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Thread: Listening to CDs with bonus tracks

  1. #26
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spiral View Post
    This is exactly how I do it when burning CDRs for the car.
    If I were to burn CD-Rs for car playing (don't see why... nobody steels CD anymore in cars... or even stereo decks for that matter), I wouldn't bother at all with bonus tracks
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  2. #27
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    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.

  3. #28
    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.

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  4. #29
    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    Though I wind up skipping most of the ones from Mummer anyway; except for the two cool, ambient instrumentals, they’re all dire.
    However, two of the three "Big Express" extra songs, "Red Brick Dream" and "Washaway" are really good and should have been on the album, so I don't mind them being in the middle. "Blue Overall" sucks, though.

  5. #30
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    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.

  6. #31
    Member jode's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    It's little bit like having your post-coital embrace interrupted.
    Haha, yes, it ruins the afterglow!

  7. #32
    Member jode's Avatar
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    I always wonder why an album that's stood the test of time for 40 years needs anything added - gilding the lily IMHO.

  8. #33
    Member Lopez's Avatar
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    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.
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  9. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    However, two of the three "Big Express" extra songs, "Red Brick Dream" and "Washaway" are really good and should have been on the album, so I don't mind them being in the middle. "Blue Overall" sucks, though.
    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.

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  10. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vic2012 View Post
    I remember when Spocks Beard "Octane" came out. Everyone raved about it. Everyone raved about the bonus tracks. Well, I bought the album (which I hated, by the way) with the extra bonus disk. I couldn't help thinking why they couldn't just include a couple of the better bonus tracks as part of the album proper and maybe 86 a couple of the boring tracks from the album.
    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.

  11. #36
    False Number 9 Pr33t's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by philsunset View Post
    I like bonus tracks a lot. They can give a fuller picture of the album project and sometimes there are some real gems. I just wish that when there are bonus tracks there would be a 15-30 second gap between the album tracks and the bonus material. Virgin really screwed up a few XTC CDs by putting the bonus tracks BETWEEN side one and side two of the album tracks with NO gap.
    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.


    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I have found that most of the time, tracks that were not released with the original album were left off for a reason, usually that they are not that good. There are some exceptions and sometimes live bonus tracks are pretty cool, but I would say for the most part I tend to skip over bonus tracks in most cases.
    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.

  12. #37
    False Number 9 Pr33t's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasKDye View Post
    However, two of the three "Big Express" extra songs, "Red Brick Dream" and "Washaway" are really good and should have been on the album, so I don't mind them being in the middle. "Blue Overall" sucks, though.
    Totally agreed. "Blue Overall" is pretty awful.

  13. #38
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lopez View Post
    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.
    I think you're catching on to something here.

  14. #39
    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.

  15. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by Lopez View Post
    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.
    I like that idea too.

  16. #41
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    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.

  17. #42
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    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.

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  18. #43
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lopez View Post
    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.
    thazt's what Genesis did with the boxsets... they put all the bonus tracks on one CD.... but AFAIK, this is not available in commerce
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  19. #44
    Quote Originally Posted by jode View Post
    I always wonder why an album that's stood the test of time for 40 years needs anything added - gilding the lily IMHO.
    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.

  20. #45
    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.

  21. #46
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jode View Post
    I always wonder why an album that's stood the test of time for 40 years needs anything added - gilding the lily IMHO.
    Just so they can sucker us up into buying it again...
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  22. #47
    Member jode's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Just so they can sucker us up into buying it again...
    Yes, sigh, mostly that seems to be the case.

    Commerce wins over art.

    Fripp might say you don't have to buy it but I feel it devalues the original work.

  23. #48
    Ordinary Idiot Superfly's Avatar
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    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

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  24. #49
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Superfly View Post
    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.
    Try TAAB's remaster ... the interview is ibnteresting enough (Anderson is generally an entertaining dude), but it's got NOTHING to do after the album
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  25. #50
    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
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    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.

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