbie’s drug problem and ego problem was too much for Take That. He was tired of his creative input being ignored and was ready to branch out on his own. And branch out he did. His first album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ was released on September 29, 1997 and though it started off slow, it would go on to great heights hitting #1 on the UK charts and selling over 3 million copies in Europe.

Now, we peasants here in the States, knew nothing about Robbie and sadly that would continue throughout most of his career. He had some moderate success with a few songs, but for the most part, the U.S. missed out on a hugely talented guy. I’m glad to say, I didn’t miss out. I discovered him a few years later with the songs “Millennium” and “Rock DJ” and I was hooked. But we aren’t here to talk about the albums those songs were on. Nope. We are here to talk about the 25th Anniversary Edition of his debut album, ‘Life Thru a Lens’ and what a box set he put together. This box set I bought when Udiscovermusic.com had a 50% off sale and I couldn’t pass it up.

What we get with this Box Set are not one, but 7 different 7″ singles. There are so many great songs on here. While Take That was pretty much ballads, Robbie was all Britpop! And he does it pretty fucking well. Not only do you have the five great singles of “Old Before I Die” (written with Desmond Child and The Hooter’s own Eric Bazillian), “Lazy Days”, “South of the Border”, the beautiful ballad”Angels” as well as the Queen-esque “Let Me Entertain You”. All fantastic songs, but the best song on here wasn’t even a single which is the angry, funtastic song “Ego A Go Go”. The box set even has the hidden track “Hello Sir” which is Robbie reciting a poem telling off an old teacher who told him he wouldn’t amount to anything…boy was he wrong. You get the whole album over the singles plus 2 bonus tracks all in the order of the album. Some day I’ll do a proper review of it, but for now, these are the Seven Singles.

Continue reading “Robbie Williams – ‘Life Thru A Lens” (25th Anniversary 7×7″ Box Set Edition)” →

The Police – ‘Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings’ (2019) – Box Set

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic18 Comments

Originally released on vinyl in 2018, they smartened up and finally released this on CD on November 16, 2019. I missed out on the vinyl, but luckily did grab this even though it wasn’t until back at the end of December when UdiscoverMusic had a 50% off sale. I think I picked this up for like $25 or so and free shipping. That is always key!! The box set contains every studio album (there are only 5) plus a bonus disc called ‘Flexible Strategies’ which contains all their B-Sides as well. The Discs are all housed in a gatefold vinyl-like jacket made of cardboard and those are all housed in a sturdy box that is decorated inside and out!!

But there is something missing. This isn’t the Complete Recordings released back in 1993 so this isn’t everything they’ve recorded. And it is also missing a booklet that gives us writing credits, song credits, lyrics or anything about the band. That was a little disappointing in my book. But I’m also a casual fan so I still think this set is great as it gives me all I need really which is the music to enjoy.

If you don’t know who The Police are…well…you are missing out. It is made of Stewart Copeland on drums, Andy Summers on guitar and Sting on bass. They all do some vocals but most is handled by Sting. They started in 1977 and were very punk with a reggae swag to their music. They transitioned to a more post-punk and pop sound with their later albums and what I liked about their albums were they were all different and their song writing and playing kept getting better. I always thought of The Police as a “Smart” band as they used words I never heard before (just look at some of the album titles). The songs were so intelligent and they based a lot fo stuff off books and things they read. And I think that was also what made them interesting. It was great songs, great musicianship and they had something to say.

Continue reading “The Police – ‘Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings’ (2019) – Box Set” →

Whitesnake – ‘Restless Heart’ (1997/2021 – 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) – Box Set

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic12 Comments

Whitesnake remained dormant for quite a while after ‘Slip of the Tongue’.  But in 1994, the band released a greatest hits album and ended up doing a short tour that included David Coverdale, Adrian Vandenberg, Warren DeMartini (RATT), Denny Carmassi (Coverdale/Page) and Rudy Sarzo.  The tour was short and the band disappeared again shortly there after.

Now on to the next Whitesnake album.  Okay, not really.  This isn’t a Whitesnake album.  It is a David Coverdale solo album that the record company made him add the Whitesnake name in to the title and that is why it reads David Coverdale & Whitesnake on the original release of the album which was on March 26, 1997.  When you hear it, you will agree, this isn’t Whitesnake. The album does have Adrian Vandenberg and we finally get an album that he actually plays on with David.  But it is not what you expect.  The dual guitars of Whitesnake are not there.  The playing is very understated on most of the songs and it is not a guitar heavy album at all.  No sir.  It is back to the early R&B and Blues roots for this one.

