thanks for sharing this box set Phil i just ordered it on Ebay looking forward to listening to it Keep collecting its so much fun ill keep buying CDs & DVDs as long as they are around
Wow. I have never upgraded my Cactus vinyl to CD. After all these years. I recorded the vinyl to CD, bought all of the Live recordings. But never replaced the original 4 releases. Thank You. Sold ! going to the ....rain forest, to buy my Cactus.
I had no idea this box set was available. Just ordered on amazon. Previously, it was impossible to find the complete Cactus CD's. Thanks for another great video Phil.
Cactus !!! What a band, no need to worry is for me the best blues song ever recorded and the Wight version is just out of this world, nothing gets close, Jim and Rusty are the Best
Hi Phil, yes, Jim is a crackin' player and I have all their CDs, although I'm tempted by the remastered live CDs plus the extra one. I've just bought the Keef Hartley Band box set you recommended and what a treat that is! The progression just across the first three albums is superb - I'm hearing early Chicago in there, which is pretty cool :) Cheers, Ian
Hi Ian, thank you for watching! The Keef Hartley Box is in my top releases of the year. This Cactus set is not quite in that league but it is the best I have heard this albums sound. Phil
Hi Phil, very interesting stuff. I’m coming back to Rock/Pop after a 30 year detour diving deep into Classical and some Jazz. I grew up with Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Aerosmith, Kate Bush, The Jam and so on. Now I’m back closing (huge) gaps in the 60s - 80s and discover a lot from the 90s until now. I stopped listening to Rock/Pop (and all the sub-genres) in the early nineties when I discovered Classical Music, not because I didn’t like it anymore, just because listening time was limited (work). I still love Classical very much, although there are many snobbish people involved who care more about feeling as an elite than caring for the music. Anyway, there’s good and bad in any genre and your channel is very useful for me to get back to the music I grew up with and discover bands which didn’t grab my attention 40 or 50 years ago. Many thanks for that!
Hi James, thank you very much for taking the time to write such an interesting comment! I aim to cover all genres here and not be tied down to one type of music. I am also going to start featuring Classical Music. My wife will be joining me on those as she has a lot of Classical Box Sets. Phil
@@NowSpinningMagazine Thanks, Phil! There are of course tons of classical review sites, but if you’re going to start with Classical, yours would be the only one I know of which is based now on a Rock/Pop audience. That’s a big plus, because it chips away from the classical elitist attitude and has potential to make general music lovers curious about classical. After all it’s just all music and it’s always good to be curious to discover new great music.
@@jameschen2168 thank you for your reply. A while ago I would have worried that being so diverse would slow the growth of this channel but I feel music should be a journey of discovery. So many bands ( even extreme metal bands) have toured with orchestras, artists like Max Richter are mainstream and if I can help reduce this ‘elitist view of what people think classical music is, I think that will be a good thing. Phil :)
@@NowSpinningMagazine I agree. There's also a wide range of music to discover within the so-called "classical" genre. A madrigal from Monteverdi is farther away from Terry Riley's "In C" than Pink Floyd from David Lang. I saw an interesting interview with Jon Lord (I think he even was connected to the "Toccata Classics" label from London), who was also very much into classical. Maybe it would help starting to exploit these connections. Or Frank Zappa / Varese.
I love Jon Lord and feel he was on the cusp of breaking through to being recognised as a serious classical composer before his untimely death. I might start by doing a video on his classical output. Thank you Phil
How did I miss this? Love Cactus! I own the 2CD HNE set of the first album and One Way Or Another. Wonder if these ones sound any different? Gonna have to get it for the live stuff alone.
Finally ...a box set that gives you everything...at a reasonable price...thanks for letting me know about this....I'm getting it.....by the way... I would park the Doors but not Jimi....I wouldn't mention them in the same breath....you said we're talking hard rock....Purple Haze....Foxey Lady..if you said heavy metal that would be different....anyway....I most definitely put Mountain over Montrose.. and also West Bruce and Laing....I'm a diehard Leslie fan....also Johnny Winter absolutely wailed.....and I know he's not American but Rory Gallagher also one of my all time favorites that should be mentioned....and last but not least Canned Heat was most certainly in that Cactus vein...especially in the early 70's....they were rockin the heavy blues for sure....thank you so much for letting me know about this box set...great review...
