Playing an entire box set start to finish...

I make it a point to listen to every set I buy -- and as Brian knows, I have quite a few -- at least once through from start to end, though not necessarily in one sitting. Beyond that, it's a bit pick and choose. A lot does depend on whether or not a complete album is available on a disc in the set, like, say, the two Joy Division albums on the first two discs of Heart and Soul, or like the VU set Brian speaks of.

Pound for pound, Souled American's "Framed" box gets more use than any box set I've -ever- owned. Listening to all four CDs in order is a revelation and I've been doing it regularly since "Framed" came out. I hate bonus tracks, though. They screw up the album sequence and you can never get it back, not even in your head.

Woohoo! Souled American! But since I didn't buy those reissues as part of a set -- twofers, yes -- would that actually be a box set? As opposed to the Nick Drake set, which just is the four albums...

I once listened to Creation Soup from start to finish, all 5 CD's. It was very enjoyable. It made me feel like I'd cracked out all the old vinyl except without having to get up and change the record every 3 minutes.

I think I've done something similar with the Galaxie 500 one. And definitely 69 Love Songs, although I view it as more a Triple Album than a Box Set.

I like to but on five discs of the Stax Records set (any five, as random as possible) and hit "Random Play." It's like listening to Memphis Radio.

I like to put on five discs of the Stax Records set (any five, as random as possible) and hit "Random Play." It's like listening to Memphis Radio.

I don't think I've ever listened to the VU box straight through, though I've listen to 2-3 hours of it at a stretch (different stretches, actually). I don't count 69 Love Songs as a box, but I've listened to it straight through a number of times. I've never listened to Godard's Histoire(s) du Cinema straight through - it's too hard, although I guess as background it wouldn't hurt for 6+ hours. If I listen to Monk's Complete Riverside Recordings box straight through, it would take me just over 16 hours. Actually, that sounds like a good idea...

But no, I don't think it's a waste to not listen start to finish. In the case of the Monk set, there are lots of albums in there, as well as bonus tracks and live stuff, so it's modular enough to be listened to that way.

I think of a box set like an encyclopedia (not meant to listen to straight through.) I've probably bought my last one, unless the Boredoms come out with one . I've never even considered listening to one start to finish. I have a hard enough time getting through a 60- minute CD.

Perhaps my most cherieshed memory of listening to anything is hearing James Brown's Star Time from start to finish the night before my 17th birthday--it was my present, a day early, for babysitting while my mom went out. "I'll get sick of this eventually," I reasoned. Nuh-uh. Not by a friggin' MILE.

Did it with the velvets once upon a time -- now I pick & choose for mood. Same with Star Time. Same with Sugar Hill Story. Same with American Anthology of Folk Music. I like ones themed by disc for this reason. Beach Boys I usually get stuck on the Smile-era disc, and sometimes the earlier ones. I never do the different mixes disc. Buddah, if I had the full set instead of part, I would listen start to finish. Elvis Costello, never start to finish neither -- it doesn't seem designed for it.

Actually, I tend to not like to do so with the chronological ones because I feel like I'm in this whole evolution thang like with Elvis Costello -- they're not a box set, they're ALBUMS which HAPPENED TO come TOGETHER, IN A BOX. Period. Box set's worth of single material is much more start-to-finish-like. Springsteen live, Glass and Adams operas, Gershwin operas, &c. I hardly ever listen to my GBV box and feel mildly guilty about this.

Done it a few times. Just did that several times with the new Cabaret Voltaire box (mini box anyhow). Will probably do that soon with the Miles Davis Complete In a Silent Way Sessions when I have some time to do so. Once did that with the Stiff box. Did so with the Rough Trade Shops box this past year. Admittedly, the various artists ones are a bit easier to take than the single artist ones, because there's more variety to it. I can't imagine listening to the 8 CD Coltrane on Impulse set in one sitting, though I sample from it semi- regularly. It's not a waste of time to get them and not listen to it start to finish any more than it is to buy any single album and skip around it to the tracks you want to hear at that moment, and it's generally a hell of a lot harder to commit to the time needed to listen through an entire box. I also find that sometimes when I start listening to a box set one CD after the other, my mood often changes partway through, and I feel like listening to something else. Random access rulez, d00d.

Heart & Soul is the only box I have listened to all the way through and not gotten bored. I also listened to Nuggets, which kept my interest nearly all the way through. But I'm usually worn out after a disc-and-a-half of most boxes.

The Roxy music box set I have listened to all the way through probably about 4-5 times. I listened to Nuggets II all the way through probably about 3 times? Original Nuggets at least once, and Heart and Soul at least once, though I don't remember now if I've played it more than that.

...and that's basically all of the box sets I own. Yes, I know it's a paltry amount but that's because I hardly every have the $ to spend that much on music in one place. I would say I get a pretty fair amount of use out of them, because I have played the individual disks of all of them a lot more than that.

