This is a great collection! If you like garage bands and one-hit wonders (often both the same) then you'll like this one. Four CDs, remastered, by Rhino. It's an expanded version of their one-CD collection, plus it comes with a 100-page booklet, which I still haven't read yet, even though I've had this set about 2 years now. But then I'm finally listening to my Star Trek TV soundtracks now for the first time, after having them for awhile too.

I've got that sigle CD set, but I can't find the box set anywhere. D'OH!

I've got the box set too, and it is great. I have to admit, though, that the first disc is the only one I play and I've barely even listened to the others.

Blitz, you can find it on Rhino's site, or look around for it, like at Circuit City or maybe even Costco, if you have a membership there. They have a second one coming out, too. Has anyone heard of MC5? I think that's the name. They're a garage band of the 60s. I saw their greatest hits but didn't get it, even after I'd read a pretty good review of it in a local free weekly paper. Todd, have you read the booklet?

Yes - I didn't know the MC5 had a song on Nuggets. I'll have to look at it again. The MC5 cut one of the hardest-rocking albums I've ever heard, "High Time".

Trivia question: name the two songs on the Nuggets box set that were covered by Alice Cooper.

Well, had I Alice's box set I could probably tell ya (cuz I don't really listen to him, other than what I've heard on the radio), but I ain't gonna spend an hour or so looking it up so I'll just let someone else take that one. I used to think Bow Wow Wow's version of "I Want Candy" was the only one ever done, till I got either this box set or saw the original version somewhere else. I thought that the girl lead singer in the video was so hot, even with that lousy haircut, and then I found out just last year, or earlier this one, that she was only 14 when she did that song (ok, so I'm slow to find these things out sometimes)! Had I known at the time it probably wouldn't've been too surprising since Moon Unit Zappa was that age when she did "Valley Girl". But this chick was far cuter. Of course many teen girls have made it big in music, from Brenda Lee and Connie Francis to Michelle Phillips (well, at least she was 16 when she met John), Tanya Tucker, Marie Osmond, LeAnn Rimes, Jessica Andrews, Lila McCann, and more than a few other cute blondes more recently. Only wish I could think of their names right now but I'm sure you all know who they are, especially if you saw this year's MTV Music Awards, which had a great skit with Adam Sandler. Predictable, but funny.

Rhino's coming out with a second Nuggets, this one dealing only with British bands and artists, and with 109 tracks on 4 CDs. I can't wait. An article I read about said it'll be $65, but of course that could vary. I hope CostCo gets it cuz they should probably have it for around $40, give or take.

So, for those of you who have both Nuggets I and II, which one of the two do you like better? Which do you think is the better overall compilation?

I still haven't gotten the second one yet. Can't afford it right now, anyway, but I do want it.

I've got both boxes now, and I think I like II better than the original. Since the criteria of "obscurity" only concerns the amarican perspective, there are a lot of tracks that were rather sizable hits overseas. That helps the overall quality of the songs emensly. On the other hand, it's much less "garage" oriented, with more mod and psych-pop.

An odd thing I recently noticed: the notes on "My Father's Name Was Dad" by Fire explain that there was an early version of the song that hit the radio but was replaced on the single by a punchier, rerecorded version on the advice of Paul McCartney. Well, apparently Rhino has issued the early version rather that the offical single version! Jusy an hour ago I heard the later version on a Live365 station (Sixties Lost and Found) and is is vastly superior to the version on Nuggets II.

I think I like the second set better than the first, myself, altough they are both good. It seems to me that there is a better variety of styles on the second. A couple of decidedly non-obscure tracks are the Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and the Small Faces "Here Come The Nice", both hits and well-recognized songs.
The two John's Children tracks also appear on the new T. Rex box set, in a much poorer sound quality than on Nuggets II.