In my old car on the front passenger seat is a large 1970s National Panasonic ghetto blaster with 4 band radio that I play cassettes on.
Usually, I just skip them, if they’re single edits of album tracks, crummy live versions, or crappy demos (sorry, Yes, “studio run-throughs” ). But if they’re something worthwhile, like single tracks or unreleased studio stuff that’s actually good (the bonus tracks from the Atlas and first Eela Craig album come to mind, the latter are actually better than the main album tracks!) I’ll let them play through. I hate how the XTC albums stick the bonus tracks in the break between sides, instead of at the end, so I generally program them to be at the end. Though I wind up skipping most of the ones from Mummer anyway; except for the two cool, ambient instrumentals, they’re all dire.
-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
“It doesn't get any more...like this. Than this.” --Anders Lundquist
N.P.:“Pudding en Gisteren (Music for Ballet)”-Supersister
People who sit in their laboratory-quality audio rooms wearing a smoking jacket and a monocle while listening to 500 gram vinyl through their gazillion buck monopole tube amp systems will scoff, but most of my listening these days is on the computer or on an MP3 player, usually in shuffle mode until something strikes my fancy and I switch to listening to an entire album, but that doesn't usually happen. At least most of the time if I'm at home I'm using one of these and these.
I always wonder why an album that's stood the test of time for 40 years needs anything added - gilding the lily IMHO.
For a band that has a lot of albums out, say the Strawbs or the Byrds or Spirit, I'd prefer to see an entire disk of nothing but bonus tracks. That way I'd only have to buy one or two disks instead of shelling out for remastered CDs with one or two bonus cuts each included on 12 records I already have on vinyl.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
Absolutely agreed. Well, not “absolutely,” I’m OK with “Blue Overall,” but it’s not anywhere near on the level of the two other tunes. Also, unlike other albums of that period, I discovered The Big Express on CD, so it doesn’t seem odd to me to have those songs in the middle instead of at the end. The guitar playing on “Red Brick Dream” is simply gorgeous.
-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"It is not an obscenity to be free. It is a divine right." --Annette Peacock
N.P.:“Eye-Shaking King”-Amon Düül II/Yeti
I agree, and sadly they did the same exact thing on the new one with Ted Leonard. Though I don't hate the new album, it's awesome once you've nixed a few average cuts, and added in the jaw dropping bonus tracks. I'm thinking they must be afraid if they are too proggy they'll never make it big in the placid world.
Totally agree. Those CDs were my first introduction to XTC and were burned into my brain before ever getting the remastered cds or the vinyl. I'm still expecting a different track to come on next in places all these years later.
I agree entirely with Steve and everyone who looks at it this way. Oftentimes an alternate or live version is interesting, or historically significant and nice to hear a few times, but I listen to albums as a whole. I do wish there was a 30 sec filler track between the end of the original album and the bonus. That gives you enough time to get up and turn it off before what is often a jarring dissimilarity between tracks.
Trane is on the money WRT the Forever Changes bonus tracks. Really superfluous takes.
--
Mike |
The Vinyl Archivist : Record Cleaning Service |
The Vinyl Archivist Catalogue Sale : New Sale coming Fall 2022 |
Discogs Listings: CD | Discogs Listings: Vinyl | Ebay Listings | The Giant Progweed Reviews Archive
--
Mike |
The Vinyl Archivist : Record Cleaning Service |
The Vinyl Archivist Catalogue Sale : New Sale coming Fall 2022 |
Discogs Listings: CD | Discogs Listings: Vinyl | Ebay Listings | The Giant Progweed Reviews Archive
I hate bonus tracks, behind the scenes information, interviews or whatever tacked on to the back-end of a CD.
I just want the final product.
I do like having the other info available say on the band's website, so that I can peruse there if I feel so inclined.
I used to get excited about the bonus disks but after a while I realized that most of them did not make the original CD for quality control reasons. Having the bonus tracks on a separate disk is nice if it is a few tracks. 1 track bonus disks are a waste.
The recent Anthony Phillips remaster/reissue campaign is an excellent example of how to do it. Intact album on CD 1, loads of bonus tracks on CD 2. Lots of demos, different mixes, previously unreleased tracks and quite different takes than what made the albums. Really fantastic IMO, I've been thoroughly enjoying them.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Often, yes, although sometimes it's more like adding a few other flowers to the arrangement to complement the lily.
Song X as I mentioned above, and Byrne/Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, come to mind as exceptions to this rule. In those cases the newly-added tracks are just as strong as the ones that made the cut. They were only left off for time reasons (both being made in the LP age), and the artists would have included it all in the first place if there'd been a format that allowed it at the time.
I would have to say that I don't think bonus tracks can ever improve any album as an artistic statement. What they are to me is the equivalent of DVD bonus material- it's context that can, in good circumstances, enhance my understanding of the material. What did Turn Of The Century sound like as it evolved? What other tracks were Tull working on at the time that didn't make the cut? I therefore understand the mindset that likes to keep them apart from the main material. It tends to be stuff that will get listened to once or twice and that's it, rarely something that I would want to hear every time the album comes up. But in some cases, like Spiral says, it can happen. It can happen to you, it can happen to me- it can happen to everyone eventually.
I think the worst offender in the bonus track department has the be 'the interview' tacked onto the end of a disc like on Brain Salad Surgery. Sure, I don't mind hearing it once, but that's about it, from then on you have to program the damned thing out. A real waste of disc space.
"The Bill of Rights says nothing about the freedom of hearing. This, of course, takes a lot of the fun out of the freedom of speech." - Pat Paulsen
My Art- http://www.facebook.com/williamallenrenfro -My Life
A friend recommended Keats to me (a band in the eighties consisting of Alan Parsons' backing band with Pete Bardens and Colin Blunstone, singing middle-of-the-road stuff) and I bought the CD to discover a TWENTY-MINUTE interview with the band members. Now, I love the Alan Parsons Project band as much as anyone, but the story behind making THIS album is less-than-riveting stuff.
Bookmarks