Arrogance's one claim to fame is bassist Don Dixon, who would later become an in-demand producer, helming great CD's by REM, the Smithereens, and countless others. Hailing from Raleigh, NC, the band would release several albums on their own in the 70's, before inking a deal with Warner Brothers in 1980 and releasing the album "Suddenly". Unhappy with it's results, the band opted out of that contract and began searching for another label. Unfortunately, they never got another record deal and these tracks have remained unreleased until now. Well, sort of.

Dixon would later launch a solo career and release many of these songs under his own name, some with little or no changes. But, here for the first time is the "great lost Arrogance album", as it should have been relased back in the early 80's.

Had the world not been in the grips of New Wave, some of these songs might have become classics. Especially good is "Southside Girl", the shuffling "Perfect Light" and the drunken rocker "Just Rites".

To call this the ORIGINAL ALBUM, as Disc One is titled, is misleading. How can it be when the guitar solo for "My Generation" is missing? Or the French Horn on "Circles"? This is an ALTERNATE version (kind of like the alternate version on the Deluxe Edition of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On"). It's something interesting to hear once, but not over and over.

What's really a crime is that both discs total just over 91 minutes, which means there was PLENTY of extra time to put the ORIGINAL mono version in a nice, clean, remastered form.

On the plus side, no one has mentioned how good "I Can't Explain" sounds. Without the annoying tambourine overdub, Keith Moon's drums sound like bullets being fired from a machine gun.

I compare this to the Beatles Anthologys or other rarities collections: nice for a fresh look at old songs. But, if I want to hear "My Generation", I'll go back to my old unremastered original version.

Tired of buying CD's that claim to be "remastered" only to bring them home and not be able to tell them apart from the original? You won't be disappointed here.

The Stones CD's of their 60's material were some of the most poorly mastered in history. The original Hot Rocks disc from 1986 is full of tape glitches, pops, hiss, and songs mastered at the wrong speed. Finally, justice has been served. This newly upgraded version blows away the original, fixing all the above-mentioned problems and then some. Even the most untrained ear will easily notice the vast improved sound quality.

And to those complaining about certain songs like "Satisfaction" and "Get Off My Cloud" not being in stereo...have you actually HEARD those versions? They stink! "Satisfaction" is sped WAY up and the wide stereo effect on both songs (drums in one speaker, etc) gives them less "punch."

Hooray to ABKCO records. They got it right this time.

There's a box set out for just about every classic rock artist. But, many of them are simply not worth the money (the new Eagles set comes to mind). However, the CSN Box truly delivers the goods.

There are basically 3 functions of a good box set: 1. To provide a career retrospective, gathering material from an artist's entire catalog of music 2. To offer the music in remastered form, in better quality sound 3. To unearth unreleased material

The CSN box set matches all the criteria. This collection shows how good they were together and apart, offering solo material from all three members, plus side projects like Manassas (Stills band with Chris Hillman of the Byrds).

Some box sets boast "unreleased material" that really should've been left UNRELEASED. Not true with this set, "Homeward Through the Haze" is far superior to the released Crosby-Nash version, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" including drums is staggering, and the unearthed CSN&Y recordings show us what could've been, had they not bickered among themselves so much.

The only unfortunate ommisions are from Neil Young, who is saving his goodies for his own box set, coming soon. Also, "War Games" from the now-deleted ALLIES album would've been nice.

All in all a fine collection for a true fan or casual listener.

Billie Holiday's recordings for Verve are the easiest to find. But, proceed with caution. By this time, her voice was beginning to deteriorate and become raspy. Sure, she was also gaining better control of her abilities and therefore could insert endless nuances to make up for it. But, I wouldn't suggest this era to someone just starting to learn about Ms. Holiday's work. Try something from the Columbia or Decca years. While there are quite a few gems here, her voice by this time is an acquired taste.

I know, you're saying "what's the point"? or "cash in", but actually there is a good reason for this new set. This is the first single-disc collection of the Beatles in the CD era (there were lots on vinyl). This CD is perfect for someone wanting to discover the Beatles for the first time, or a casual fan who only wants "the hits." Even if you already have these songs elsewhere, you can't argue with almost 80 mins of music, this disc is PACKED!

Also, there's not another CD ANYWHERE that offers 27 #1 hits on the same CD. And when you consider that they're all by the same artist, this is a pretty mighty set of tunes.

Even for those of you who own everything by the Fab Four, there's still something here for you. First, all the songs are newly remastered, so they blow away those versions you have that were mastered back in the late 80's. Plus, the booklet features picture sleeves from each song in the collection.

Capitol Records has said that they hope this CD will someday be the biggest selling disc of all time. It's got a long way to go to catch the Eagles "Greatest Hits volume one", but it just might.