Music » Pop Box Set Music

One of the most popular artists of the early-'70s singer-songwriter explosion, Carly Simon made her reputation by combining radio-friendly musical values with lyrics that tackled issues of romance and family with a frankness that's still disarming. In the time since, she's explored a variety of styles, all of which are represented on this nicely packaged 3 CD, 58-song set, which offers a good overview of her catalog, with a disc of her best-known hits (including "You're So Vain," "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," "Anticipation," "You Belong to Me," and "Let the River Run"), a disc of ballads, and a disc of rare and previously-unreleased material. --Scott Schinder

When Jimmy Buffett eventually becomes the subject of a college course--and given his enduring popularity as a singer-songwriter and author, you know he will someday--here's what'll be on the final exam. Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads is so named because the four-CD collection divides Buffett's collected works among those categories, giving each disc a theme. From early classics such as "Biloxi" and "Come Monday" to more recent fare known only by the Parrothead cognoscenti, this set is the perfect accompaniment to a cool drink and a hammock on a summer afternoon. What kind of cool drink? Well, that'll be on the final, too. --Daniel Durchholz

Massive and impressively comprehensive, the Country Roads Box Collection is classic John Denver. Spanning four discs, the collection not only draws upon the obvious highlights of Denver's career, but also includes fan favorites that might not have received the same airplay as their more popular counterparts. Listening to Country Roads, the finesse with which Denver balanced his folk rock tendencies with his country leanings emerges as testament to his talent. As a box set, the collection would be remiss if it didn't include "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Annie's Song," "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," or "Rocky Mountain High"--and, of course, the box set's namesake is here. Later hits like "Calypso," with its sea-shanty yodeling, portray Denver's ability to ease himself into the role of balladeer, regardless of the genre. Novelty duets with Placido Domingo and Emmylou Harris were intended to rekindle what seemed to be lagging popularity, but Country Roads establishes John Denver's contributions as timeless, nonetheless. --Steve Gdula

Though the American folk movement of the early '60s would influence bands like the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield and a score of oh-so-sensitive '70s singer-songwriters, its two most looming successes during the decade--Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel--couldn't have seemed more disparate. While Dylan turned hard-left, outraging many a folk purist by zealously embracing rootsy blues-rock and its electrified cacophony, S&G veered toward the center, equally infuriating snooty pundits by embracing a Top 40 pop sense whose ostensible shallowness often belied its rich musical diversity. In retrospect, Simon and Garfunkel's career as a duo was remarkably brief (five albums in six years), if no less commercially potent (a slew of Top 40 singles, two Number One albums, and the requisite handful of Grammy Awards). This box set compiles digitally remastered versions of the original S&G albums, each expanded to include bonus tracks (mostly previously unissued demos with a few scattered outtakes, the quartet on Sounds of Silence the best of the lot) and a booklet featuring new notes for each album and song lyrics. It's a rewarding journey, wending from the almost slavish folk devotion of Wednesday Morning 3 AM through the greeting-card iconoclasm of Sounds of Silence, the madrigal-pop of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme to the increasingly impressionistic lyrical landscape of Bookends. It also covers the rich musical tapestry of Bridge over Troubled Waters, which foreshadowed Simon's own diverse solo career by embracing everything from the Everlys and Jan & Dean to Andean folk and R&B. --Jerry McCulley

The three volumes of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits albums make up the bulk of this catch-up set; a fourth disc features some live versions and discussion of the artist's composing methods. --Rickey Wright

While the pop classics by the grit-and-honey singer reached a broader audience, Sam Cooke's formative music with the Soul Stirrers, recorded for the Specialty label, ranks with both his best and gospel's best. Only 19 when he was recruited in 1950 to replace the group's venerable R.H. Harris, Cooke developed the signature style he would carry into the popular arena while he was still singing church music. Disc 1 shows the raw passion of a vocalist who has yet to apply the polish for which he would become known. By disc 2, Cooke is no longer tentative in replacing a legend but asserting an irrepressible musical identity. Disc 3 demonstrates his growth as both a vocal master and an ambitious songwriter--most famously on "Touch the Hem of His Garment"--while documenting his transition as a solo artist into the secular arena. Among the revelations of the set's 83 tracks, the stripped-down arrangements on the alternate takes of "Come and Go to That Land" anticipate the rise of "sacred steel," while the vocal call-and-response over the organ bedrock of "All Right Now" is as rapturous as gospel gets. After the various takes of "Were You There?" show how Cooke could take the most familiar material and make it his own, the final three tracks capture his electrifying impact in live performance. --Don McLeese

Release Date: 1998-02-24, Audio CD, Sony

Release Date: 1994-09-27, Audio CD, A&M

2008 repackaging of this four CD anthology from the singer/songwriter featuring 79 selections ranging from his first demo in 1965 through to a 1997 collaboration recorded under his Muslim name, Yusuf Islam. On The Road To Find Out encompasses all of the hits and key tracks, as well as an abundance of rarities and is the ultimate collection of the work of a man who challenged the limits of what a singer/songwriter was/is capable of. Features 'Matthew & Son', 'First Cut Is The Deepest', 'Lady 'D'Arbanville', 'Where Do The Children Play', 'Wild World', 'Moonshadow', 'Morning Has Broken', 'Peace Train' and many more. Universal.

Electric Light Orchestra are the quintessential fanboy (or fangirl) band; folks tend to either love or hate Jeff Lynne's far-reaching pop act, while critics tend to wrinkle their nose in disgust and dismiss their entire oeuvre save the obscure first album that Roy Wood plays on. Basically, E.L.O. are derided for writing all the Beatles songs that the Beatles never got around to writing in the first place, and then slapping sappy disco string arrangements on top. But at their best this ambitious ensemble--whose maxim is to try and cram as much sound and scope as possible into the conventional pop song--achieve a certain lumbering grace which is amazingly pleasurable. Sure, their songs are sappy and Lynne's lyrics campy, but Lynne is such a master that he transforms artifice into art; he's not the Beethoven of rock, he's its Jeff Koons. Moreover, Lynne is no mere retro futurist; he is fully capable of taking apart high-, low-, and middle-brow genres and recombining them in unexpected ways--in a manner that foreshadows pop music's direction in the 1990s. It's delightful to see this underrated group get a decent, career-spanning three-CD box set (digitally remastered, natch), with the requisite unreleased/alternate takes and elaborate color booklet with extensive liner notes. This music has aged remarkably well, like a fine can of soda pop. --Mike McGonigal