You mention about Appice (your pronuncation is correct though he goes by A-piece'; brother Vinnie is 'A-piss-ee) and Bogert that 'they would zoom off and do Vanilla Fudge and Jeff Beck'. For anyone unaware, they actually came from the Fudge, which was one of the most influential bands of the era, as that quartet's 1967 debut album and performances in London triggered what became the core aesthetic for Britain's Progressive Rock movement - Hammond organ, soaring vocals, instrumental prowess, complex arrangements etc. Deep Purple often stated that their mission was to be the 'European Vanilla Fudge' (Purple drummer Ian Paice remains a close friend of Appice). And it is well documented that John Bonham's drumming style was inspired by Appice, who also arranged for the Zep drummer to get a Ludwig kit that matched his own. When the Fudge disbanded, Appice and Bogert were to pair up with Jeff Beck, but an auto accident just prior to him flying to America for rehearsals put the guitarist out of action for 18 months and thus quashed that. So the duo enlisted ex-Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels guitarist Jim McCarty and vocalist/harmonica man Rusty Day, formerly with (Ted Nugent's) Amboy Dukes to form Cactus. (Worth noting that the Detroit Wheels were Chrissie Hynde's fave band as a teen.) As we hear on those live 'Unleased' albums, Cactus were ferocious. We got an indication of that with the likes of 'Parchment Farm' and 'Oleo' on the debut album (surely Appice's drumming on 'Parchment Farm' inspired the likes of the blistering double bass drumming heard on Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher'. But overall the studio albums never lived up to what the band promised. Had they done a well-produced live album at the time they might have scored the way Humble Pie, Procol Harum and Peter Frampton did. There are great live tracks on ''Ot & Sweaty', by which point McCarty and Day were out and the lineup had expand to a five-piece), though by then it was too late as the heavy blues-rock era was in decline. When Beck recovered he formed the Jeff Beck Group MKII, with Cozy Powell, Clive Chaman, Bobby Tench and Max Middleton. After two albums, Beck folded the band. And with Cactus also calling it a day, he finally paired up with Appice and Bogert for Beck, Bogert & Appice, who released one studio album and a double set, 'Live in Japan', the latter of which was available as import only and thus made no impression on the charts. Despite some great playing, BB&A and their albums, like Cactus suffered from a lack of great tunes. Their take on Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' (originally created by Wonder for Beck) was released too late and was too heavy to bother the charts. Though a second album was in the works, Bogert split, leaving Beck and Appice to commence what would become 'Blow by Blow'. When Beck's management sent Appice packing due to a dispute over whose name would appear on the album cover, his drumming on tracks including the ripping 'Scatterbrain' were replaced by the (excellent) playing of Richard Bailey. Though BB&A never reconvened, Beck is heard on the Fudge's comeback album 'Mystery', where he is credited a 'J. Toad'. Cactus did reunite with the original rhythm section though minus Day, who died a gruesome death in what was apparently a drug deal gone bad. And I believe the Fudge are still going in an occasional manner, albeit minus Bogert, who passed from this world a few years back. Here they are in 2015 doing a Who classic: th-cam.com/video/rtg6sLX3dx0/w-d-xo.html
Jimmy McCarty is a blazing guitarist. I followed this band and bought the Lps when they came out, now I must buy this box set. HNE puts out great sounding discs
Hi, let me just point out a couple of things because we seem to be a bit out of the loop here... 😊 Everything in this box (I mean everything - studio and live - with the possible exception of a couple of single edits) has already been reissued by the original label ATCO/Rhino (now WEA) in a series of limited run (5000), numbered, two-disc sets from 2004-2007 (The Studio Sessions; The Live Gigs; The Live Gigs Vol. II), which were lovingly remastered from the original analogue tapes (and newly mixed from the multi-tracks, for the then-unreleased recordings) by the team of Bill Inglot, Dan Hersch, Dave Schultz - for SPECTACULAR sound. Forget about Cactology, forget about Wounded Bird. That’s what you want. About the new box: Cherry Red don’t own the tapes, so it’s extremely unlikely this is actually a new, proper remaster. The credits to the new box read “(p) 1970-2007 WEA International Inc” and it’s a giveaway that they used and “remastered”, or rather tweaked, some digital files from 2007, provided by WEA (in whatever form WEA felt suitable providing them - Hi-Res, compressed or whatever, we don't know). Best case scenario, the new box might sound as good as the 2007 Rhino/WEA releases… maybe. But it's certainly not going to top those. My understanding is that WEA okayed this Cherry Red release because their original, numbered run is out of print. Cherry Red is also mimicking the WEA 2004-2007 artwork for all of the live stuff. So in a nutshell the new box is, possibly, a reasonable way to settle if you don’t own the Rhino/WEA reissues; otherwise, those are the real thing if you can find them. Hope this helps clarify the matter a bit. Cheers
Yes. The host neglects to mention live vol 2 was released. I agree on the Rhino sets. I would rather have those three sets than this one. I just found the Barely Contained Rhino edition for $18 free shipping! Yay! Not the wounded bird issue. Did WB reissue the live sets too?
