Forever Changing: The Golden Age Of Elektra Records 1963-1973 CD

On the other hand, the box at hand, opening as it does with Judy Collins' "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and closing with Queen's "Keep Yourself Alive" a decade later speaks volumes, not only about changes in the record company across that later time period, but also about changes in the society to which it was offering its music during that same era. Those buying the set will need a good-sized and sturdy table on which to open it, and to dig down, past a folder containing art prints of four classic album covers from the label, a package of postcards devoted to a larger handful of significant artists, a set of publicity shots devoted to the Doors, Love, Queen, and Tom Rush; a pair of Elektra emblem pin badges; and a 96-page hardcover book chock-full of information, essays, commentary, and more by Holzman and the artists themselves (which is another reason one yearns for a volume covering Elektra's first decade -- those are the artists who are truly lost to time and very much need an account of this sort on their behalf). With all of that material inside, the set isn't really devised for convenience of use, a fact of which you'll be reminded in your inability to find the "numbered exclusive certificate of authenticity" supposedly included, which hardly matters -- to borrow from the title of Holzman's autobiography, which is represented here on the bonus CD-ROM, one buys this to "follow the music," not to prize a numbered edition, or as an investment (the Mosaic Records boxes are wiser acquisitions in the latter regard). But following the music is made slightly difficult by the design of the set; why is it that the makers of all of these mega-boxes, from the joint EMI/Columbia Pink Floyd set Shine On and RCA's Duke Ellington career retrospective and on to this release, can't devise an easy way to store and access the CDs and, more importantly, include artist and song information on the individual CD packaging?

This five-CD set (which also includes a bonus CD-ROM) is not the biggest, most massive box set that you've ever encountered -- back in the late '90s, Deutsche Grammophon had out something about the size of a cello case (with a pair of handles on it) that contained the label's entire recorded output of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, although, to be fair, that wasn't much more than a hyper-mega-packaging of existing CDs, CD sets, and box sets. This set, on the other hand, is very much an elaborately designed creation, specifically remastered and assembled for this release, and its packaging is custom-conceived from the individual song up through to the outer box. And in the context of popular music, this set is certainly in the running alongside some of Bear Family's most ambitious creations, for sheer size and weight -- (anyone on any kind of heart medication who decides they want this set and doesn't own a car or feel like springing for a taxi should probably order it and have it shipped to their home, rather than buy it at a store and transport it themselves, at least unless they check with their doctor first). Ironically enough, the very fact that this is, indeed, a "popular music" box set says something about the end of Elektra Records' history that is embraced by its contents, Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra 1963-1973, and a limitation in its scope and content -- you won't mind buying it, but you'll heartily wish (and would have bought it that much faster) there were a companion volume of some sort covering the label's history from 1953 through 1963, a time when the company's output included such curiosities as physician-turned-folksinger Shep Ginandes (who was to the postwar folksinging community in Boston the same kind of godfather that Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies were to home-grown blues in England) and the soundtracks to documentary movies by Maya Deren, and when founder Jac Holzman (whose participation was all over this set) would have been astounded to see Elektra's output designated as "popular" music.Rolling Stone (p.75) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The] artists are all present with seminal performances, along with cult-hero pillars of Elektra's roster, such as singer-songwriter David Ackles, folk-blues singers Tom Rush and Judy Henske..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.68) - "[With] unearthed treasures from long-forgotten bands like Leviathan and Crabby Appleton..." -- Grade: A
Mojo (Publisher) (p.126) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] gigantic sampler, which offers delight and surprise in equal measure."