What Prog box sets are actually worthwhile?

     Thanks for the emphatic responses concerning my cd and lp collection that was stolen. I empathize with all of you who had similar experiences. Well over 1500 CD’s alone were taken. What really hurt are the tools and other very personal belongings stolen like personal items from growing up.   I don’t think about this except when a topic like box sets is brought up or I think of my grandfather, for example. I had very personal things given to me by him and my grandmother. I also took care of him during the last two years of his life here on earth in the flesh. His spirit is something that can not be taken from me.   There’s so much more that’s important in life such as family and friends. Still music is a big part of me and keeps me company like a good friend. I’m moving along with replacing my collection. It’s fun replacing it as I can get the latest remasters and the box sets of catalogs.    
     Here’s a funny and sad story. I left home at a young age as I thought I was ready to conquer the world and I did just want to get away too, a common theme among some young people. I didn’t have an easy childhood. We weren’t poor and never went wanting. There’s more to growing up than having food and clothing, etc. I’m not complaining about my parents in any way either. Life has taught me a lot and we aren’t perfect. We have to do the best we can.
     I guess I could say I grew up with very demanding parents. This had its toll on me and I wanted to get away from this like a pressure that builds and builds and needs to be released. I released this pressure in the wrong way as I only knew how to then. It’s funny as I think back how much growing up I missed with not finishing high school or going to college with the friends I made growing up. Such an important time of life and not to be wasted. I didn’t realize how much I would miss by “growing up to fast.”
      I left everything at home including my vinyl collection, cds hadn’t been invented yet. I left home with the cloths on my back.   My collection consisted of the classic Prog releases and a lot of classic rock. I was also into the new at the time heavy metal movement including nwobhm and the thrash and speed metal movement. I don’t listen to thrash, speed metal or nwobhm anymore. The Prog metal movement had yet to start except for bands like Queensryche and Fates Warning who I was into.   I do listen to Prog metal still.
       I ended up crawling my way home as I had ended up literally homeless for several years off and on, mostly on.   I had found I wasn’t ready for living on my own. I did leave at the age of 16 rather hastily and had a problem with drugs. I’m getting a bit personal and off topic but oh well. I don’t touch drugs now and this has been for a long long time. I’m very much against drugs and the waste of life they produce. They almost killed me and at such a young age.
       When I finally came back it was to a much different house. My mother was single as my father left. It was now my mother, my brother and my sister was in college. All of my friends had gone through their growth spurts, maturity physically and otherwise for the most. So I had to acclimate to a lot. Anyways my dear brother was listening to a lot of the music I grew up with mixed with hair metal only to gravitate to the God forbidden rap and hip hop genres. He had my vinyl collection all set up for his D.J.ing he was into. This is the age of using records once again God forbid for making that dumb scratch sound d.j.s were and are so proud of and used in rap and hip hop. He was also using records as samples.
     The first time I saw this he had my entire collection together and had King Crimson’s “In the Court of the Crimson King” 21st Century Schizoid Man all cued up and ready for a scratch session. I proceeded to watch him make a scratchy mess of my vinyl. This was all new to me and shocking. I said Donald that ruins the vinyl!   My vinyl was now all ruined as he had gone through all of them.
     I have to laugh now. I accepted this immediately as I was just happy and grateful to be back home off the streets alive and with my brother and the rest of my family minus my father. I love my family dearly though we are currently estranged unfortunately. I was happy I was able to contribute to my brothers happiness with my vinyl collection and got over the fact they were all but ruined for proper listening immediately. It was much more important my brother was happy. This was during a most important period of life for him with finding himself. He was 12 years old, entering puberty and junior high school. I remembered when I was 12 and how music, girls and finding my interests and personality and unique attributes had started with a flood.
     It was so important he did not go the route I went. I was grateful Prog lived on in the samples he created. At least I could contribute to a music form I don’t like at all with my Prog and classic rock collection. Some of the music he created actually sounded good with the samples. So I pretended to like his music to the point I actually liked a “few” songs. What I did like and appreciate was his creativity using samples. It was so important to be that big brother he missed out on for several years. I had a lot of making up to do and did the best I could. He was the man in the house while I was gone and I was proud and sad about this at the same time. I still am, mostly sad. At least I could fulfill this part now and I did.
     I know I got off topic yet I needed to vent a bit. Thanks for listening. I will not make this a habit.
      
     
     

Edited by PaulG - February 04 2022 at 09:29

Some of these posts make for painful reading. I mean, shoplifting a musicassette of Queen’s Greatest Hits out of Woolworths is one thing, but the soulless wretch who would rip off another man’s record collection is lower than whale sh*t in my estimation. Sympathies to the victims, and may karma visit the perps.

Hell, I’m still sore about the hippy I lent three jazz LPs to in Newcastle in 1991 who vanished without returning them. Alastair, if you’re reading this, it’s not over. And when I finally track you down those LPs better not be scratched.

Edited by Mascodagama - January 30 2022 at 15:36

siLLy puPPy wrote: progaardvark wrote: I was about to get The Cassiber Box, but Wayside refunded me because they didn't have it in stock.  Just ordered it! Found a cheaper selection on Discogs.

progaardvark wrote: I was about to get The Cassiber Box, but Wayside refunded me because they didn't have it in stock.

I'd say the ELO box set Flashback is worth having.

questionsneverknown wrote: The King Crimson boxes are really something special. I haven't bought any of the boxes focused on a single album (ITCOTCK, LTIA and Thrak), since that's less my kind of thing, so I don't have anything to say about those. However, all of the live collections really are quite stellar. Sailors Tales can be rather raw, but it gives you a great window on the Islands/Earthbound era of the band; plenty of interesting jams. At the other end of the chronology, Heaven and Earth is insanely exhaustive--including hundreds of shows by the various Projekts--that casts so much light on the Construktion of Light and Power to Believe era of the band. On (and Off) the Road puts in one box everything you could want from the 1980s quartet. When it comes to the mid-70s era, and when push comes to shove, I'd say the best box of all of them is Starless. Here you get all of the Great Deceiver stuff plus so much more. This is my favourite incarnation of the band and every disc features a number of improvisations so that each night's show is often radically different. That's a must own to me.

• King Crimson - The Great Deceiver
• Tangerine Dream - In Search of Hades
• Magma - Kohnzert Zund

I tend to only buy these when the box set is a better deal than buying the individual CDs. Off the top of my head, I own these...

Edited by progaardvark - January 19 2022 at 14:44

^Oops! I already contributed this.