Adrian and David wrote most of the album together and the band for this album included Carmassi on drums and then added Guy Pratt on bass and Brett Tuggle on keyboards.  The band had a label in Europe and Japan, but the U.S. market never had an official release of this album. After the tour of this album, Whitesnake would end yet again.  David decided to shelve the band one more time and it would be 10 years before we got another Studio album from the band.  I don’t know what happened, but it can’t be good for David to hang it up so fast.  He wasn’t happy at all with the turnout of the album and tour.

Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Restless Heart’ (1997/2021 – 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) – Box Set” →

David Lee Roth – ‘The Warner Recordings: 1985-1994’ (2025) – Box Set

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic20 Comments

Released on February 21, 2025, ‘The Warner Recordings: 1985-1994’ celebrates 40 years of solo David Lee Roth. His debut E.P., ‘Crazy From the Heat’, was released on January 28, 1985 and the last album on Warner Records was ‘Your Filthy Little Mouth’ which was released on March 8. 1994. In just shy of a decade we received 4 studio albums and 1 E.P. and they are all captured in this box set. I went with the CD as I already had these on vinyl and since there are no bonus tracks or anything extra, no need buying those again. So, I opted for the cheaper CD version and figured I save some bucks.

The box set comes in a nice cardboard box with an open side the CDs slide in and out of as they are housed in mini-LP type cardboard jackets. There is no booklet, but each comes with an insert with credits and lyrics for the songs. And I will admit, at my age, it is really hard to read those lyrics as these inserts are CD size and that is a lot of lyrics to put on one side of the insert. The album jackets are faithful recreations of the original artwork and they are all sensational. Overall, a nice job of packaging. But it is the music we want to know about so let’s go through each of them.

‘CRAZY FROM THE HEAT E.P.’ (1985):

Continue reading “David Lee Roth – ‘The Warner Recordings: 1985-1994’ (2025) – Box Set” →

Def Leppard – ‘Pyromania’ (40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition – 2024) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic9 Comments

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of one Def Leppard’s biggest albums, ‘Pyromania’, they give the album the justice it needs and released an awesome box set in 2024. And what a great set it is. It has 4 CD’s, 1 Blu Ray and even includes a hard back book. It is all housed in a cardboard box that is of great quality and the images are fantastic. The housing of the CDs & Blu Ray is not a gate-fold, but instead an incredible tri-fold. The original album is remastered, there is a disc of unreleased demos and mixes, a live set from Germany and the famous live show from 1983 at the L.A. Forum. It is splendid and I have to say that as this is one of my all-time favorite albums.

But before we get to the set, what was going on in the Def Leppard world at the time of the album? Well,…here it is…The tide was changing, Def Leppard’s success was palpable at this point, but not quite there…YET! Robert John “Mutt” Lange was back as producer and the band hit the studios in January 1982 and went through November of that year at Park Gates studio in London. All didn’t go smoothly, there was one big issue and that issue was Pete Willis.

Pete’s drinking problem was…well, becoming a problem. It was causing issues that were impacting his work and the band. It got so bad that on July 11, 1982, mid-way through work on the album, the band fired Pete. This was not a rash decision as it was discussed fully amongst the band because on July 12, 1982, the very next day, the band announced his replacement in the likes of Girl’s guitarists, Phil Collen. By this point in recording, Pete had already recorded all his rhythm parts and those are still on the album. Phil came in and added a few guitar parts and as well as some solos, he had it easy.

Continue reading “Def Leppard – ‘Pyromania’ (40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition – 2024) – Album Review (The Def Leppard Collection Series)” →

Generation X – ‘Anthology’ (2003) – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic4 Comments

Record companies like to release compilations long after a band has broken up as it keeps the band relevant and another opportunity to grab some cash. Unlike most greatest hits compilation, this one has some meat on the bone. EMI records released ‘Anthology’ on February 25, 2003 and it isn’t a one disc type of compilation. No! You get 3 CDs of goodness. The booklet gives us a nice biography of the band plus credits for all the songs on the 3 discs. And it also gives 51 tracks from the Generation X catalog.

But before we get in to the music. Who is Generation X? Well, if you didn’t follow my Billy Idol series, then I will let you know who they are (but go back and read all the reviews in the Series after you are done with this one). Generation X were a punk band out of England that ran from 1976 until 1981 and consisted of Tony James, Bob “Derwood” Andrews, Mark Laff and of course, Billy Idol. That is how discovered them is digging through Billy Idol’s musical history and I am so glad I did. They had 3 albums and went from Generation X to Gen X when there was a line-up change. But I liked most of what I heard so this was easy decision to grab this one…okay…now on to the music included in this set.

