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124 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
High on Quality, Low on Value, July 21, 2001
This review is from: Buffalo Springfield Box Set (Audio CD)
This seems to be the type of box set where the audience is predetermined. If you're not a Buffalo Springfield fan by now, surely no major radio stations are playing much else besides For What It's Worth to win you over. But if you are someone who's unsure of whether to buy this or not, be forewarned: it's not a real great value. For the full price of a four-disc set, you get about 22 demos, six remixes, and most (but not quite all) of the material on the Springfield's three albums. As for me, I'm a huge Neil fan, so I had to have it regardless, but I was a little annoyed at several things, from the way the sticker on the box describes the fourth disc as a "bonus" disc (I'm paying for it, aren't I?) in which 21 tracks are repeated from the first three discs, to the chintzy single-ply paper inserts in the individual jewel boxes, to the lack of commentary from Neil or anyone else in the band about the tracks in the booklet. You could probably purchase the three Springfield albums for ten or fifteen dollars less than the cost of this box. If you don't need the demos, or if you have one or two of the original albums on disc already, that might be a better way to go.Some of the demos are interesting, and you can hear what later became Country Girl on CSNY's Deja Vu here as Down, Down, Down. But Rhino usually gives you much more bang for your buck. Let the buyer beware.
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44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Huh?!?, August 31, 2005
This review is from: Buffalo Springfield Box Set (Audio CD)
Two years. Three albums. A four-disc retrospective. It wouldn't seem possible to get a more comprehensive treatment of a band's career than that promised by Buffalo Springfield's unimaginitively titled BOX SET. But in fact the producers of this gorgeously packaged, extensively annotated and beautifully remastered misfire have achieved the impossible by crafting an anthology at once bloated and incomplete.
Far more legendary as the incubator of the careers of Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay than for its own output - which included exactly one hit ("For What It's Worth") and a lot of highly influential but woefully underappreciated material besides - Buffalo Springfield could and should have had the mother of all box sets, one containing every note the band ever released as well as plenty of alternates, outtakes and demos. Instead, BOX SET gives us, in the course of its first three discs, all but FOUR of the group's released numbers (these being the original, seven-minute version of Stills' "Bluebird" as well as three tracks from the 1968 LAST TIME AROUND LP). Since none of the CDs runs much over an hour, this is absolutely inexcusable. Alternates and outtakes are fine; but when a band's entire catalogue could easily be fit on three discs, to have a handful of songs left out of a four-CD anthology is just...well, choose your favorite adjective.
Padding things out instead is a wealth of previously unreleased material, including arguably too many solo demos by Young and transitional recordings which document the Springfield's disintegration into its various member's subsequent careers. Much of this is great stuff, though some of it is rather difficult to call Buffalo Springfield.
The crowning irony, however, is disc four, whereon the first two Buffalo Springfield albums are presented in release order - even though every single one of these tracks with the sole exception (no pun intended) of "Mr. Soul" appears somewhere on the first three discs. This blatant bit of price-gouging, absurd enough in itself, is doubly awful in light of the tracks left missing from this "definitive" compilation.
Given that fully half the material on BOX SET consists of rarities, and that all three Springfield albums are easily and cheaply available on CD, this box is clearly aimed at hardcore fans - which is to say, people who want to hear everything. That we don't is, alas, a tragic blight on a potentially (and largely)wonderful collection of music.
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52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Is this a record company rip-off project...?, October 12, 2004
This review is from: Buffalo Springfield Box Set (Audio CD)
That's the only explanation I can think of that's plausible. I have no idea if any of the former band members were involved in this release -- I can only hope they would have more integrity than to be a part of this.
First of all, I'll state that Buffalo Springfield was one of my very favorite bands from the 60s -- in a time of rich musical expansion and experimentation, they showcased some of the most imaginative, poetic AND melodic songwriting around. They combined intelligence with well-written pop tunes, incorporating influences from folk, country, blues and just plain rock-n-roll into their music. I gave this 3 stars for the sheer integrity and lasting qualities that make their music so special -- if some thought had gone into the compiling and packaging of this set, it could have easily rated more than the 5 start limit.
When I saw the release of this set some time ago, I mentally put it on my 'to buy' list -- I was certain that it would be an indespensable part of my collection. I couldn't have been more mistaken.
Some of the reviews below have cited some of the same factors that disappointed me so much -- mainly, why in the world would over half of their final studio album be left out? Why would the 4th disc in the set be made up of tracks that had already been included on discs 1 - 3? The tracks from the first album that are repeated are labeled 'mono version' -- but even on headphones, I can't tell any difference between them and the tracks that are unlabeled (which I would assume are supposed to be stereo). There are quite a few demo tracks included here (most of which are of dubious quality at best) -- but no live tracks. The live shows this band did were legendary -- surely somewhere there exist re-workable tapes of some of these performances...? Even without any live tracks, the set should have at least included all the tracks from their three studio albums -- the fourth disc could have been made up of the demo tracks, if the producers felt the need to include them.
For the price the releasing company (it's credited to Rhino/Elektra) is asking for this, even a readable booklet filled with good information would have made it a bit more palpable -- but at $60, you'd be better off buying the individual single-album CDs. You can get them right here, from Amazon, for $9.98 each, plus shipping -- and you'd wind up with all the studio tracks for half the price of this set, with none of the excess baggage. This set is only for the ultra-completionist collector.
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