Another Side Of A Bob Dylan Box Set

$300 later…

I’ll buy a good song once, twice, five times. But geez, how many times does Dylan want us to pony up for the same time thing? Stereo, mono, original packaging, CDs, albums, 8 tracks, Blue Ray,  over and over again there is Dylan saying “buy me again, buy me again, the same side of Bob Dylan, buy me one more time with feeling. Here is the latest off bobdylan.com:

“This CD boxed set contains 35 studio titles (including first-ever North American release of 1973’s Dylan album on CD), 6 live albums, 2-CD “Side Tracks,” and hardcover book featuring new album-by-album liner notes by Clinton Heylin and new introduction by Bill Flanagan.

“Side Tracks” brings together for the first time two discs worth of previously released non-album singles, tracks from Biograph and other compilations, songs from films and more.

The Complete Album Collection Vol. One will also be available as a limited-edition harmonica-shaped USB stick containing all the music, in both MP3 and FLAC lossless formats, with a digital version of the hardcover booklet, housed in a deluxe numbered box.

The Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One will be available on Tuesday, November 5, 2013.

Pre-order the CD box set now on Amazon or the Official Bob Dylan store.

Pre-order the limited edition harmonica USB set on the Official Bob Dylan store.”

So what’s the selling point here? I guess  the Dylan album on CD, I mean, who can resist Bobby crooning “Big Yellow Taxi”, right? Fair enough, but how much?  $278.98 (whenever I see .98 I figure I’d getting hosed.

The one with the USB stick is pretty slick stuff, costing $319.98 and this is what you get:

Beginning with tracks recorded for his eponymous 1962 Columbia Records debut album, the Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One follows Dylan’s restless transformations across six decades as a singer, a songwriter, a concert performer and a studio artist who’s continually finding fresh ways of expressing and exploring the varieties of human experience, worldly and other, with music.

The Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One also brings together for the first time, on the “Side Tracks” compilation, a wealth of previously released non-album singles, tracks from Biograph and other compilations, songs from films and more.

The USB contains 35 studio titles, 6 live albums, the “Side Tracks” compilation and a digital booklet featuring extensive new album-by-album liner notes penned by Clinton Heylin and a new introduction written by Bill Flanagan.

• All 41 official albums, including 14 newly remastered titles

• Side Tracks – a compilation of previously released songs not included on the original albums

• Limited, numbered edition

• User Interface menus and functions to import MP3’s

• All songs in high quality FLAC format (24bit 44.1kbps) and MP3 format (320kbps)

• All Original Artwork

• Digital booklet with extensive liner notes and rare photos

That one includes a harmonica!!

 A waste of money? Oh, I guess, it is the sort of thing you treat yourself though you know you have no real need for it. It just looks cool, like the mono album CDs in their original covers earlier this century!