Greetings from Western Australia Listening to your review I paused mid cast to listen to one of their tracks and the first track presented was Evil 😂❤ bugger me ! Awesome. Shades of Zeppelin's Lemon Song or my over-active imagination ? Doesn't matter really because now I am a FAN . Now I'm going to Amazon to see how much it cost 😂 Another great review Phil. Let's see if my limited budget will cope 😂 I can live on beans for a day or two LOL
Je suis d'accord avec toi c'était un très Grand groupe, pour moi seule compte la première formation, Après j'aime moins,thanks again for your good taste!
Hi Phil, many thanks for the video. Ordered a brand new copy from Musicmagpie today. It appears Cherry Red don't have it anymore. Correction, Cherry Red do have it. Apologies for the error.
Hi Phil, this is on my radar. I own the 'Cactology' set and while it is well presented for a single disc set, I feel the track selection to be a little uninspired. This set really looks good and is very affordable. I would really like to see a similar set for The James Gang as they were of the same period plus Joe Walsh and Tommy Bolin graced their ranks.
Question.. I pretty much currently have most of the content included in this boxset, my question, is the remastering be worth the purchase? You mentioned the sound quality was an improvement.
thanks for sharing this box set Phil i just ordered it on Ebay looking forward to listening to it
Keep collecting its so much fun
ill keep buying CDs & DVDs as long as they are around
Hi Frank, thank you for watching - enjoy 😊 Phil :)
Now this is a box set!! Cactus!! One killer band!!! Great work
Thank you 🙏
Hot & heavy......Hot & sweaty.....the ballsy blues band CACTUS!! Thx for resurrecting Phil!!
Just received my box set today ❤😂
Great stuff Phil.
Greetings from Western Australia
Thank you Phil for the video, music and CD's, spectacular :^)
Best regards from South America.
Chris.
You are very welcome 🙏 Phil :)
@@NowSpinningMagazine Thank you :^)
Wow. I have never upgraded my Cactus vinyl to CD. After all these years. I recorded the vinyl to CD, bought all of the Live recordings. But never replaced the original 4 releases. Thank You. Sold ! going to the ....rain forest, to buy my Cactus.
Hi Steven, thank you for watching. Hope you enjoy the box set when it arrives - Phil
I had no idea this box set was available. Just ordered on amazon. Previously, it was impossible to find the complete Cactus CD's. Thanks for another great video Phil.
Thank you for watching - Hope you enjoy it! Phil
Cactus !!! What a band, no need to worry is for me the best blues song ever recorded and the Wight version is just out of this world, nothing gets close, Jim and Rusty are the Best
Hi Phil, yes, Jim is a crackin' player and I have all their CDs, although I'm tempted by the remastered live CDs plus the extra one. I've just bought the Keef Hartley Band box set you recommended and what a treat that is! The progression just across the first three albums is superb - I'm hearing early Chicago in there, which is pretty cool :) Cheers, Ian
Hi Ian, thank you for watching! The Keef Hartley Box is in my top releases of the year. This Cactus set is not quite in that league but it is the best I have heard this albums sound. Phil
spot on - totally agree
Hi Phil, very interesting stuff. I’m coming back to Rock/Pop after a 30 year detour diving deep into Classical and some Jazz. I grew up with Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Aerosmith, Kate Bush, The Jam and so on. Now I’m back closing (huge) gaps in the 60s - 80s and discover a lot from the 90s until now. I stopped listening to Rock/Pop (and all the sub-genres) in the early nineties when I discovered Classical Music, not because I didn’t like it anymore, just because listening time was limited (work). I still love Classical very much, although there are many snobbish people involved who care more about feeling as an elite than caring for the music. Anyway, there’s good and bad in any genre and your channel is very useful for me to get back to the music I grew up with and discover bands which didn’t grab my attention 40 or 50 years ago. Many thanks for that!
Hi James, thank you very much for taking the time to write such an interesting comment! I aim to cover all genres here and not be tied down to one type of music. I am also going to start featuring Classical Music. My wife will be joining me on those as she has a lot of Classical Box Sets. Phil
@@NowSpinningMagazine Thanks, Phil! There are of course tons of classical review sites, but if you’re going to start with Classical, yours would be the only one I know of which is based now on a Rock/Pop audience. That’s a big plus, because it chips away from the classical elitist attitude and has potential to make general music lovers curious about classical. After all it’s just all music and it’s always good to be curious to discover new great music.
