Customer Reviews

Box Set

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Considering this box set has been in the works for something like 6 or 7 years and now that it finally has arrived with a jolting price tag (much higher than previously stated before release) it's probably something you'll have to buy, but clench your teeth as you do. Included with the box set is a booklet of incredible cheapness, full of badly printed photos and boring, uninformative liner notes by Samhain's two drummers; we also get lyrics to Initium and November Coming Fire, but the way they're printed, they're almost impossible to read. No lyrics at all for Uhholy Passion or Final Descent! There's a comic book that's printed on the thinnest paper I've ever seen in my life, and the story and art inside are so stupid and juvenile you wonder how Danzig can include this and still show his face in public. Also included is a videotape with footage from 3 shows thoughout the life of Samhain, including a early Baltimore show in front of about maybe 20 people. I didn't have a problem with this; all of the footage is amateur videotape and has been complied from 15 year old sources, so it looks about as good as it possibly get. I've seen the same shows for many years on many different tapes, and the quality here is probably the best ever. Still, the shows are NOT presented complete, only partially. None of these shows lasted longer than 40 mins. or so, and there's no reason why they couldn't be included on this tape in full. The CD's are housed in cheap cardboard sleeves (get them out ASAP and into jewel cases; cardboard sleeves scratch CDs quicker than hell) and the tracks are badly disorganized. Unholy Passion, originally an EP, could have fit easily onto the end of any of the other CD's instead of getting it's own 20 minute CD. The "Double Live" CD is really just one CD with 2 different shows on it; the package is misleading on this. Finally, in terms of bonus/unreleased tracks, we do get some interesting demos of Twist Of Cain and 3 other tunes, but there's a LOT more that could have been on here. I have heard boots of alternate cuts from NCF and demo versions of cuts from Intium and ALL that stuff deserved to be included here....certainly enough space for it. In short, Danzig/Emagine did a major shortchange on this box set, which is a shame, because the possibilities for it were astounding. But we're not likely to see another one, ever. Final word? Grit your teeth at the price and buy it for the music, which is as ever great and is presented in good remixed quality, because after Danzig's recent rupture with Emagine, we're not likely to see individual issues of the CD's. This is it and we'll have to be content with it.

Ah, the Samhain box set. Could hardly call it "long-awaited", as it never would've occurred to me they'd bother, given the paucity of their releases back in the day. But I'm a fan, right? And what does "fan" mean, if it's not a euphemism for "sucker"? So here goes....

First, you might mistake this for a Danzig box, given the competence of the consequently un-Samhain packaging, so be sure to open the thing up before shipping it back to Amazon with a letter of complaint. Once you do that, you'll find all three original records (with "Misery Tomb" included on Unholy Passion--revisionism, anyone?), plus a disc labeled "Final Descent" and a disc of live cuts. Not much needs to be said about the live disc, which is great, or the original albums, which are also great (and, I'm happy to report, not too grossly remastered). The real gem here for all you vinyl hounds, though, is Final Descent, in which the Unholy Passion tracks from the original CD are replaced with a few new finds, like a primordial version of "Twist of Cain". Very cool.

The video is entertaining enough; sure, you've seen bootlegs with higher production values, but the band, who look like they're barely out of high school, are genuinely charming. This, after all, is what rock and roll is all about--but don't take my word for it: Look at the group shots on the early albums by the Stooges, the Dead Boys, or for that matter, AC/DC or the Seeds. Hats off to a group of snotty kids, who, admittedly, you probably COULD take in a dark alley, but rock harder and with more vehemence than you could ever hope to.

The read disappointments here are the booklet and comic. I know, here I am saluting kid rockers and then complaining that that comic is so infantile as to be, frankly, embarassing. But these guys were always the quintessential horror rockers, the Hammer studio on wax, and stupid drawings of Glenn Danzig boning groupies hardly enhance that image. If Black Widow did anything similar, I hope they have the sense to keep it under lock and key; let porn rock be porn rock and horror rock be horror rock.

The booklet is almost as bad: The lyrics to all the Unholy Passion and Final Descent songs are omitted (not that you need to care, anyway; as Fats Domino said, it's more fun to figure 'em out for yourself), the Danzing write-up self-congratulatory, and the other anecdotes (by both ex-drummers--go figure) strikingly uninformative. I guess the pictures are fine, but hey, the cover of Initium was always enough for me.

Finally, the packaging is so cheap as to almost be insulting. Remember those flimsy containers in the Misfits box? Well, this time, Glenn dispensed even with those, going instead for the kind of cardboard sleeves you KNOW are going to get all bent-up in the car. You'd think $60 would buy a couple extra pieces of plastic, and full-size jewel boxes would fit in the oversized box, no problem.

