BEST VINYL BOX SETS

Box sets to give your turntable a thorough test

What’s better than shuffling a new record from its sleeve and placing it on your turntable’s platter? Only being able to do so again and again while flicking through a lovingly crafted booklet of liner notes and photographs.

This list of the ten best boxsets covers classic albums and previously unreleased tracks, collections from iconic record companies and the world’s biggest bands, and two released especially for Record Store Day this year. Lift the lid and see what’s inside.

THE TROJAN RECORDS BOXSET

This multi-format box set – comprising four vinyl LPS, two seven-inch singles and a pair of 3CD compilations – was released in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Trojan Records, the label that helped bring reggae out of Jamaica. Expect to find Desmond Dekker, The Maytals, The Ethiopians, Justin Hinds and The Harry J All Stars among the 52 vinyl tracks.

FACTORY RECORDS: COMMUNICATIONS 1978-92

This eight-disc collection from Factory Records is another in the line of highly influential record company compendiums. Alongside classic cuts from Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and The Durutti Column are a number of rare and obscure tracks that have previously been heard together only on CD. We could list you more songs we’d like in the set, but there isn’t one of the 63 we’d want to take out.

THE SINGLES COLLECTION THE BEATLES

Between 1962 and 1970, The Beatles released 22 singles, and all are included here in picture sleeves reproduced to ape the originals released around the world, alongside a double A-side of Free As A Bird and Real Love released in the mid-’90s. Of the 44 tracks on the original singles, 29 were not included on the original albums, so this is a perfect way of filling in those blind spots in your Beatles vinyl collection.

THE VERVE/MGM ALBUMS THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

This five-disc box set includes The Velvet Underground’s first three albums – The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/white Heat and The Velvet Underground – and Nico’s solo Chelsea Girl, all in glorious mono, alongside the band’s fourth, unfinished record for MGM in stereo.

THE ATLANTIC YEARS IN MONO JOHN COLTRANE

More in mono here as John Coltrane’s five Atlantic Records albums are complemented by a further LP of outtakes from those sessions and a seven-inch single of My Favourite Things Part I & Part II. It’s the first time they’ve been available since their original 1960s releases, and comes with a 32-page booklet of liner notes and period photos by Lee Friedlander.

SUPERSONIC YEARS: THE SEVENTIES SINGLES BLACK SABBATH

Black Sabbath said their music was not intended for the single format, and even stopped releasing them. That is at odds with the tracks in this collection, each of which is as gargantuan standing alone as it is in the context of their albums. These ten discs hold heavy metal classics such as Paranoid, Iron Man and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath along with original B-sides.

OKNOTOK 1997-2017 RADIOHEAD

Ask Radiohead fans to rank the band’s nine studio albums and Ok Computer is likely to feature highly. OKNOTOK 1997-2017 was released on the record’s 20th anniversary and features bonus and unreleased material alongside the original, seminal album.

3-D THE CATALOGUE KRAFTWERK

A live record, but without crowd noise, 3-D The Catalogue chronicles Kraftwerk’s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 performances of eight classic records, including Autobahn, Trans-europe Express and Tour de France. Pair it with the Blu-ray disc and you can watch the full 3-D show pop out from your TV screen.

IT WAS ALL A DREAM NOTORIOUS B.I.G.

This nine-disc box set, released for Record Store Day, features Notorious B.I.G.’S four albums bundled together for the first time. Ready To Die, Life After Death and Junior Mafia’s Conspiracy are all double LPS, while Born Again is set over three vinyl records, with all pressed on 180g clear vinyl and complete with liner notes from hip-hop author Kathy Iondoli.

THE ESSENTIAL PHILIP GLASS

This 4LP numbered and limited edition deluxe box set for Record Store Day includes selections from Naqoyqatsi, Einstein On The Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten and The Photographer, with an eight-page booklet. It is available on vinyl for the first time.