The Complete Albums Collection

Album Content 5 / 5 starsAlbum Production 4 1/2 starsAlbum Packaging 3 1/2 starsI like Simon & Garfunkel. I liked their previous "complete" box set: The Columbia Studio Recordings. When I heard this was the original analogue tapes remastered, I got onboard without caring about redundancies (you should see how many times I've bought and re-bought Frank Sinatra's catalogue...). I'm not going to make this review about the content of this album nor S&G's complete career retrospective as presented here. You can find reviews of those on the respective albums. Instead, I'm going to just talk about the presentation this set has to offer.As advertised, this set is indeed the most comprehensive collection of S&G's catalogue. However, this set is not "complete" as it would have it.While it is nice to see Old Friends: Live on Stage here, the DVD version of the performance is not present. (The tracklisting of this set does not mention that it is, so I was not surprised at this one.) The DVD version of the concert features an extended performance by the Everly Brothers, as well as two additional S&G tunes: "Keep the Customer Satisfied" and "Feelin' Groovy." Certain studio songs are not featured in this collection as well. These songs were initially featured as bonus tracks on the previous releases song ten-twelve years ago (all of which are found on the previous Columbia Studio Recordings box set). These songs include:1. "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies" on Bookends2. "Old Friends" (Demo) on Bookends3. "Feuilles-O" on Bridge Over Troubled Water4. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Demo) on Bridge Over Troubled Water5. "Patterns" (Demo) on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme6. "A Poem On the Underground Wall" (Demo) on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme7. "Blues Run the Game" on Sounds of Silence8. "Barbriallen" on Sounds of Silence9. "Rose Of Aberdeen" (Demo) on Sounds of Silence10. "Roving Gambler" (Demo) on Sounds of Silence11. "Bleeker Street" (Demo) on Wednesday Morning, 3AM12. "He Was My Brother" (Alt. Take) on Wednesday Morning, 3AM13. "The Sun Is Burning" (Alt. Take) on Wednesday Morning, 3AMAnd additionally:14. "My Little Town" on solo releases Breakaway (Garfunkel) and Still Crazy After All These Years (Simon) (It should be noted that this song still appears on Old Friends: Live on Stage.) "Citizen of the Planet" is still retained on Old Friends: Live on Stage. It is a shame that these other songs were just removed without reason. Especially on a complete (or at least marketed as) collection. Some of these are actual songs, not just alternate takes or demos, so it's a real wonder why. Perhaps instead of the seemingly unnecessary inclusion of Greatest Hits ("Feelin' Groovy" is presented in a live version not found elsewhere on the set, but "Kathy's Song" is that on Live 1969) [confirmation, please?], Columbia/Legacy should have just released a bonus disc that features all of these numbers and those special ones found on Greatest Hits. In addition, the soundtrack to The Graduate is a necessity in that it features additional abridgements or at least alterations to previously released material, making it a unique package in itself.All of the albums presented here are also featured in their original track listings and the like (including the out-of-chronological order of Live 1969). The Concert in Central Park is also oddly featured completely on one disc alone as compared to previous 2-disc versions, and also retains its gatefold from the original LP. Which brings me to my next comment on the packaging: as shown in one of the publicity images of the piece, the album are presented in respective mini-LP sleeves (as well as those released in the past 15 years). I think that this packaging is very compact for, say, automobile listening (though you would then be putting your expensive CD box set at risk, but other than that, I've never really understood packaging like this. It doesn't even look flashy on the shelf. However, many complaints have been made about the aforementioned Columbia Studio Recordings set many times, so I put this in the review thusly. The packaging is still mini-LPs as with that set, but they are of higher quality, there still is no inner sleeve like say a Mobile Fidelity mini-LP sleeve or something of that nature, Old Friends: Live on Stage and The Concert in Central Park feature gatefolds, and the sleeves fit snugly alongside a liner not booklet in a cubbyhole inside the box. A little annoying since they can slide out, but it's really easy to get them out at least. The albums, as stated in the press release, are all also remastered. Most ears and listeners may not be able to hear changes, but there are several slight ones. One major one I felt was the live albums are more-listenable in the crowds seem to have been toned down a bit--this includes the Iowa performance of "Bye Bye Love" from Bridge Over Troubled Water. Some tracks are also not as loud as the previous mastering, but let this be a lesson to those would-be audiophiles or just simply music-lovers out there: loud remastering does not always equal good remastering.The album also features a lengthy liner note essay by music journalist Bud Scoppa which I can leave no real comment on as I have not yet given myself time to read them. Several pictures of the duo at all of the legs of their career together are presented here as well. All in all, this is a fine package for anyone who is a fan of Simon and Garfunkel. It's a fine production in a tight package, and it is selling out quickly this holiday season, so others must already really want this set. I think around what Amazon is charging around the holiday season (about $60) is fair enough if you don't already have the previous S&G Columbia box set. For the MSRP of $100, I cannot fathom why anyone would buy this set except as a kind-hearted present.

If you like Simopn and Garfunkel , BUY THIS COLLECTION YOU WON`T NEED ANYOTHERS.

