Video Review (9mins)
5CD Super Deluxe Box Set with various Photos / Albums covers and Memorabilia.
I also include the book ‘Follow The Music’ and the MOJO CD ‘Journey To Love
Video Transcript
I’ve picked up this Box Set in 2006. This is when boxed sets were really big. Behind me you can see a Wishbone Ash box set, which costs about £260. This box set is as big as that, but it cost £35 at the time.
This is the Elektra, For Ever Changing box set. Just look at the size of this thing. It weighs a ton. The postage itself probably would have been about £30. So let’s have a look inside.
So this is the Elektra, For Ever Changing box set, and this is equivalent now to the Wishbone Ash or Nazareth box sets. You just don’t see this kind of thing any more, not unless it’s hundreds of pounds.
So when we get the top off, we can see the track listing of the just five discs in this box. The next thing you find is this, absolutely enormous book and this goes into absolute tons of detail, it’s really good quality print. It absolutely goes through every single period of the Elektra story, and everything that’s featured in the box has got a write-up; there’s background on every single band, all the tracks. Because some artists have got two or three tracks and it explains what albums they are from.
There is some historical background to the tracks, modern insights, the artists, what happened to them, and what they’re doing now (if they’re still around). It is absolutely. If you’re a fan of sixties folk and late sixties Americana psychedelia, Elektra were the label and there’s just so much stuff here.
They chose to go all the way up to 1973, and they basically finish with Queen and it’s unusual to see Queen on the Electra label; So you’ve got big, huge articles on The Doors, Love, Carly Simon etc, all the big Elektra artists, so a fantastic, really heavy duty book.
Next, is what looks like it’s going to be vinyl, but it’s not actually. What it is some of their iconic covers. This one is Judy Collins, Bread, Strange Days by The Doors and Forever Changes, by Love.
Then you’ve got this little folder which opens up and it’s got some black and white photographs from Electra artists, Freddie Mercury from Queen, The Doors. This is really good quality stock as well. Love, Tom Rush. Then you’ve got these little leaflets which basically go into detail, showing you what is on each CD, so this is disc three, everything Judy Collins to Nico, the Stooges, MC5, Bread, Love.
Disc Four which I’ll show you in a moment, Harry Chapin; Judy Collins; The Stooges again; Queen.
Disc One, which really starts in the early sixties, so lots of the folk artists form that time. Tom Rush who we saw a picture of a moment ago.
Disc Two, still in the mid-sixties by this point. Tom Paxton etc. Tim Buckley.
Next up another pack of memorabilia with Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who were obviously heavily shown in the box set; Nico; Fred Neil; Carly Simon; Tom Paxton; The Stooges; Tim Buckley and David Ackles as well.
And then you get a CD rom which has all the artwork for every single album they ever made. And this is to tell me that it’s a limited edition. I’ve got box number 2150. I imagine nowadays you know, there wouldn’t even be that many boxes.
And then the remainder of the box, you’ve got Disc Five which has kind of got some additional stuff like rare singles and b Sides. You’ve got Jobriath on this CD who was tipped to be like like David Bowie in the seventies, The CDs themselves come in little books with booklets that show some of the original singles. There’s no track listing on these, that’s why you need the little leaflets. They are all done with black plastic to look like little vinyl records.
So you’ve got Disc One, Disc Two and Disc Three. Again with photographs of the singles from the time. And then finally Disc Four.
You also get two exclusive two metal badges of the two separate little emblems that they had during the time.
So that is the Elektra, Forever Changing box set. When this came out, Elektra were really interested in obviously dominating the world, showing what they’d done. I just so wish that Island Records had done something like this. Mojo magazine talked about this, and in that case they also gave away a free CD with the Mojo magazine which again is separate track listing altogether than what was included in this box. And to make sure they covered every single base, some of you may have seen this in various bookshops, called Follow the Music, which is the life and high times of Electra Records, which is again another deep, deep look into the whole Elektra story. And included in the back of this was another CD with tracks that weren’t included on this giant box.
So they really went for it on this and it really is an absolutely stunning box and goes for quite high prices now, but this again, is how box sets should be done.
Try and find it on Ebay. It’s worth it. I don’t know how much it’s going for now ,but seriously if you’re into this era of rock and pop and folk, this is well worth getting.
Thank you so much for watching
