Alice Cooper - Old School: 1964-1974 (Part 2) - #28

Alice Cooper - Old School: 1964-1974 (Part 2)

See also post #20. The box set arrived a couple of weeks ago. While I haven't heard the CDs/LP/7" or viewed the DVD or had more than a quick glance at the paperware in there yet (time is indeed a luxury these days), another question has crept up. Is it worth all the money?

Well ... let me see. The fact that there are videos on the www celebrating the unpacking of the box set, says a lot about the item. These folks do speak highly of their recent purchase. Other voices think that the price is ridiculous and they do not intend to shell out their hard earned cash. Each to his/her own. And there are fans out there, who simply can't afford this kind of money to leave the household, were it not for food, clothing or rent.

Nice as it looks, the box is indeed way overpriced. And I mean way overpriced. It's a very cute idea to house this in a kind of schooldesk, but, let's not mince words, this is nothing but cheap cardboard. And the last time I was getting excited about some fancy papergimmick, has been a while ago. Around the time of "Killer" actually. The fact, that the item is, apparently, limited (noone really knows how many are on the market, so pick any number between 1 and 100000 - the forums are ripe with uneducated guesses), doesn't help really.

Of the four CDs you get, only two are really worthwile. These are the the ones containing outtakes and live material and stuff. A third one, an interview disc, is something that shouldn't even be mentioned as a selling point. Nice to be in there, but it cries "cheapo" all over the place. Not really something you'll be listening to more than once. And the fourth CD is the same live document (plus 1) as the LP inside the box. So you could say, there's a third CD worth your money in there, but then, the LP is redundant. Your pick how you want to see this. You just buy the same basically twice.

The 7" (Nazz) doesn't even have a picture cover (they could have done one for this release, even though the original didn't have one) and is housed in a cardboardlike abrasive sleeve. Not something you want to see your precious vinyl in. The printed material is nice, but there's no point in adding fake tickets or photocopied setlists. No really, you have to see these two items to realise that you've been had. Although, in a way this is a nice boxset, it's not essential material, even to a diehard Alice Cooper fan. If you can afford it, by all means, go ahead and buy it (but hurry up, some mail orders have already sold out). To the others, there are better deals around. I'm not saying that a boxset can't cost up to EUR 200.00 (just  compare the really fat ones released by Bear Family and then cry in your beer, when you see what you can get for your money here), but then you expect more value for your cash.

Cheers

Devon