DISC ONE:

Continue reading “Generation X – ‘Anthology’ (2003) – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)” →

Whitesnake – ‘Into the Light: The Solo Albums Box Set’ (2024) – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic17 Comments

David Coverdale has really outdone himself with these Super Deluxe Editions Box Sets.  First was the ‘1987’ album, then an UnZipped Box Set, then ‘Slide It In’ and the 1989 album ‘Slip of the Tongue’. Heck, He even did the 25th Anniversary Edition of ‘Restless Heart’ and even a 15th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition for ‘Good to Be Bad’ now called ‘Still…Good to Be Bad’. And they are all spectacular. Now, we get a new box set. This time around it is a collection of his 3 solo albums. Starting with the most recent, 2000’s ‘Into the Light’ and going all the back to his first 2 solo albums including 1977’s ‘Whitesnake’ and 1978’s ‘Northwind’. And you don’t get each album once, you get them twice. One with a remastered version and then a 2024 complete remix.

This special edition consists of 6 CDs, 1 60-page Book, and 1 Album Cover Poster.  And it has over 91 tracks amongst all the CDs.  Well…not really. Each album is repeated twice with the remixed and the remastered versions, but there is a lot of new unreleased stuff too which is great. So, this is why I say this is for the diehard fans as it is very repetitive…this is for the diehard fans as it is very repetitive! Yes, I said this twice to prove a point and yes, I did this joke on pretty much every box set review for Whitesnake because its true. Here are all the songs you get…it’s immense.

Continue reading “Whitesnake – ‘Into the Light: The Solo Albums Box Set’ (2024) – Album Review (The David Coverdale Series)” →

Bon Jovi – ‘All Time Best 1984-2024’ (2024) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic11 Comments

To celebrate the band’s 40th Anniversary, they have released a new Greatest Hits Compilation. And I know what you are thinking…big deal…right? Well, this one is a little different. One, it was only released in Japan…Two, the songs were hand picked by their Japanese fans. As a result, you do get the big hits, but there also some deep cuts you don’t normally see on a Bon Jovi greatest hits set.

And the band went all out with this release. It is called ‘All Time Best 1984-2024’ and was released in November 2024. I want to say it was the 6th, but with production delays, I’m not sure exactluy. My copy didn’t show up until around the 20th of the month. Whenever it was released, what a release it is. It chock full of hits and not hits, with 50 songs covering their entire career from the 1984 debut all the up to the 2024 release of ‘Forever’. All the songs are spread over 3 CDs and they even through in a Blu-Ray if you have the Super Deluxe Edition (which I do). Plus a few things more.

Continue reading “Bon Jovi – ‘All Time Best 1984-2024’ (2024) – Album Review (The Bon Jovi Collection Series)” →

Kiss – ‘Ikons’ (2008) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic13 Comments

I know, I know. I’ve done a lot of Kiss compilations lately. Hopefully, you have it in you for another one. This one is a little different then the others, believe it or not. It is a 4 CD set called ‘Ikons’ and it contains one CD for each member of the band. That is right. The songs on each CD are sung by the band member the CD is named after. Funny thing is, growing up, I would do the exact same thing. I would make a cassette, or later CDs, that were band member specific. The Ace and Peter ones were easy as they barely had enough songs to make a CD. However, Gene’s and Paul’s were more difficult as they had a lot more to choose from.

The ‘Ikon’ box set came out on October 21, 2008 and was included in a gatefold case that folded out to have 5 sections. It also came with a slip cover to go over it. It contained a different image then what was on the case itself which is awesome. You get a picture of each band member along with a slot for each members album specifically designed for each member with their famous ‘icon’ stamped on it. It was a nicely put together set. Each Disc contains 14 tracks so you do the math on how many songs you get (don’t forget to carry the one).

Continue reading “Kiss – ‘Ikons’ (2008) – Album Review (The Kiss Review Series)” →

The Collection: EP. 29 – Motley Crue’s ‘The End’ Box Set

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic5 Comments

This week on The Collection, we are talking the Motley Crue Box Set called ‘The End’. This was supposed to be THE END of Motley Crue, the did a Final Tour, signed a contract and everything, yet as we now know, it wasn’t the end. We are going to put that aside (okay not really) and talk about the Box Set. We will look at the albums included and all the little goodies in the set. I even say the name wrong of the Saints of Los Angeles album EVERY SINGLE TIME!! UGH!! See what city I actually call it. Come join the fun and see what is the Good and the BAD of this box set.

So go check it out as it is live now on August 19, 2024 at 8 p.m! Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.