New series of posts called “Box Set Fever”. There some serious vices going on in this blog but one that is not as transparent are the need to acquire box sets. They are not just another LP/CD they are an historical artifact, a knowledge base and very cool to own. Now the problem comes when you justify anything to get the box set no matter what. Unlike a single LP/CD box sets have a lot more to be judged on. Packaging and contents are much more important.
The first in this series is John Fahey’s Transcendental Waterfall six LP set. This is the heart of Fahey’s early career and defines him as a player. It is mainly acoustic guitar and sparse accompaniment. The material is sublime and I have been listening to this music for at least a decade plus. The packaging includes replicated sleeves of the original album, each album has a couple pages of write up associated with it, a single double-sided liner notes of the box, a poster, a post card and EVEN a t-shirt. The feel of the box construction and material is barely passable. There is a lot of space when you take the t-shire out and thus I don’t think it is going to wear well over time. The albums are pressed on blue vinyl and the surface noise level is high. I do believe that colored vinyl is not as good sounding and choose black when that option is available. I can’t tell if the material is re-mastered but I would not give this box set high mark in that category. I really glad I got the box just wish it was a little higher quality given the importance of the material.
Yeah, I eyed that box when it was first announced, then I saw that 4 Men with Beards was the label behind it; they have a long history of doing shitty reissues on 180-gram vinyl. Shame. People on the Steve Hoffman forums were also dogging the quality
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