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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Box sets span decades, bridge generations of music fans

Randall Roberts Los Angeles Times

The best box sets are their own worlds, aural encapsulations so fully imagined that five or six hours becomes something to get lost in, like a Bronte sisters bender or a Martin Scorsese weekend.

These are gifts that can help opinionated folkie dads sway daughters away from Luke Bryan toward Hank Williams or connect siblings trying to out-geek each other with resurrections from Numero Group and Now-Again. Whether it’s parents conspiring with kids to get “The Beatles in Mono” box or Bob Dylan’s “The Basement Tapes Complete” for some lucky grandpa or mom and daughter bonding over George Harrison’s “The Apple Years: 1968-1975,” the reflex is the same: to meet in that realm where shared, unspoken joy supplants family dynamics and generation gaps.

Below, a selection of miraculous universes to explore:

• Various Artists , “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Vol. 2” (Revenant/Third Man, $400). Like last year’s Grammy-nominated first volume, the second installment of “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records” gathers the great work of the Grafton, Wisconsin, furniture company Paramount, whose record-everything philosophy, started in 1917, captured important early folk, blues, jazz and country music and helped shape the 20th century American sound. Like that first volume, this one comes in a briefcase and weighs a ton physically, historically and thematically.

Like the first volume, the set was released by Jack White’s Third Man Records and the excellent archival label Revenant. The latter’s Dean Blackwood oversaw the production of both sets and said that the company unwittingly brought into focus artists that otherwise wouldn’t have stood a chance. “Paramount certainly did much more comprehensive job as a repository, as an archive of that than any preservationist body,” said Blackwood. “The Library of Congress didn’t even start their field recording operation in any kind of significant scale until the ’30s. Well, a lot of these sounds were no longer being made then. It was left to operations like Paramount.”

The great irony, adds Blackwood: “It’s kind of the old American story. This company that had no interest in anything other than turning a buck this week ends up being the single greatest archivist – unintentional archivist – when it comes to preservation of sounds that are otherwise completely lost to time.”

Volume 2 stretches from 1928 to the company’s closing in 1932 and is even better than the first. It features 800 recordings stored on an exquisitely crafted thumb-drive, two thick books, a six-LP set and various advertising ephemera, all contained in a stainless steel case designed in the look of the era. That drive is a miracle – 800 sides originally released on 78 rpm, some of the world’s rarest records, to mix and match, cross-reference and curate into playlists. The heft is equaled by the set’s design and execution, to say nothing of the dead voices gathered within.

It includes influential work by Skip James, Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson, but the glory is in the lesser-known marches, rags, waltzes, ballads and blues from artists screaming through the dust and decades. It’s as deep and all-consuming a document as a set of scriptures, one filled with nearly as many hallowed stories, ancient truisms and snapshot revelations.

• William Onyeabor , “Collected Works” (Luaka Bop, $69.99). One of the great reissue campaigns of recent years is Luaka Bop’s work bringing Onyeabor’s music into ears that would have otherwise missed out. In 2013, the mysterious Nigerian artist was the subject of a loving collection, “Who Is William Onyeabor?” Featuring mesmerizing rhythms and a curious way with melody, Onyeabor in those nine tracks seemed to burst out of the past sounding as fresh as when he quit music for Christianity in the mid-1980s.

Luaka Bop, founded by David Byrne, has just gone all-in, compiling Onyeabor’s strange handmade West African synth-rock released from 1977 to 1985. It’s a thrilling collection of the artist’s eight self-released albums, filled with Onyeabor’s eternally optimistic demeanor and a magnetism sure to prompt cocked-ear curiosity from trainspotting friends gathered around the decks.

• Various Artists , “When I Reach that Heavenly Shore” (Tompkins Square, $32). A haunting journey into sanctuaries of nearly a century ago, this three-volume collection features recordings from the stacks of noted archivist and music historian Christopher King. In the liner notes, King calls this work, which stretches from 1926 to 1936, “humble prayers directly placed before God.” That’s an understatement.

Many of the included sides are impassioned sermons with musical and chorale accompaniment. King cites the Bible verse that each track references, connecting written and sung messages into a sublime, often-ethereal whole. Best, some of this seems so strange as to boggle the imagination.

• Joni Mitchell , “Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, a Ballet, Waiting to Be Danced” (Rhino/Warner Bros., $64.99). A gift from the heavens: A favorite artist has curated a four-CD set of her work over the decades, one that jumps years, styles, sounds and themes. The collection “Love Has Many Faces” gathers Mitchell’s seminal music into four thematically linked compilations.

Untethered from the artist’s albums, the songs cascade from one to another with mystical grace, only to be abruptly interrupted with her more aggressive works. Also wonderful are Mitchell’s liner notes, which offer blow-by-blow memories of the sessions and interactions. She gets grumpy about Bob Dylan and David Geffen and calls out her own songs for new critique. “Some of my songs bug people. They hate them,” she writes. “ ‘Moon at the Window’ was one. Sarah Vaughan said, ‘That’s a strange form.’ ” Indeed it is, one of many strange forms that, woven into new fabrics on “Many Faces,” create mesmerizing comfort.

• Daft Punk , “Alive 2007” (Rhino/Warner Bros., $129.99). Looking for a surprise box for the 20-something daughter who last year slid home for Christmas morning just as the sun was rising? Paris house kings Daft Punk have reissued a pair of live sets from their wildly infectious first decade, when tracks like “Da Funk,” “Robot Rock” and “One More Time” were storming rave culture, carving through the electronica movement and into living room dance floors. The 2007 set is available for the first time on its own on double vinyl, but the version that’ll win over your giftee is the limited edition box. It features the 2007 album pressed on white vinyl, a bonus record of the show’s encore, a silver vinyl edition of Daft Punk’s first live album, “Alive 1997,” a photo book, a turntable slip mat and a download card. Best, this work sounds as vital as when it was first released, exuberant dance music built to last.