@@jameschen2168 thank you for your reply. A while ago I would have worried that being so diverse would slow the growth of this channel but I feel music should be a journey of discovery. So many bands ( even extreme metal bands) have toured with orchestras, artists like Max Richter are mainstream and if I can help reduce this ‘elitist view of what people think classical music is, I think that will be a good thing. Phil :)
@@NowSpinningMagazine I agree. There's also a wide range of music to discover within the so-called "classical" genre. A madrigal from Monteverdi is farther away from Terry Riley's "In C" than Pink Floyd from David Lang. I saw an interesting interview with Jon Lord (I think he even was connected to the "Toccata Classics" label from London), who was also very much into classical. Maybe it would help starting to exploit these connections. Or Frank Zappa / Varese.
I love Jon Lord and feel he was on the cusp of breaking through to being recognised as a serious classical composer before his untimely death. I might start by doing a video on his classical output. Thank you Phil
Hi Phil,one of my great favorite band with JAMUL and MOUNTAIN
How did I miss this? Love Cactus! I own the 2CD HNE set of the first album and One Way Or Another. Wonder if these ones sound any different? Gonna have to get it for the live stuff alone.
Hi Nick, thank you for watching and it is worth buying for the live stuff alone but all the discs sound great. Phil
Finally ...a box set that gives you everything...at a reasonable price...thanks for letting me know about this....I'm getting it.....by the way... I would park the Doors but not Jimi....I wouldn't mention them in the same breath....you said we're talking hard rock....Purple Haze....Foxey Lady..if you said heavy metal that would be different....anyway....I most definitely put Mountain over Montrose.. and also West Bruce and Laing....I'm a diehard Leslie fan....also Johnny Winter absolutely wailed.....and I know he's not American but Rory Gallagher also one of my all time favorites that should be mentioned....and last but not least Canned Heat was most certainly in that Cactus vein...especially in the early 70's....they were rockin the heavy blues for sure....thank you so much for letting me know about this box set...great review...
You mention about Appice (your pronuncation is correct though he goes by A-piece'; brother Vinnie is 'A-piss-ee) and Bogert that 'they would zoom off and do Vanilla Fudge and Jeff Beck'. For anyone unaware, they actually came from the Fudge, which was one of the most influential bands of the era, as that quartet's 1967 debut album and performances in London triggered what became the core aesthetic for Britain's Progressive Rock movement - Hammond organ, soaring vocals, instrumental prowess, complex arrangements etc. Deep Purple often stated that their mission was to be the 'European Vanilla Fudge' (Purple drummer Ian Paice remains a close friend of Appice). And it is well documented that John Bonham's drumming style was inspired by Appice, who also arranged for the Zep drummer to get a Ludwig kit that matched his own.
When the Fudge disbanded, Appice and Bogert were to pair up with Jeff Beck, but an auto accident just prior to him flying to America for rehearsals put the guitarist out of action for 18 months and thus quashed that. So the duo enlisted ex-Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels guitarist Jim McCarty and vocalist/harmonica man Rusty Day, formerly with (Ted Nugent's) Amboy Dukes to form Cactus. (Worth noting that the Detroit Wheels were Chrissie Hynde's fave band as a teen.)
As we hear on those live 'Unleased' albums, Cactus were ferocious. We got an indication of that with the likes of 'Parchment Farm' and 'Oleo' on the debut album (surely Appice's drumming on 'Parchment Farm' inspired the likes of the blistering double bass drumming heard on Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher'. But overall the studio albums never lived up to what the band promised. Had they done a well-produced live album at the time they might have scored the way Humble Pie, Procol Harum and Peter Frampton did. There are great live tracks on ''Ot & Sweaty', by which point McCarty and Day were out and the lineup had expand to a five-piece), though by then it was too late as the heavy blues-rock era was in decline.
When Beck recovered he formed the Jeff Beck Group MKII, with Cozy Powell, Clive Chaman, Bobby Tench and Max Middleton. After two albums, Beck folded the band. And with Cactus also calling it a day, he finally paired up with Appice and Bogert for Beck, Bogert & Appice, who released one studio album and a double set, 'Live in Japan', the latter of which was available as import only and thus made no impression on the charts. Despite some great playing, BB&A and their albums, like Cactus suffered from a lack of great tunes. Their take on Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' (originally created by Wonder for Beck) was released too late and was too heavy to bother the charts. Though a second album was in the works, Bogert split, leaving Beck and Appice to commence what would become 'Blow by Blow'. When Beck's management sent Appice packing due to a dispute over whose name would appear on the album cover, his drumming on tracks including the ripping 'Scatterbrain' were replaced by the (excellent) playing of Richard Bailey.
