Men Of The World
 

Does anyone know if this 3 disc Box set is worth it? I was at Borders the other day, and saw this nice looking box set called Men Of The World for 24.99. It looks cool, the last disc is all live stuff, the others are originals and covers...I think. Does anyone have this, or know if it's worth asking for as a gift?
Thanks

Depends on what else you've already got! The first two discs of this set are all tracks culled from Vaudeville Years and Show-Biz Blues, while the third disc is tracks from the three Live at the Boston Tea Party CDs. So if you've already got those, don't waste your money on this set.

And if you don't have any of those, they're all fantastic sets that are well worth the money and include a whole lot more great stuff than what's found on this Men of the World release. That said, Men of the World looks like a pretty good deal if you're much less of a completist and don't want to spend the money on all those other sets.

Hmm, I saw it too, and I'm kinda of like that on the older stuff, I like it but I'm not a completist. So based on your advice, I think I'll pick it up, thank you.:nod:

Thanks for the great info. I really am not that much of a completest, with the blues era, (even though I know it's much better, musically, than the Rumours line up...I know, it makes no sense) I think I will start with this box, and see if I like it, and go from there. I have Mr.Wondeful (I love Dust My Broom) and Selections From The Chain, but... I think, besides the Men Of The World.I will start collecting the Welch Era, and then, after that, the early, early stuff. Thanks again.

Sounds like a plan!

For what it's worth, I've got a feeling you'll end up buying all those other sets at some point, because they're all wonderful, and it looks like they did a pretty good job of compiling some of the best stuff for this Men of the World set, though it does look to be a little light on Jeremy, if you like his stuff. But this will probably get you pretty excited to pick up the other sets, especially the Boston Tea Party CDs, which are just phenomenal. They did a good job picking out just eight tracks, but there's so much more on those discs that's just as good or better.

Interesting review of Men of the World on Pop Matters today: http://www.popmatters.com/music/revi...-men2005.shtml

It's given a very low rating - 3 out of 10 - which seems a little unfair, because the reviewer's problems with the set are almost entirely with the presentation and song selection, not the material itself, which he does nothing but praise. He makes some good points, though, about the flawed nature of this release. he's right htat it's not nearly as definitive as it probably ought to be.

The criticism does seem a little disingenuous when the reviewer sites a "lack of source information" in the liner notes as a fault and then recommends other collections that are out there as none of these compilations have source notes. Both "The Vaudeville Years" and "Show-Biz Blues" each have over fifty pages worth of notes, but they do not document all their sources - they may site the occasional studio session, but if it was from a BBC broadcast, they will not (I guess they can not) say so. It usually is not too difficult to figure out which broadcasts they are from, but that should not be necessary.
And that still leaves studio tracks such as "Mighty Cold" and "(That's What)I Want To Know" and a few others unaccounted for.
A collection providing a "proper" overview would combine their Blue Horizon material with the "Then Play On", BBC and live tracks, preferably in chronological order, as they were a notoriously mercurial band in terms of their music, you need to see that they did not compartmentalize their music, but went from blues to rock to pop to parody and back again whenever they wanted. I realize it is easier to categorize and that it sometimes makes for a rather erratic listening experience, but it would make for a truer picture of the band during the Green years.

A great point, although I suspect it might be a little difficult for one label to collect material from all of those sources for a decent box set. Still, we can only hope that something like this will emerge one of these days, as there really is no one perfect introduction for casual fans to the Green Years that covers all the right bases.

Here's another review of Men of the World, which also is less-than-favorable for many of the same reasons we've already talked about (the discs don't flow as well as they could, the best material wasn't necessarily used, etc.): http://www.musicbox-online.com/fm-men.html