Thursday , June 11 2026

Blues

Bowie, Dylan, Eagles, Pretenders, Hank Williams, Grateful Dead and Much More: 21 Stupendous Big Box Sets for Music Fans

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Here are 21 of popular music’s most spectacular gargantuan anthologies, each featuring 10 or more discs.

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Music Reviews: Talking Heads’ ‘Tentative Decisions,’ plus Mississippi Sheiks, Jesper Lindell, and James Houlahan

Talking Heads Tentative Decisions

How on earth (or elsewhere!) did Talking Heads' sound originate, and how did it evolve? 'Tentative Decisions' doesn't quite answer the question, but it's fun to hear these early live tracks.

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Music Reviews: Fabulous Thunderbirds, plus Lester Young and Anthologies of Rockabilly and Appalachian Music

Not everything on these Fabulous Thunderbirds albums is fabulous, but Vaughan and Kim Wilson can be formidable singers and players, and, particularly on the early LPs, they and their bandmates delivered more than a few high-octane winners.

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Music Reviews: Boxing Up the Bangles, plus ‘Rock the Plaza’ and Kim Wilson’s ‘Slow Burn’

bangles watching the sky album cover detail

It's about time we had a box set from the Bangles, whose well-hooked, harmony-laden tunes provided some of the brightest moments on Top 40 radio in the 1980s.

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Music Reviews: Bob Dylan’s ‘Through the Open Window: Bootleg Series, Vol. 18,’ plus Dion, ‘The Rock ’n’ Roll Philosopher’

Bob Dylan Through the Open Window box set cover detail

Like the rest of the Bootleg anthologies, this one isn’t intended to be anything like a best-of collection. Instead, it aims to dig beneath the surface and hold a magnifying glass to Dylan’s creative process.

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Music Reviews: ‘Jac Holzman Presents Dylan’s Circle’ and Frank Zappa’s Expanded ‘One Size Fits All,’ plus Dallas Burrow, Rags Rosenberg, and the Far West

Dylan's Circle

There’s not a bad track on the album, which isn’t surprising given how consistently Holzman’s fabled label [Elektra] issued superlative music in its heyday.

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Music Reviews: ‘Joe Meek: A Curious Mind,’ plus a David Bowie Tribute, and Albums from Rory Block, Irving Flores, and Johnnie Johnson

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Joe Meek offered his share of teen-oriented pop, but he also had a penchant for strange novelty songs, odd sound effects, and numbers that dealt with the occult, outer space, and life on other planets.

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