Any comments on so call "Bonus" tracks.

Don't they always , probably as indecipherable as usual. Seagulls following trawlers etc etc.

Bonus tracks usually suck. They weren't on the original album for a reason.

There are exceptions where I've found the bonus tracks to be worth the while - the Velvet Underground's Fully Loaded where the alternative takes are better than the originals, but that is because of some production shenanigans before its original release.

Lots of bonus tracks are not great and ended up on the cutting room floor for a reason.

The recently re-mastered CCR albums had their share of disposable bonus tracks - only on the eponymous debut were there bonus tracks worth a second listen - the standard tracks are wonderful, of course.

Now lets consider one of the greatest rock elpees of all time Death Walks Behind You by Atomic Rooster and its deluxe version.

The original vinyl elpee is stunning

Side one
"Death Walks Behind You" (Du Cann/Crane) 7:24
"VUG" (Crane) 5:03
"Tomorrow Night" (Crane) 4:02
"Seven Lonely Streets" (Du Cann) 6:47

Side two
"Sleeping for Years" (Du Cann) 5:30
"I Can't Take No More" (Du Cann) 3:36
"Nobody Else" (Crane/Du Cann) 5:04
"Gershatzer" (Crane) 8:01

But on the deluxe CD we go mad

9. Play The Game - OK yes that's fine it's the flip side of the hit Tommorow Night
10. Devil's Answer - early demo version that is not very good
11. Tomorrow Night - old radio session - no thanks
12. Shabooloo - old radio session of a track that was on the debut album, but called Before Tomorrow - no thanks
13. Death Walks Behind You - old radio session - no thanks
14. Devil's Answer - Of course, it's one of the greatest singles ever.

Of course there is some interest for me in Atomic Rooster rarities - the first album Atomic Ro-o-o-ster was recorded by Crane/Graham/Palmer and released in the UK, but before it was released in the US, Carl Palmer had departed for ELP and Graham was on the way out - enter John Du Cann and it was decided to overdub some guitar on the record for its US release - so you can compare "Friday the 13th", "Before Tomorrow" and "S.L.Y." with and without guitar - oh and on "Friday the 13th" - Graham's vocals were edited out and replaced with a Du Cann overdub. Of course I had to get yet another re-issue to hear the previously unavailable version of Devil's Answer with Carl Palmer on drums. Interestingly on re-issue of third elpee we have yet another version of Devil's Answer - well it is a great song - in fact there are two versions: one with Du Cann vocals and one without.

Well I guess the bonus tracks are designed to get stupid people like me buying the same record twice - after all I bought a Syd Barrett compilation because it had one track I didn't have - the quite dreadful Bob Dylan Blues - wonder why it never found its way on to the superb original elpees.

Personally I am not a great lover of bonus tracks tacked on to the end of an album unless they are good. As there too much rubbish used for just that purpose.

Drugs, I think!

Supposed to sit there too stoned to move, and leave the music [which has stopped] alone pondering the Uiniverse [or the meaning of life etc.], and just what to do next. THEN JUMP A MILE when some more music comes along!

If that is not why then I cannot think of any other reason! It does not work with Vodka, however, speaking from experience ...

ATB from George

You know something is up because the red hasn't come on(NAIM CDP), so the track is still playing.

Calexico's Feast of Wire has a bonus before the first track, so you have to rewind so to speak.

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Drugs, I think!

Supposed to sit there too stoned to move, and leave the music [which has stopped] alone pondering the Uiniverse [or the meaning of life etc.], and just what to do next. THEN JUMP A MILE when some more music comes along!

If that is not why then I cannot think of any other reason! It does not work with Vodka, however, speaking from experience ...

ATB from George

In a similar manner, I absolutely hate it when a previously unrecorded single is released on a Greatest Hits album.

Not sure if this is arrogance from the group, or label marketers who want you to buy a greatest hits record, when you generally already own all original albums, just to get a new recording.

Yet another grumpy old men thread.

Bonus tracks I can take or leave. Occasionally there's a gem there but mainly they're inferior rubbish which, as somebody said, weren't previously released for good reason. I can always press stop if I don't want to listen. However it's those bloody hidden tracks that really annoy me. I just don't get it.

Quantity vs Quality.

Before CDs, long playing releases were mostly 35-45 minutes long. Double LPs were always approached with caution as they usually had a lot of filler.

CD came along with a capacity of over an hour.

Re-releasing single LPs as CDs leaves a lot of unused capacity on the disc which the labels like to fill up thus giving "value for money" with the quantity of music.

In my opinion, stopping after 40 minutes is preferable to an extra 25 minutes of floor sweepings.

I recently bought the first Caravan album on CD. The 'bonus' tracks were the complete album but in Mono! Why?

quote:

The 'bonus' tracks were the complete album but in Mono! Why?

For George?

In general I do not like them, but there are the odd gems, for instance the two live tracks 'Stay' and 'Wild is the Wind' on the RKO original release of Bowie's 'Station to Station '.

