Listening to CDs with bonus tracks

[Homburg]

Do you still listen to albums all the way through, treating them as one discrete work of art?

If so, how do you feel when bonus tracks follow? Is it the aural equivalent of an extra six inches being stuck on the bottom of a painting?

Do you enjoy hearing an alternate take of a track shortly after hearing the first version?

[Trane]

It depends on the quality or nature of the bonus tracks...

If they're non-album singles or real unavailable tracks, I will most likely treat them as the album proper and will listen to them as "the album" (ex: Caravan's A Day in The Life Of Maurice Haylett added to if I Could Do It....

But I tend to skip the alternate takes or second-rate live versions of tracks that exist on te album


One album completely ruined by the bonus track is Love's Forever Changes... it's got loads of unwanted and uninteresting bonus tracks, including six or seven takes of one track...

[Joe F.]

Do you still listen to albums all the way through, treating them as one discrete work of art?

If so, how do you feel when bonus tracks follow? Is it the aural equivalent of an extra six inches being stuck on the bottom of a painting?

Do you enjoy hearing an alternate take of a track shortly after hearing the first version?

I'd prefer it if any bonus tracks were put on a separate disc, but I know that isn't very cost effective. If the tracks were previously unreleased, or non-album singles I might listen to them if I think they are good songs.

I too skip alternate takes and live versions. If I've just listend to the album in full, the last thing I want to do is hear some of the songs over again right away.

[Progatron]

Depends entirely on what the bonus tracks are. I do like an album to retain its original running order, but I love when b-sides/non-album tracks are included - especially in the case of bands like Tull, Marillion, Genesis... they all had excellent non-album tracks that were often as strong (if not stronger) than what was on the album proper. The Marillion EMI remaster series from the 90s did it right. Album on CD 1, extras on CD 2. As for demos and rough mixes, sometimes those are good, sometimes great, sometimes 'meh'. It's rare than I find a demo version I prefer to the final release, but it does happen on occasion (see: Tull's "Jack-A-Lynn" or Elton John's "Madman Across The Water").

Live tracks can often be superfluous. Generally if I want live tracks, I pull the actual live album off the shelf. And the worst bonus track of all is the 'radio edit', especially when they are tacked on to the end of the album proper. Why on earth would I want to hear shortened versions of "I've Seen All Good People" and "Starship Trooper" after the last dying strains of "Perpetual Change" have faded away, and I've only just heard those full tracks fifteen minutes before? Even so, there are rare instances where an edited track suits me (Dream Theater's "Misunderstood" is a killer track with all the nonsense removed). So it's hit or miss, but mostly miss when it comes to live tracks and edits.

[rcarlberg]

For me too it depends entirely on the quality of the bonus tracks. Once in a while they're a worthy addition to a beloved album. More often they're not. But I'd never complain about having to stop an album early because there is too much music on it. That'd just be perverse.

[trurl]

They're a coda; an epilogue. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[philsunset]

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.

[Dave (in MA)]

Here's a page that talks about being upset by bonus tracks.

[rcarlberg]

Here's a page that talks about being upset by bonus tracks.

Ha-ha-ha. For some of us older folk we're used to listening to ALBUMS, a side at a time, where one song naturally follows the next. Having sombody fuck with the order is as annoying as remixing the songs.

[Homburg]

The 'OP' writes:

I'd prefer it if any bonus tracks were put on a separate disc, but I know that isn't very cost effective. If the tracks were previously unreleased, or non-album singles I might listen to them if I think they are good songs.

I too skip alternate takes and live versions. If I've just listend to the album in full, the last thing I want to do is hear some of the songs over again right away.

I agree.

Often when I have a CD on I'm not at the controls all the time so skipping requires effort. Yes I know not a lot, but the intention with music is often to help me to relax.

Plus the sense of climax at the end of the original album is lost. The suggestion of a longer gap between original album and bonus material is a good one. But a separate disc for bonus material would work best for me.

[rcarlberg]

The suggestion of a longer gap between original album and bonus material is a good one. But a separate disc for bonus material would work best for me.

That's what CD-Rs are for.