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If you like Simon & Garfunkel, this is a great way to enjoy all of their albums. You get a total of 12 CD's (11 albums + 1 double album). Every single song is in here and it was so nice to hear all of their music. The CD covers are cardboard (miniatures of the 33-1/3 RPM LP covers), and there is also a small 48 page booklet that has about 9 pages of their history and the others photo's and details of their albums. All 11 albums in their cardboard sleeves are then encased in a durable heavy box with the front featuring the artists and the back a photograph of the back covers of all the albums and their names on the side of the box. It's a nice set to own

I have to say that I was initially dismayed at being offered another "S & G complete" package, this being the 3rd effort to cover that monumentally-esteemed oeuvre. The first take, in the huge clunky jewel case with a dorky green cover, was OK -- very bare bones, with the songs just there in sequence on 3 CDs, with no integrity to keeping the albums together, as I recall....Then the next version had the albums separated, added some blah bonus songs, but stuck to the same five studio releases we know and love. The sound was improved, but that was not hard to achieve.This third attempt takes a better shot at it in many regards. We have the 5 studio releases, Greatest Hits (which has 4 great live cuts), the Graduate soundtrack, the Live albums from 1967 and 1969, Concert in Central Park, and Old Friends. That's ALL the albums that were released with their name on it. Someone was angry that the single of "My Little Town" was not included, but that wasn't on an album, so you just have to get it live on Old Friends, I guess....Pretty minor issue, if you ask me.The sound, from what I have heard, was remastered using analog equipment, and presumably not overly-compressed. On the first four studio albums (Wednesday Morning 3 A.M., Sounds of Silence, PSR&T, Bookends) the difference can be heard very clearly when A/B'd to the 2nd box. The new versions are more articulated as far as the instruments & voices in the stereo field, much warmer overall, and feel "live in the room". Bravo! The BOTW uses the same master (or remaster) from the 40th Anniversary edition, which was and remains superb. Greatest Hits, which I never had before on CD, sounds fantastic, no issues there. The Live 67 and 69 discs sound about the same, I can't tell if there is any difference. With Central Park and Old Friends, I never had those before, so I have no reference point to compare, but no complaints either with how they sound. It is nice to have the versions of the songs from the Graduate soundtrack, too.So we have great-sounding versions of the studio albums, four of which are clearly improvements, though perhaps not revelations or anything like that. It's S & G sounding the best they've sounded, so maybe that is important enough. The rest of the CDs round out a great package.. If you don't have either of the other two so-called complete boxes, then it's a no-brainer to get this one. If you have some or all of the single albums you will duplicate them, but you will be pleased with the improvement; however, you will get several other titles you may not have had, and they all sound great, so that's a plus. You can get this new for around $60 now (Dec. 2014), so that's 12 CDs (Old Friends is 2 discs) @ $5 each, which is one way to call it a bargain even if you going to have to swallow some redundancy.Here is where it falls short: The little book is nothing too special. It has a very fine, though not exhaustive essay, and each album is presented separately with the most basic details in addendum (producer, date of release, Columbia catalog number, etc). The pictures are nice, but nothing too special. There are no details at all about the remastering that was done (or not done on some titles), no special "legacy" words penned from Simon or Garfunkel, so it is just sort of adequate overall, and far less than might be expected. Maybe there could have been a disc with all the old bonus tunes collected together--including the My Little Town single, okay? The mini LP sleeves are pretty cheesy, too. They are lo-fi pictures of the album covers, and all have white borders, meaning the pictures don't wrap over the sides as they did on the records or on a really spiffy mini LP. No excuse for that, as far as I can see.The paper is really good quality, but there are no sleeves for the discs themselves; a nice touch would have been to recreate the original Columbia paper inner-sleeves as they did for the Beatles US recordings (though don't get me started on the big problems with THAT package, viz., using the 2009 remasters for most of the discs, and not the actual Capitol tracks!) . The discs do fit snugly in the jackets, which is good, as opposed to sets like the Beatles Capitol recordings where they just fell out of the sleeves, and the sleeves would fall out of the box, the entire package being on the floor if you weren't real careful...Similarly, though, the entire S & G package could fit more snugly in the outer box. I feel like I will always have to cradle this thing to keep all the CDs from falling out, though I feel confident the CDs will stay in the sleeves. Small consolation....Lastly, I think the big gaff here was to not include the Mono versions of the albums, which are really lost to us at this point and should be put back into circulation on CD. This box was an excellent opportunity to do just that, but they blew it! And in spectacular fashion. I mean, these albums are like 35 minutes long, so there is plenty of room to have included them; and it is only for the first four records, probably. It isn't really "COMPLETE" without the Mono versions. I know there are some bootleg sites where they can be had, but it should have been part of this package. Just can't flog them enough on this point!Still, I give it a four out of five for collecting all the records together, and for the improved sound on the first four albums. They take a hit for the packaging, lack of respect shown to the booklet, and for being so dumb as to leave out the Mono versions. .....If you don't have a complete S & G package, or if you only have a couple of the albums, or some inane post-mod compilation, then you or the S & G lover in your life will be very pleased. This duo truly is rock n roll ROYALTY, and this is one of the greatest song catalogs ever compiled, so it is hard to go too wrong.

Once and for all, the S&G catalog has been remastered, this should be the "once and for all" collection for all fans. The sound quality is leaps and bounds better than any other S&G sets, and I don't even really care about the live albums, I just want the core catalog in pristine sound. Check, mission accomplished. My only criticism is a small one: My Little Town is nowhere to be found on this set (nor any other "complete album" sets). It's only available on greatest hits comps. I would like to see this song added to the end of Bridge Over Troubled Water as a bonus track, perhaps with a notation like ("1975 single") even though we all know it's not part of the BOTW album. The song was a big enough hit that its omission will nag at every fan.Edit: As of 11/2015, this set is going for $65 here, but half as much at the British Amazon site.

Ce coffret est superbe. Les albums en spectacle sont aussi intéressants que les albums en studio.

Entrega completada com sucesso, e chegou quase duas semanas antes do prazo previsto. Plenamente satisfeito...

todo bien

Great. Thanks Brings me back memories. Good music .

Très bon coffret , tout est là et le son aussi. Studios et live, un vrai régal.