Aerosmith - Pandora's Box

Aerosmith were written off by the pop pundits in the early '80s as a drug-ravaged bunch of Rolling Stones clones who would go down in music history as little more than a hard-rock footnote. The band, however, rose from the ashes to become an even mightier hit machine in the '90s, even if they ended up selling their soul to pop über-songstress Diane Warren in the bargain. This three-CD compilation is a marathon tour of their first glorious, casualty-ridden decade and a body of work that proudly wears its influences on its sleeve: Chicago and Delta blues, early R&B, the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, and, of course, the Stones. Virtually all the early hits and concert crowd pleasers are here, along with nearly two dozen rare, unreleased, and live cuts, thoroughly documented with refreshing doses of self-deprecation as it bravely traces the band's arc from Boston bar-band supreme to stadium superstars to seeming dissipation. If there's a gaping hole in the "A" section of your hard-rock library, this is a fine introduction to the Aerosmith that influenced a generation of musicians, stretching from Van Halen to R.E.M. to Guns N' Roses. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

70's Aerosmith

This 3 disc box set sets the standard for raunchy, sleazy, dirty Aerosmith that we all know and love. The majority of the songs are from their 70's drug induced stardom. There are nearly a dozen unreleased tracks and cuts on here, all of which are great. Aerosmith's cover of The Beatles "Helter Skelter" is amazing, it even rivals the quality of the orignal. If you want to know why Aerosmith was so highly heralded in the 1970's, then pick this box set up and crank the volume Aerosmith style. (Which is WAY UP) 5 STARS CERTAINLY July 18, 2007

classic aerosmith at their best

for someone who loves classic aerosmith (from 1971-1982) this box set is simply the best deal you'll ever find! all their best and then some. lots of fun unrealeased stuff and new concert clips which all soar.personally...i don't care for their more recent stuff but in the 70's these guys rocked and this box set claims its stake.nothing but good things to say about it. a definate must for anyone curious or some who wants alot of their stuff cheap.
for a mere $10 or $15 more than greatest hits...you get ALL their greatest hits.do yourself a favor and buy this...like now!!!!!! February 15, 2007

Now THIS is how a box set should be done.

Unreleased live tracks, rarities, well-known favorites and not-so-well-known album tracks...this is how a box set SHOULD be done! Why can't all artists put it together this way ? With a set like this chronicling the best hard-rock band in America, the only album you need besides this from Aerosmith's golden period of 1973-79 is the superb 'Rocks' album and, perhaps, 'Live Bootleg'. This box set really takes care of all the rest - that's how well done it is. Trust me, all your favorites are here and the stuff you haven't heard before is revealing and fantastic. February 23, 2006

This is one of the best box sets I own!

This is a great box set. It's the "hodge-podge" format which as you already know it includes live cuts, demos, originals, previously unreleased, etc. ANYONE could enjoy these 3 Aerosmith albums but mostly this is an album for die-hard Aerosmith fans or someone that's already into the band atleast on some level.

Are the newer releases remastered? NO! But the 1991 set sounded great to begin with. Like Led Zeppelin's box set in 1990 it was done right to begin with.

That being a given, this set is quite excellent. It focuses on the first 7 albums from 1973 to 1982. Most of the greatest hits sets out there (2 disc sets) focus on the 1985 - 2001 era such as "Gold" does. O Yeah! The Ultimate Aerosmith set has about 1/3 pre-1985 stuff on it. They dedicate about 1/3 to each decade. If the early stuff is your favorite, then this set is the true gold. There are a couple of single discs (Greatest Hits and Gems) which focus on the 70's, but as some of us know there are edited versions of some songs on Greatest Hits.

If you want to get into the early 70's stuff I suggest getting each album, especially now that those are remastered. And they really are. 20 bit. But if you don't want to buy all six or seven of those, this set is the next best thing and you can get it very inexpensively used/new here on Amazon.com Even if you have all of the 70's albums there are 20 previously unreleased tracks on Pandora's Box. So, there is plenty there for the collector or the new fan of 70's material.


February 23, 2006

Good stuff, but too much of it is previously released

Pandora's Box. An Aerosmith box set.

When Aerosmith began to regain fame in the late eighties and early nineties, many fans of the group began to forget about the classic hard rock material that the group had recorded in the seventies, prior to their original break-up. This was a shame, because the band's seventies material was really the best stuff they had ever recorded. To try to make the Aerosmith legacy of the past more well-known, the Pandora's Box set was released. Read on for my review of this set.

PROS:
-YOU GET THREE DISCS OF MATERIAL FROM THE BAND'S CLASSIC SEVENTIES MATERIAL. This is the era in which the band was in their prime, and it's great that the record company decided to released a box set of nothing but tracks from this era.
-THERE ARE A TON OF UNDERRATED MASTERPIECES AND RARE TRACKS. This isn't just a hit singles box - there are plenty of underrated album cuts here. Furthermore, the box does one better and gives you a ton of rarities! You get demos, alternate takes, alternate versions, rare tracks, and tons of other cool little rare things. The unreleased stuff is the best part of this set.
-THE LINER NOTES ARE NICE. The notes will give you plenty of seventies Aerosmith info, and let you know about the band before their original break-up in the early eighties.

CONS:
-TOO MUCH OF THIS STUFF IS PREVIOUSLY RELEASED. The band really needs to make the rare stuff in this set available elsewhere, because most fans of the band sure as hell aren't going to be too willing to shell out the big bucks for the sake of a few rare songs - and they'll be getting so many songs they already have.
-FOR WHAT IT IS, THE SET IS OVERPRICED. A set like this should be priced considerably less, unless the band would have been willing to include an extra disc of material. I personally think the band would have been better off releasing a collection of their complete albums from this era, along with an extra disc of material.

OVERALL:
Overall, this is a very good set, I just wish they'd made the unreleased tracks available somewhere else, since most fans don't want to buy the same songs twice. Still, it's an excellent overview of the band in their prime, and is strongly recommended to any fan of the group. November 28, 2004

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