From 1971 to 2001 Billy Joel released 13 studio albums. For the first time ever these 13 albums along with the LIVE album "Songs In The Attic" are being packaged together as "The Complete Albums Collection" and released exclusively through www.myplaydirect.com/billy-joel/
The box set also includes a bonus disc of 17 rare and hard to find tracks plus 2 60-page booklets. The package itself looks similar to "The Beatles: Mono Box" and each individual CD is housed in a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 replica of the original album covers. That all sounds pretty cool right?... Wrong!!
"The Complete Albums Collection" misses on many levels... first the album cover replicas are much bigger than the sleeves that come inside and some of those sleeves are just blank! Sure a blank sleeve might be an exact replica of the original album packaging but for $199.00 I think they could have come up with something much better than this. The printing on the replica album covers is also unreadable because of the size; one of the 2 bonus booklets contains ALL of the song lyrics.
Of the 17 bonus tracks most have been released before and can be found on the "My LIves" box set from 2005. In fact I highly recommend that collection to any Joel enthusiast.
The www.myplaydirect.com/billy-joel/ website states that the box set features "brand new digital remasters by Ted Jensen for the best sound reproduction of Billy Joel's music ever on compact disc." I compared the discs in the box set with the 24-Bit digital remasters that were done in 1998 by Ted Jensen. I could hear no difference whatsoever in the sound quality.
To be honest, the only thing new in this box set is the original "un-cropped" cover photo of "Cold Spring Harbor." With the exception of that - and maybe 2 songs on the bonus disc - this box set is a waste of time. Even if Billy Joel is your #1 all-time favorite recording artist you still don't need to own this box set. The sound quality is the same as the previous reissues (which, by the way, do sound amazing) and you probably still own your original vinyl LPs. So, why pay $200.00 for miniature versions of the classic artwork?
I only wish that Sony/Legacy would have handled this set the way Rhino handled the 2004 Paul Simon box set "The Studio Recordings 1972 - 2000." That set featured bonus tracks on every CD, lyrics inside each individual CD booklet plus newly released vintage photos.
If there's a Billy Joel fan on your holiday list this year do him or her a favor and pick them up a copy of the aforementioned "My Lives" box set which currently sells on www.amazon.com for a mere $20.16!
Drumroll please... 2 out of 10 pianos!!!
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