So the bottom line is, if you're considering buying this, and you already have the albums, you should know that you'll probably end up feeling just a little bit ripped off. Of course, if you're a fan, you'll still need to have it, as I did, and you're hardly going to be daunted by ol' Glenn's cynicism (does anybody know if there's anything to the rumor that he's the one secretly putting out all those bootlegs of the old Misfits 45s?). So to you new guys, caveat emptor; to you fellow old fans, I raise my glass! You'll dig this thing over and over, just as I am.

All together this is a great box set the video is great and so is the booklet also it comes with a cool comic. the only complaint i have is the lack of unreleased tracks such as the archangle with chimes an alternate versions of novembers fire, halloween 2 and some other later tracks. also the liner notes are great but i would like to see some notes from eerie von since he was there from start to finish.

The Box set offers everything that was promised. The whole Samhain collection is finally offered in a complete set with a few extras.

The high points of the package are the extra track on "Final Descent" which include early recordings of 'Twist of Cain' and 'Posession.' The live elements of the box set shine in the double CD. The CD offers the best sounding recordings of the fury of Samhain I have ever heard. I was a little dissapointed with the video at first, but it seems it was the best that could be done with footage that is almost 20 years old.

My biggest personal dissapointment was that the lyrics to the "Unholy Passion EP" and "Final Descent" were not included in the 28 page booklet. Aside from that, the booklet is still a cool feature with color pics and a few word from Glenn himself, Steve Zing and London May. When you're done flipping throught the booklet there is still the short Samhain comic book to look at. An interesting piece for sure.

Any DANZIG/SAMHAIN/MISFITS fan should own this. It is a piece of morbid punk history and I can't believe that is is finally available in one package! It is about time!

Thanks Glenn.

well when this came out it was the last thing in the cd store i was looking for. i just happened to mosy on over to the boxed sets and there it was!! it was kind of weird because i just dug out my initiam album and i was wondering if they would ever put this on cd again.seeing how all the originalls went out of print. well anyways this is a must have for any fan of glen or the misfits .alot of people did not like samhain after the misfits (i know he did get a lot deeper didnt it)but this is the best boxed set i own. you get all there discs remastered(and a great job at that) some rare demo tracks from before the danzig solo album(great versions of twist of cain and the elvis song trouble)glen is the dark elvis isnt he!! and a really cool but some what grainy video and a comic book and bookletwith some not all lyrics. when i got this i listened to it all in one sitting. so to end a really must buy not just for the dye hard fan but any one interested in the dark and twisted sounds of one of the great punk bands of the last twenty years .so plenty of time to get it before the next helloween party where you know you are going to play it at.........

The Samhain box set has a good collection of items. The five cds including a unreleased live cd. It also comes with a rare live video and booklet with pictures. Samhain was a really cool band that is greatly overlooked and under appreciated by the music industry. With that being said, I feel that this box set needed a little more time and effort than it seems to have had. I have three problems with the box set. First, in the booklet included is the lyrics to two of the albums. Wheres the lyrics to the rest of the songs? It would only have taken another 2-3 pages. I also feel believe that Glenn Danzig (singer, song writer, producer) should have given a summary of the history of Samhain. Instead, the two drummers just wrote about their infatuations with Glenn Danzig. The second problem I have with the box set is that the live cd does not have good sound quality. The music sounds good, but I can't hear his voice, which makes Samhain! There are a couple of good tracks, but there are only two shows included. I have heard some Samhain live bootlegs that sound better, which means there are other live shows recorded. Which means that if there was a some more time and effort involved there could have been a few good live tracks from several shows which would have made it awesome! Lastly, There are only four unreleased tracks where's Mephisto Waltz and possibly other recordings of various songs? The only reason I am being so critical is because I am a huge fan. Most people who are going to buy this box are huge fans. Even if you are or not, I do encourage you to buy this box set; five cds for 50 dollars is good, an extra 10 dollars for a rare live video (good quality) is really good, a booklet with cool pictures, and an ultra rare Samhain comic book, is awesome!

I personally think this is a good investment for the misfit fiends and the danzig fiends alike. 5 cds, a 28 page book (with some cool pics and flyers) samhain comic book, 40 min video.. for ... bucks, not bad i think. The cds are available now individually but youre looking at like ... bucks each plus you get the live cd that is not available for purchase.. There have been some complaints about the 'unholy passion' and the 'final descent' lyrics but you can find them on the internet anyway; also the cardboard cases the cds come in, well i'll admit i like jewel cases as much as the next guy, but i think the cardboard cases are kinda cool cos' they look like little records, and plus its a change, im sure we all get tired of looking at jewel cases all the time. All in all this "sow-win" box set is worth it, hell just for the initium cover alone. If you like the misfits (not the new misfits)and you like danzig, you cant go wrong with this, go out and buy the misfits box set while youre at it. Im just left with one question, When is the danzig box coming out?

