
QuoteThe 20 Best Box Sets of 2023
Featuring the Replacements, Neutral Milk Hotel, Prince, Jason Isbell, Charlie Parker, ABC, Pharoah Sanders and much more.
By Robert Ham and Matt Mitchell | December 7, 2023 | 10:30am
For scholars of music and collectors, the past decade or so has pure heaven. The number of deluxe boxed set editions of classic albums, big label overviews and complete discography releases has increased exponentially. You may gripe about how it is adding to the backlog at vinyl pressing plants, and for good reason. But once you get your mitts on one of the 20 best boxed sets of 2023, you’ll feel a lot better.
With the growth of this market, narrowing our choices down to this few wasn’t easy. Some seriously great sets didn’t make the cut. Our philosophy for this list was to concentrate on those releases that have a marked historic importance or capture the work of an artist or label that is oft overlooked. So while Nirvana didn’t make the cut, Nanci Griffith did. There’s no Beatles or Stevie Nicks, but there is the Wonder Years and our artist of the year Jason Isbell. Love them or hate them, here are our picks for the best boxed sets of the year. —Robert Ham, Associate Music Editor
Quote17. a-ha: Hunting High and Low
There’s a better than average chance that Norwegian synthpoppers a-ha would have made an international splash without the help of MTV. Just think about how ubiquitous their #1 smash “Take On Me” remains on throwback playlists and the setlist of Weezer gigs. Their eye-popping video for the 1985 single certainly helped open the door for the trio but the music has helped keep them in the popular consciousness. This boxed set is further proof. Basically a vinyl edition of the 2015 multi-disc reissue of Hunting High and Low, the six-LP set contextualizes the story of the group’s debut with early demo versions that go back as far as 1982, remixes and the original single release of “Take On Me” when the song was far more raw and awkward in its execution than the slick recording we know and love. What isn’t included is the DVD from that original CD release that included their award-winning clip. The song and the album doesn’t need it. This music stands very well on its own as it is easier to track how frontman Morten Harket found the power in his voice and how his bandmates developed a pop sound that has the crispness and chilly undercurrent of a beautiful fall morning. —RH