Though BB&A never reconvened, Beck is heard on the Fudge's comeback album 'Mystery', where he is credited a 'J. Toad'. Cactus did reunite with the original rhythm section though minus Day, who died a gruesome death in what was apparently a drug deal gone bad. And I believe the Fudge are still going in an occasional manner, albeit minus Bogert, who passed from this world a few years back. Here they are in 2015 doing a Who classic: th-cam.com/video/rtg6sLX3dx0/w-d-xo.html
Jimmy McCarty is a blazing guitarist. I followed this band and bought the Lps when they came out, now I must buy this box set. HNE puts out great sounding discs
Hi, let me just point out a couple of things because we seem to be a bit out of the loop here... 😊
Everything in this box (I mean everything - studio and live - with the possible exception of a couple of single edits) has already been reissued by the original label ATCO/Rhino (now WEA) in a series of limited run (5000), numbered, two-disc sets from 2004-2007 (The Studio Sessions; The Live Gigs; The Live Gigs Vol. II), which were lovingly remastered from the original analogue tapes (and newly mixed from the multi-tracks, for the then-unreleased recordings) by the team of Bill Inglot, Dan Hersch, Dave Schultz - for SPECTACULAR sound. Forget about Cactology, forget about Wounded Bird. That’s what you want.
About the new box: Cherry Red don’t own the tapes, so it’s extremely unlikely this is actually a new, proper remaster. The credits to the new box read “(p) 1970-2007 WEA International Inc” and it’s a giveaway that they used and “remastered”, or rather tweaked, some digital files from 2007, provided by WEA (in whatever form WEA felt suitable providing them - Hi-Res, compressed or whatever, we don't know). Best case scenario, the new box might sound as good as the 2007 Rhino/WEA releases… maybe. But it's certainly not going to top those. My understanding is that WEA okayed this Cherry Red release because their original, numbered run is out of print. Cherry Red is also mimicking the WEA 2004-2007 artwork for all of the live stuff.
So in a nutshell the new box is, possibly, a reasonable way to settle if you don’t own the Rhino/WEA reissues; otherwise, those are the real thing if you can find them.
Hope this helps clarify the matter a bit. Cheers
Hi Andrea, thank you for watching and sharing the additional information that is really useful. Phil
Yes. The host neglects to mention live vol 2 was released. I agree on the Rhino sets. I would rather have those three sets than this one. I just found the Barely Contained Rhino edition for $18 free shipping! Yay! Not the wounded bird issue. Did WB reissue the live sets too?
What a band they were. Don’t get enough credit for their heaviosity.
Greetings from Western Australia
Listening to your review I paused mid cast to listen to one of their tracks and the first track presented was Evil 😂❤ bugger me ! Awesome. Shades of Zeppelin's Lemon Song or my over-active imagination ? Doesn't matter really because now I am a FAN .
Now I'm going to Amazon to see how much it cost 😂
Another great review Phil.
Let's see if my limited budget will cope 😂
I can live on beans for a day or two LOL
Enjoy 😉 it will be worth the beans! Phil :)
I concur fully. Although you say this set has everything you need. Except The Birth of Cactus
It’s a lovely set!
I have a two double. cds from Rhino Handmade with the Atco labels,But this box looks like I might have to purchase looks very nice
Hi Thomas, thank you for watching! I think you will really like this! Phil
You forgot to mention Oleo with the killer bass solo by Tim Bogert!! It is not to be missed.
Je suis d'accord avec toi c'était un très Grand groupe, pour moi seule compte la première formation, Après j'aime moins,thanks again for your good taste!
Hi Phil, many thanks for the video. Ordered a brand new copy from Musicmagpie today. It appears Cherry Red don't have it anymore. Correction, Cherry Red do have it. Apologies for the error.
Hi Paul, thank you for watching, enjoy the box set ! Phil
Hi Phil, this is on my radar. I own the 'Cactology' set and while it is well presented for a single disc set, I feel the track selection to be a little uninspired. This set really looks good and is very affordable. I would really like to see a similar set for The James Gang as they were of the same period plus Joe Walsh and Tommy Bolin graced their ranks.
Hi Peter, thank you for watching, this is a good set. A James Gang Box Set would be most welcome! Phil
ohh sweet it has hound dog sniffing
Question.. I pretty much currently have most of the content included in this boxset, my question, is the remastering be worth the purchase? You mentioned the sound quality was an improvement.
Hopefully Esoteric will release a Vanilla Fudge box. The Rhino box from a few years ago is way overpriced if you can find it.
At the end of the day i would recommend the three Rhino sets over this one.
funny you never mention the change of players for Ot’n Sweaty. McCarthy and Rusty were gone! That’s rather significant.