An earlier reviewer stated that he'd been waiting a year for this release. A whole year! Man how did you manage?!?! I (as well as other SAMHAIN FIENDs) have been waiting for this since the mid 90's when GLENN first started talking about it, so step to the back of the line. Hopefully if you're buying this boxset you're just discovering SAMHAIN for the first time because if you already have the vinyl or cd's of INITIUM, UNHOLY PASSION, NOVEMBER-COMING-FIRE or FINAL DESCENT then you're cash won't be getting you much but if you're like me you'll still enjoy what you get either way. I already had all of the original CAROLINE/PLAN 9 cd's (plus some bootleg videos) so I wasn't expecting much extra from this box, but I was in no way disappointed when I got it. First of all the discs are all remastered (no matter what some reviewers say) which is quite apparent if you have the older out-of-print releases, the songs found in the boxset have never sounded better (Unless of course you're a "vinyl purist"!). If you listen to a song from an older release & then listen to that same song from the boxset you'll easily be able to tell which is which, the songs on the boxset are louder & crisper than the previous muddy mixes. I've heard some complaining about the cardboard sleeves that the discs come in from others that have bought the boxset but they don't bother me & by now everyone knows that's the way they're packaged, so get over it. The lyric booklet is cool as well, even if it is missing lyrics to the songs on UNHOLY PASSION & FINAL DESCENT, with thoughts from LONDON MAY, STEVE ZING & GLENN DANZIG on what SAMHAIN & being in SAMHAIN meant to them. The booklet also has alot of pictures that I hadn't seen anywhere else, including some SAMHAIN show flyers. The video is nothing special just two live SAMHAIN shows, no interviews or behind-the-scenes footage & neither show is of the highest quality......although this is the first time I've been able to watch & listen to a SAMHAIN show in stereo without being overwhelmed by the notorious hissing of "bootlegs". The comic is utter garbage in my opinion & demeans everything that GLENN's ever said SAMHAIN meant to him, although the drawing of the woman exploding is pretty killer. GLENN's often stated that with SAMHAIN he wanted to get away from the horror movie image of THE MISFITS (GLENN's previous band.) & step up a notch into discovering the horrors around us in everyday life but I just kept thinking of THE MISFITS (especially the current campy version) while reading this comic, which by the way is a mere 8 pages & comprised of 2 seperate stories, one of which has been available for years. The real reason I had to have the boxset was because of the 3 unreleased tracks (there are actually 4 but I wasn't particulary interested in hearing a faster version of LORDS OF THE LEFT HAND, but that was still cool as well): TWIST OF CAIN, POSSESSION & TROUBLE (TROUBLE was written by JERRY LEIBER & MIKE STOLLER & originally performed by ELVIS PRESLEY) & I wanted the live cd. TWIST OF CAIN, POSSESSION & TROUBLE would all end up on later DANZIG releases, TWIST OF CAIN & POSSESSION on DANZIG (released in 1988) & TROUBLE on THRALL-DEMONSWEATLIVE (released in 1993) but the versions found in the SAMHAIN boxset are so raw & powerful (even if TWIST OF CAIN goes on endlessly with no apparent end in site) quite a contrast to the later versions that DANZIG released. The live cd is again one of the main reasons I wanted the boxset & I was not let down, the cd perfectly captures SAMHAIN at their best...LIVE. So with little complaint from me.....missing lyrics & 23 more unreleased alternate tracks not found in the boxset, I give the SAMHAIN boxset a definant 5 outa' 5......hell, it gets a 5 just for the music alone!

Yes, the packaging (jewel cases rather than album sleeve replicas) could have been better. And the video could be longer or clearer. But these are quibbles. To have, in one place, all 4 Samhain releases, plus a live CD, is finally a relief. The archive pictures are cool, and this is definitely a set to put alongside the Misfits coffin box. Well worth the long wait IMO, and a set I'm really enjoying.

TO BE BLUNT...IF YOU LIKE EVIL/DEATHROCK KIND'A MUSIC SAMHAIN DOES IT FOR YOU. ALL OF THE SAMHAIN SONGS ERRIE, BUT I FEEL THAT NOVEMBER COMING FIRE, IS AS EVIL AS DANZIG HAS SOUNDED SO FAR! GOOD BOX SET,BUT IF YOU LIKE THIS KIND'A MUSIC, THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO HEAR!