Complete Columbia 40th Anniversary box set

Please find my full review below. I am very impressed that Blue Oyster Cult have released this box set even though it could have held more interest for the Hardcore fan. 
If you don't want to know a full breakdown of this box set then please do NOT read this review as it does contain 'Spoilers'.

So even though this is an official release I do need to clear up somethings with regards to the Radio Broadcasts in here in particular.
Whilst many of us BOC fans have been waiting for the band to remaster the back catalogue properly I don't think anyone was expecting them to do it all in one go and put out a 17 album box set with 4 downloads.

Firstly I'm not entirely sure who this box is marketed/aimed at.
The causal listener will surely not be wanting to spend the amount required for this, and this amount of material may even be too much to handle for the casual listener. But is it aimed at the hard core BOC fan instead?

Unfortunately not. Because a lot of the 'rare' material has been widely available for many years, and the reason for that? Well apparently the record company don't have anything else they can put out? They simply can't find anything else!!

So onto what we DO have here.
Firstly you get all the albums remastered some with extra tracks,(the extra tracks cease from 1980 onwards mysteriously).
1 rarity disc and 1 Best of the broadcasts disc AND 4 shows to download from the website.
I'm not gonna focus on the regular albums here, I'm gonna save that for another time.

But I am going to focus on the 'rarites' disc, the Best of the Broadcasts Cd and the 4 shows.

So firstly albeit briefly we have the 'Rarities' CD.
Opening with tracks from the 'Commack' show of 1975 (with Black Oak Arkansas) which is already on this site could have been great but we only get selected tracks. This show was the first KBFH show and only 4 tracks were broadcast originally.
Only opener 'Stairway to the Stars' from that original broadcast is on this disc though with 'Dominance and Submission', 'Astronomy' and 'ME262' all criminally missed off. Instead we get 'Red and the Black', Bucks Boogie' and 'Cities on flame'. The quality seems to get worse on these tracks as well as the CD plays on.Each song sounding worse than it's predessor.'Bucks Boogie' for instance has a horrible hiss all over it'.
Whilst it is great that these tracks finally see the light of day it's HUGELY disappointing that with 4 downloadable shows there's no more material that was completely locked in the vaults.
To be honest I am very disappointed with this CD.
There's some tracks next apparently from 'Berkeley 1979' The crowd noise has been added on quite clearly. This is due to the fact that the band played a mini set 'before' the show that was videoed and this is simply the audio of that. It's been on youtube for years.Not exactly rare is it?

Special mention must go the 'The Vigil' from this 'set' as it's already been released on the hard to find 'Setlist album and this version is VERY good and probably the second best track on the whole CD, shame it's not really live though.
So what's the best track I hear you cry. Well after a few dull demo's (sorry, I can see why they were demos though) and a totally pointless mono version of 'Godzilla' we get the highlight of this disc a cover version! of 'The Beatles' 'I want you(She's so heavy)' from Abbey Road.

The band sound excellent on this ,so good in fact that you'd think they'd written it and played it for years. It's a great song and EVERY BOC needs to hear it.
It does raise one question though. If this was recorded on the date specified that means that this was taken from a show in Alabama that has NEVER seen the light of the day.It doesn't exist in trading circles in any quality. So why has only this one song been used for this disc? 

 The whole disc is rounded off with a very short spoken word by author Stephen King for the 'Imaginos' album that never till now, saw the light of day. It's ok, it is what it is.Does it make me want to play this CD again and again? Sadly No. Instead It'll be retired immediately after one play. Not good news.

So moving on...

The Best of the Broadcasts CD is just a compliation of the 4 download shows that come with the box set. So rather than focus on this CD I'm gonna delve a little bit more into the downloads themselves.

Firstly What a wonderful idea. 4 downloads of concerts from different years free when you get the anniversary box set.
So what are the shows? Are they any good? Are they previously unreleased?
So many questions and now...the answers.