[Superfly]

I still tend to listen to albums straight through as one solid work of art. More often than not, I'll program the bonus tracks right out, unless they are super special. In most cases, I think bonus tracks, if they are worth preserving at all, should always be on a seperate disc whenever possible, and not disrupt the continuity of the album.

[Digital_Man]

I personally dislike bonus tracks for the most part. Dislike is actually putting it mildly. I find that they break up the continuity of the album(even though most are tacked on at the end). I wouldn't mind if they were on a bonus disc but it's not usually done that way.

[NogbadTheBad]

I'm pretty much ok with bonus tracks as long as their not just a waste of space or material that wasn't good enough to make the cut originally. Live stuff is usually good, alternate takes can be interesting. Some examples of what I like and don't:--

Klaus Schulze - typically stuff I don't know that's up to the standard of the rest of the album
Mike Oldfield - I actually bought QE2 & Platinum for the bonus live material that is excellent
Pink Floyd - I bought WYWH for live versions of Raving & Drooling and You Gotta Be Crazy
Jethro Tull - Aqualung - I've got no time for all the bits and bobs and pretty much just play the original material
King Crimson - LTiA - Don't like the bonus material at all, I rebought it for the DVD footage from French TV which is outstanding
Hatfield & The North - Rotters Club - Your Majesty... Wonderful track fits with the rest of the mood

[Septober Energy]

I like to call them "bogus tracks." There are instances where the bonus tracks are worthy and welcome, but more often than not, they're just a gimmick to get us poor slobs to shell out more money for the same album for the 4th or 5th time.

[notallwhowander]

I don't listen directly from CD all that often. When I rip in a disc with bonus track the regular tracks the album name, but the bonus tracks get album name [bonus track]. This way I can listen to the album as a whole and not worry about skipping.

With this condition in mind, I don't mind bonus tracks on the whole. Single edits are tiresome, unless a different mix is involved (like with the Hawklords "25 Years"). I like live tracks generally. These give a sense of context to the studio album. Songs recorded in the same session or year, released as singles, but were not included on the album are very welcome. But I have to admit, a catch-all release such as Living in the Past and 20 Years of Jethro Tull are just as welcome as a bonus track. Studio run-throughs are dubious. Sometimes an ur-version adds to the experience of the album sometimes it doesn't.

[SteveSly]

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.

Steve Sly

[GuitarGeek]

I don't mind bonus tracks appended to the same disc as the original album. Beats the hell out of paying double for a second CD. A couple of the Yes albums (specifically Going For The One and Relayer), though, I'm so attached to the idea of just sitting for a couple minutes, in silence after the last track ends that I find it a bit disturbing to have anything come up immediately afterwards. It's little bit like having your post-coital embrace interrupted.

The one that really bugged me was Duke Ellington's album Money Jungle. The label that reissued it on CD saw fit to place the tracks in the order they were recorded (versus the running order of the original album release), with multiple takes of some of the pieces placed right next to each other. So you get like two or three versions of a given piece right in a row, which gets a bit difficult to listen to sometimes, even when you're talking about someone of Ellington's caliber.

Another one I didn't like was the mid 90's reissue of Freur's Doot-Doot. Now, you'd think that for bonus tracks they might include the 12" mixes of the singles, or perhaps the non-album B-side Hold Me Mother. No such luck. Instead, we got two bonus tracks, both of which are actually from Freur's second album. Seemed like a strange move, I thought.

[Oreb]

I still tend to listen to albums straight through as one solid work of art. More often than not, I'll program the bonus tracks right out, unless they are super special. In most cases, I think bonus tracks, if they are worth preserving at all, should always be on a seperate disc whenever possible, and not disrupt the continuity of the album.

I basically agree with this, although there are three exceptions I have on my iTunes:

I add "It's Yourself" to A Trick of the Tail, between "Squonk" and "Mad Man Moon"

I add "Pure and Easy" to Who's Next, between "My Wife" and "Song Is Over"

I keep "Into the Old Man's Shoes" as the last track of Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection

These are three (IMO) perfect albums without the extra tracks, but to my ears these don't in any way detract - in the first two they actually enhance musical themes referenced in other tracks and in the last it completes the lyrical concept introduced at the beginning of the album.

