There's a whole cavalcade of boxed set reviews over on the Newsday site.
But here's a few you shouldn't miss:
ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS AND BASTARDS. So much brilliant new Tom Waits material, it will keep even the biggest fan happy for months. Three CDs, Anti-, $49.98. Unlike most boxed sets, "Orphans" is all new, a way for Tom Waits (and his wife and longtime collaborator, Kathleen Brennan) to organize the sprawling creativity that bursts from his head. The "Brawlers" CD is the most contemporary, as Waits stretches his meticulous, detailed stories over an equally inventive array of beats - from the clomping beatbox of "Lucinda" to the jumpy, surf-guitar-augmented "Lie to Me" and the moody, churning version of "Sea of Love." The "Bawlers" CD is more cinematic, with the aching country guitars that make "Young at Heart" a bit more hopeful or the Celtic lilt that makes "Widow's Grove" a bit sweeter. The "Bastards" CD is filled with musical experiments and spoken word performances. Any one of these CDs would be plenty to be proud of. Together, they show the breadth and depth of Waits' singular talent.
Listen to "You Can Never Hold Back Spring" here.
PIRATE RADIO. Indisputable proof the Pretenders were, are and will always be the real thing. Four CDs, one DVD, Rhino, $74.98. All the complexities of the great Chrissie Hynde are on display in this set - the tough rocker ("Precious") with the tender side ("I'll Stand by You") who balances family ("Thumbelina") with fame ("Talk of the Town") and still manages to keep her soul intact. Never mind that she's a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who's endured two of rock's most tragic deaths - the losses of Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon, felt even more deeply after seeing them on the set's DVD of TV performances - or that she was essentially the template for women in rock, from the hem of her leather pants to the bangs in her eyes. Hynde is one of rock's most sure-footed lyricists and distinctive vocalists. (Listen to what she does with Radiohead's "Creep" or Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday" or the Beatles' "Not a Second Time.") "Pirate Radio" collects all of the band's greatest work - including songs from the underrated "Loose Screw" album - in one place for the first time, along with 15 demos and B-sides that often show Hynde's lighter side.
Listen to samples from "Pirate Radio" here
FUZZY WARBLES COLLECTOR'S ALBUM. XTC frontman Andy Partridge offers an intriguing window into his creative process. Nine CDs, Ape, $79.98. Andy Partridge's "Fuzzy Warbles" series is simply fascinating - not only because it shows the evolution of some of XTC's most famous songs from home studio to full-blown Britpop craftiness, but because it also provides an unflinching look at the punch-drunk (or just plain drunk) world of the recording studio and the creative process. This set is packed with demo versions, alternate takes and B-sides, but the surprises generally come when Partridge lets the recorder roll while life happens - such as when he is working on "Mayor of Simpleton" and someone calls from R.E.M. and he is convinced they wanted him to produce their next album (they didn't) or when he reworks a song into the style of the Cure and follows it with the way the Smiths would approach it.
Listen to songs from "Fuzzy Warbles" here
A LIFE LESS LIVED: THE GOTHIC BOX. A confounding salute to the black clothes, the dark mascara and the even darker imagery of the "Goth" movement. Three CDs, one DVD, Rhino, $64.98. "Goth" is one of those labels that bands hate because it generates a stereotype that usually applies more to their fans than their music - you know, like the way bands that sound "emo" usually claim they're anything but that. Nevertheless, if you're singing about death, the moon, and escaping and/or embracing the coming of the apocalypse, while a wall of guitars and a galloping drumbeat go on behind you, you might be a goth band. (Sorry to break it to you, Peter Murphy.) Liz Goodman, the producer of this handsomely designed set, housed in a lace-up black corset, tries to defend her choices by explaining that the goth experience "is a very personal one." Fair enough. She does a great job of getting the genre's heavy hitters right - Bauhaus, the Damned, Sisters of Mercy, the Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Cult - and throwing in pleasant surprises, including Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's "Walking on Your Hands" and the Bolshoi's "Away." The set is so comprehensive that the inclusion of Flesh For Lulu's "I Go Crazy" or the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head On," which are about as goth as Madonna's "Lucky Star" or anything by mall goths Evanescence, can almost be overlooked. Almost.
Listen to samples from "A Life Less Lived" here