Mostly I know the album as an entity with a start and a finish, often written with a specific ending track with a fitting mood, and the extra tracks spoil that. Instead of relaxing as the album drifts away, I find myself hunting for the remote to kill a track that just does not fit after the experience of the previous 40 minutes or so.

I like what Steve Wilson did with the extra tracks on 'In Absentia', and some of the other albums, put them on a separate disc so they do not affect how the albums is listened to.

Some bonus tracks are definately in the 'take' category, instead of the leave one.

Wishbone Ash-Argus....the 'live in Memphis' tracks are very tasty.

David Bowie- Hunky Dory- good primative acoustic demo versions of 'Life on Mars' (yes, but not as good as the studio one).

I kinda like the live LZ covers found on the bonus tracks of some of the Heart albums.

As has been pointed out, the time limitations of LPs were more technical rather than artistic. I always lamented the fact that 'Tubular Bells' didn't quite fit on a C90 cassette.

I have a couple of albums with extra discs of demo versions of the whole album, and in both cases, if I had to choose which to keep, I might well go for the demos.
Dry - PJ Harvey (on vinyl) and Never Gonna Let You Go - Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart (on CD)

Gavin

Some good, some bad. The Bee Gees 1st has some corking material on that never came out, Days Of Future Passed has some excellent extras too.

Particularly good (so far) has been the Atomhenge re-issues of Hawkwind 1976-1997 where the extras have been very sympathetic to the original album or included on an extra disk (like the Bee Gees and Moodies above). I'm preparing an overview as a thread in its own right so stand by to be bored rigid.

As for the mono stuff, it's true that some mid/late 60s stuff was originally mixed in mono and that those mixes were sometimes radically different (e.g. Mr Fantasy) but on the whole they're a waste of a speaker ;-)

I've lost count of the number of recent(ish) good albums that would have been even better if trimmed down to 40 minutes of fillerless material.

If you like Bob Marley, there is a disc 2 on the remaster of Legend (at least I think its a remaster), song 1 is a 6:59 minute long version of One Love/People Get Ready...and its very very cool.

'Kind of Blue' was released on CD with 'bonus' takes a few years back.

That's simply a criminal offence in my book.

GH

Why don't you just programme your CD player to omit the bonus tracks Graeme or burn yourself a CD-R containing only the original tracks?

When bonus tracks follow the original album I don't see any problem at all. I believe that the bonus track on 'Kind Of Blue' was a different take of 'Flamenco Sketches' that followed the original album track listing. I accept that when alternate takes and unreleased tracks are mixed in with the original album cuts it can be a pain. The Miles Davis/John Coltrane box set is like this, the Herbie Hancock 'Blue Note' box set is much worse.

Some albums have great bonus tracks. The second disc of Jon Martyn's 'One World' is really interesting. 'Who's Next' has a really good second disc of live material from the Old Vic 'Lifehouse' material.

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Jazz:
Why don't you just programme your CD player to omit the bonus tracks Graeme or burn yourself a CD-R containing only the original tracks?

......because i'd be complicit in the crime!

It is like adding a conservatory to the Farnsworth House.

GH

quote:

Originally posted by seagull:
I recently bought the first Caravan album on CD. The 'bonus' tracks were the complete album but in Mono! Why?

So, Mr Seagull sir, you could claim oneupmanship over me, who despite being a big Caravan fan, only has the stereo version

Will downloading change this in that you only buy the tracks you want - so a greatest hits record with one previously unreleased track is no longer an issue.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

quote:

Originally posted by seagull:
I recently bought the first Caravan album on CD. The 'bonus' tracks were the complete album but in Mono! Why?

So, Mr Seagull sir, you could claim oneupmanship over me, who despite being a big Caravan fan, only has the stereo version

Looks like I was wrong about this CD - I was posting at work yesterday.

Tracks 1-8 are the Mono version!

It would appear that the Stereo versions are the 'bonus' ones, together with an "official" bonus track - Hello Hello (single version)

Out of curiosity I bought three remastered definitive edition Ultravox CDs - Vienna, Rage in Eden and Quartet,

The bonus tracks are on separate CDs, which solves the problem for those who wish to avoid them. The bonus tracks are a mix of good and bad stuff, but I find all of the music an interesting insight into the band. In some cases the bonus tracks are modern remixes which I find as enjoyable, maybe more so in some cases, than the version released originally; some are recordings of rehearsals at live events and are variable in quality to say the least.

So in the case of these Ultravox albums, I think a sensible approach has been made to the bonus tracks.

There are some CDs I can think of where the bonus tracks are more than wlecome. For example, I was listening to Ian Dury's Do It Yourself the other day, and I remember when I had all the original 12" singles, there were some great B-sides that never made it to the albums.
Now I can listen to brilliant tracks like Clever Bastards and Common As Muck again (the vinyl has long gone I'm afraid)
But there is also some terrible tosh put on bonus CDs just to get us to part with our money again