[Trane]

As a somewhat rule, the better bonus tracks are to be found on Tull and Caravan albums...

Here's a page that talks about being upset by bonus tracks.

(good one)

Often when I have a CD on I'm not at the controls all the time so skipping requires effort. Yes I know not a lot, but the intention with music is often to help me to relax.

Plus the sense of climax at the end of the original album is lost. The suggestion of a longer gap between original album and bonus material is a good one. But a separate disc for bonus material would work best for me.

Well skipping track on CDs is a whole lot easier than on vinyls

Maybe not a separate disc (which can be expensive), but a different menu accessed by pressing play a second time (or a doubble click type of push)

But it's all to late now...

[PeterG]

When I used to buys CDs I always looked for a version with the orignal running order & preferrably w/o extras. Extras that repeat songs that you've just heard in the orignal running order but with a different mix or instrumentation or w/o vocals or live are an abomination!!!!

[Vic2012]

I don't particulary care for bonus tracks. Out takes, demos, and whatnot don't interest me. For example, the bonus tracks on the Kansas remasters were lame. Just lame. I don't need a 3 minute, radio edit of Song For America. One other thing that really bugs me is this trend with "regular", "deluxe Edition" and "Super-duper, Extra Special Edition." Seems like a lot of the third wave bands (all the usual suspects, The Flower Beards, etc.) do this a lot. For a few extra bucks you get 5-6 extra songs on the same album. I hate this. Either release the damn thing as a single disk, or a double (or whatever). 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.

[Spiral]

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.

This is exactly how I do it when burning CDRs for the car (I also wish more artists would do it themselves; King Crimson's ConstruKction of Light is the only example I can think of right away).

I like how it's all flexible. It's easy to keep extra material handy, leave off tracks I don't like, or add things that don't necessarily come with the album but are handy to have on disc (usually B-sides or non-album singles, like with Thom Yorke's "Pulled Apart by Horses" or Radiohead's "The Daily Mail").

It's also nice when that bonus disc is short enough to burn on one CD along with the proper album. Steven Wilson's Insurgentes, PT's The Incident, Radiohead's In Rainbows and the first three OSI albums all work that way. Much better for space reasons alone.

When I rip in a disc with bonus track the regular tracks the album name, but the bonus tracks get album name [bonus track]. This way I can listen to the album as a whole and not worry about skipping.

Ditto. This is the way things usually go on my ipod too. The new Bowie is the biggest recent example... I like the extras (even if they sound unfinished), but "Heat" really sounds like a final song, so it feels odd to have anything come after.

The one that really bugged me was Duke Ellington's album Money Jungle. The label that reissued it on CD saw fit to place the tracks in the order they were recorded (versus the running order of the original album release), with multiple takes of some of the pieces placed right next to each other. So you get like two or three versions of a given piece right in a row, which gets a bit difficult to listen to sometimes, even when you're talking about someone of Ellington's caliber.

My copy (Blue Note, 2001 or thereabouts) has the album in order and then the alternates. There must have been more than one reissue. I'd definitely agree the order you describe would be a nuisance.

I keep "Into the Old Man's Shoes" as the last track of Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection ... it completes the lyrical concept introduced at the beginning of the album.

That's a tricky one. I actually slotted it next to last. It doesn't feel like it should be separate since it ties with the album theme, but "Burn Down the Mission" is such a perfect closer that I like it best at the very end.

[Spiral]

Just thought of another example that makes this work in an interesting way: Song X by Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman. The 20th anniversary reissue puts the bonus tracks (maybe 20 minutes of previously unreleased material) right at the start. It's a new slant since the familiar stuff actually works differently in the new context, but you can also just start at track seven and play the thing as it originally was without ripping or burning.

[Facelift]

I primarily DON'T listen to albums all the way through, so bonus tracks have little effect on me, insofar as disrupting any kind of flow. In the event that I am listening to an album this way, however, bonus tracks still don't bother me unless I just don't happen to like one of them very much - in which case I'll skip it, although in this regard I don't treat a bonus track any differently than any other album track I don't care for.

I will say that I virtually never choose to listen to bonus tracks which are demos or alternate takes more than once. I view these as curiosities more than anything else.