Well..the shows for download are as follows:

San Francisco 1980
New York 1981
Pasadena 1983
Santa Monica 1986

 Each of these shows are already featured on this site in depth, so if you're trying to decide if these shows make it worth actually buying this set and shelling out a lot of cash I hope I can guide and inform you.

San francisco 1980.
This show is definately the pick of the bunch. Excellent sound quality and the complete concert. It's a winner. 
For a more detailed review and track listing etc this show is available on this site here .. San Francisco 1980

Next is New York 1981.
Unfortunately this is where things start going wrong. 
This particular version of the show is a travesty and really should not have been included in this set. Previously released on the 'Tales from the Psychic wars' this show is heavily edited from the original broadcast. Each song fades in and out (which is really annoying) and it's not the complete set either.
Seek out the FULL show not this version.
For a more detailed review and track listing etc of the proper show it's all available on this site here ..New York 1981

Pasadena 1983.
Another travesty of a show. Released before as disc 2 of the aforementioned  'Tales from the Psychic wars'. This show has the band going through the motions and is really not a memorable show even though it's been heavily bootlegged.
Sound quality is excellent of course but even that doesn't save it.
For a FULL review check here...Pasadena 1983

And lastly we have Santa Monica 1986.
A really good show this one, one of the best radio broadcasts out there in fact, that is again  criminally incomplete as was the original broadcast, and to be honest I've listened to my original copy of this and it actually sounds a fraction better than the released one. 'The version of 'Dominance and Submission' played on this tour was one of the best but unfortunately it's not on here, as no unbroadcast tracks get selected for this box set. 
Strangely enough another track which is not here is '(Don't fear) The Reaper' which I have on my version of the broadcast as the last track.
The original broadcast is here with an explanation of the inclusion of 'Wings of Mercury'. (Which is also on the Best of the Broadcasts CD). 
So for the FULL review check here..Santa Monica 1986

None of the 4 shows have been touched up, or remastered and unfortunately nothing extra added from the original broadcasts.

So what do you think? Personally I'm terribly disappointed overall with the shows. Sure if I had to pick 4 shows then yes 'San Francisco 1980' would be in there,but even the Santa Monica show from 86 as good as it is wouldn't make the grade as there are far better shows out there.
Whereas the shows selected for inclusion are overall pretty much lack lustre shows and the way they've been left heavily edited is a huge disappointment.

Instead we should have had the full show from the KBFH of 1980 from Poughkeepsie when the band were on fire and officially released 'Dominance and Submission' on 'ETL' from this broadcast.
Or how about the missing songs from the amazing Worcester 1982 gig that was also a radio broadcast. That show in particular was breathtaking.

I'd also like to know what happened to the shows used for the 'ETL' album. Philadelphia 1981,Florida 1981(full show) and Nassau New York 1981, they must exist in full form, why not chose them or the aforementioned unreleased show from Alabama in 1980 from where the 'I want you' Beatles cover was taken for the rarities CD or as they were a lot of radio broadcasts in 1981 why not utilise them?

Or even the complete set from the Hammersmith odeon from 1984 that was only broadcasted in edited version.
Looking through this site you'll see there are so many other options they could or should have chosen.
But if you don't have these now 'official' shows already and can't get hold of the original broadcasts (Most of which are available on the net with a bit of searching) then I'm guessing you may be happy with the shows.
They're not 'bad' as such, I mean it's Blue Oyster Cult' of course they're not bad but it's just a HUGE trick missed.
I can't/don't believe that betwen Eric,Buck and the record company more live shows were available to take from.

However on a positive note, overall the box set is extremely good value with all the albums in as well, you really can't go wrong especially if you don't have them already.
But if you're looking for something to help make the decision of you parting with your hard earned cash,something special, something never before released then I'm guessing these download shows and the Rarities and Best of the broadcasts CD's aren't gonna make you gonna throw your fist in the air and say a big 'Hell Yeah'.
The box set is good, the packaging is great and the quality of music is faultless, how could it not be it's BOC, but like I said at the beginning it's not for Hardcore fans looking for something special or something new but rather for completists only.

A real shame as it was such a good idea.