The Roxy disc from the set I play the most has all the B-sides on it. "Your application's FAILED!" What the hell is that all about? ;-)

To help me trawl through my usual start-of-quarter workload, I am currently working my way through the Jam boxset. Weller would have done well to just stop doing music *entirely* after the break-up, then he'd be a real god.

obviously box sets are likely to conatain some dodgy (otherwise unreleased) material so sometimes listening to them all the way through can be tough. Even the VU box, as excellent as it is, has some stuff I don't think i need to hear again. Some of the sets mentioned don't fit that bill, Galaxie 500 is the albums and singles disc, Creation Soup were all singles, Nick Drake is just his albums etc. I dunno, I'm somewhat skeptical of box sets in general. They seem a bit like sucker items, I mean you often are forced to re-buy a lot of stuff you already have just to get some rarities or alternate versions. So I don;t have too many of them. Maybe someone can start a thread on box sets in general if it hasn;t been done already?...

ned, i take you aren't a style council fan then?

I can't say I put on their music for pleasure. I have the greatest hits as a sop to sentiment, ie seeing them at Live Aid and going, "Uh, okay, I guess that was nice."

well, the Jam was better, certainly, but I find the extremely calculated slickness of the SC strangely charming. To me it's like Weller said he loved soul/r'n'b but hadn't actually heard any. In anycase I find their first few records quite enjoyable.

thread died too early

No way. Never done it. I haven't got the attention span. In fact, I'll bet you can count on your two hands the number of times I listened to an entire double-CD start to finish - I'm just not hardwired that way! I know I listened to 2-plus discs worth of Citizen Steely Dan a coupla months ago, but that's probably my record.

this weekend i did it with the fall peel sessions box, but not in one sitting. i would listen, pause it and go do something, and come back and pick up where i left off. but i did get all the way through, in order.

when i was in NZ earlier this year i played the entirety of both Rubble boxes during the car drive. they were on shuffle though.

I do this when I'm writing (so my attention focus wanders in and out), mostly with jazz sets like The Complete John Coltrane Quartet on Impulse and The Complete Ornette Coleman on Atlantic or the Kronos Quartet box. The only box sets I 've played to start to finish more than once are JB's Startime and the Tropicalia 5CD.

the only OTHER box sets...

it's easier to do this with genre/label boxes.

I got the Wipers box set through the post yesterday and have listened to it solidly at work this morning, about a quarter of the way through the third disc now. It's not massive (just the first three albums plus some bonus tracks) but still more than I would usually listen to by one artist in a sitting. It's awesome stuff.

that's really wild this thread got revived. I just got Star Time in the mail today (it's my first James Brown and my first box set) and I just finished the second disc in a marathon that will now be continued in my car. I'm so, so, so not tired of it.

Do I listen to box sets all the way through? Yes, just not all at once. I try to break it up by listening to (or doing) something else.

It also depends on how good the box is...can't tell you how many box sets I've heard that either peter out around disc two, doesn't hit its stride until disc two, or is just so uneven that you can track through the good cuts in no time.

When I was 5 or 6, I recieved the Bruce Springsteen live boxed set for Christmas, which I listened to all the way through on Xmas night 1986.

I don't own any actual Led Zeppelin albums, but only those 2 boxed sets - the 4-CD box and the 2-CD box released a few years later that included all the songs that weren't on the 4-CD one. I've never listened to either box all the way through, but in responce to the question, I've listened to every song on both boxes at least a few times. Same with Message In A Box, which in my opinion is The Police's most essential release.

I've listened to Disc 2 of Eric Clapton's Crossroads all the way through probably a dozen or so times over the years.

And then there's another thing:

If a song is terrible, I won't listen to it twice, so that's another way to breeze through a massive CD box...remember, the "program" button is your friend!

A couple people have told me they listened to all of the mixes on the 1981 box contiguously; and I think once at work I listened to the whole briefcase (about 9 hours) full through. But I'd bet money no one will ever conquer all 25 hours straight.

Townes in the car, all the way through and then some

For several weeks after I got it, I had the Ayler box in the changer and really couldn't justify replacing any of the discs with anything else. THAT'S a perfect box set. Loop that for me on headphones when I'm in my grave.

We'll pin the flower to your lapel, too.

s/c is right about label boxes: The Buddah Box (Buddah Records 1965 - 1982) is wildly interesting to listen to straight through.

I also have listened to Citizen Dan straight through a few times. But that's it.

I hardly ever listen to an album all the way through, let alone a box set.

I have got the Style Council box though, albeit witout the box or booklet.

I used to have a long car journey to Milton Keynes for work, so I'd play the Stooges "Fun House" box set all the way through. Part one, going, part two, returning.

Also, the "69 love songs" Magnetic Fields one.

beatles , beach boys

The thing that used to put me off buying box sets was knowing or suspecting I'd never play them from start to finish, which is probably why I've never got around to purchasing a copy of Heart And Soul. I have the Eno box sets, though, and the instrumental box scores points for repeat playability.

I never got around to buying "Heart and soul" partly as it seemed to me the albums were 'entire of themselves' entities. Particularly with Joy Division.