Saw the news about this recently and I am intrigued:

[store.universalmusic.com]

Early Simple Minds, as I'm sure some people know, were very different from the more commercial/pop oriented band that they later became. In fact, I'd rate some of the albums in the box among the best records ever made during the 80s UK post-punk era.

Now, I already have the best stuff from this box set on CD as well as old LP pressings. In most cases my LPs are UK pressings as well. However, I'm still interested because Universal did a great job on the last batch of CD remasters and also the Jam vinyl box set from a few years ago (another band where I have multiple pressings/formats).

This is nowhere near in my budget right now, so I'll have to hold off. Would want to see reviews before making such a purchase anyway. The price is a bid high as is, and my prediction is it will probably go down a little bit in the coming months.

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[everydayambient.wordpress.com]

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I never gave Simple Minds much of a chance. I guess I kind of just clumped them in the generic "80s pop music" bin in my mind due to their hit "Don't You, Forget About Me". Which is a good song BTW, I just never delved deeper. Making this box completely out of my reach too, I don't jump into a band all or nothing like that with an investment that big.

Seems as vinyl keep on getting hotter and hotter these box sets are popping up more and more often. I saw the Pretenders had a complete box recently.

The only complete anything boxset I have on vinyl is the complete Velvet Underground Mono Albums which was probably the best birthday present I ever got from my wife.

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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Rcheck,

Here is the story about their most famous song: they didn't even write it. It was a written by a production line songwriter that needed a band to record it. By that time, the band was already in commercial sell-out territory and would mainly do cheeseball stuff for the rest of the 80s. These early records are so different, you might not even recognize it was the same band. I didn't know how good the early stuff was until I read a magazine article around 2002/3 about the remastered CDs of the early albums. Some of this has more in common with stuff like Roxy Music, Kraftwerk, and late 70s Bowie than anything they would do later.

Check out this album for starters:





Re: the Pretenders box, I didn't see that one. I have old copies of their first two LPs, which I like a lot. Dunno much about the rest of their catalog. But yeah, big vinyl boxsets are going to be a hot item especially for pre-holiday shopping as long as vinyl stays hot like it is now. I don't think younger folks just getting into records are going to be the target market for these either. More like the 35-55 crowd that has disposable income. More than once I have seen guys in their 40s or 50s ringing up 2-3 of these big box sets at one time in certain record stores I've shopped in.

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[everydayambient.wordpress.com]

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^Way different than I thought. I like that sound a lot, I'd buy that record.

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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^I've turned a bunch of people onto this era of the band with that album. I think there were one or two 12'' singles with extended mixes from the album as well, might be up your alley. I don't have those, unfortunately, just the main album.

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