Thread: Bonus Tracks

Posts: 7
Post by jackan June 14, 2015 (1 of 7)
Does anyone have any favorite bonus tracks? I like them in theory. What else was going on at the time? What didn't make the cut? Did they have something else brewing? Was there another take or mix that might be intriguing?

But in reality, the bonus tracks didn't make the cut for a reason. They always seem to ruin the flow of what just happened. Whether I know the album or not. I seem to always turn off the disc when they come on. Especially after the first time through the disc.

Any thoughts?
Post by sylvian June 15, 2015 (2 of 7)
Roxy Music:

"Lover" (B-side 1980). featured on The Thrill of it All and Complete studio recordings.

ASIA:

Daylight" (Wetton/Downes) – 3:32
"Lyin' to Yourself" (Wetton/Howe) – 3:54

featured on SHM-SACD

U.K.

Rendezvous 6.02 (single version) featured on Danger Money SHM-SACD
Post by Simon V. June 15, 2015 (3 of 7)
The best bonus track I can think of is "Melancholia" from the 1995 reissue of The Who Sell Out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG1HJdEuCn0. I can't imagine why it was withheld.

In general, though, the pickings tend to be pretty slim.

I like the practice of including non-album singles from the period.
Post by sylvian June 15, 2015 (4 of 7)
Simon V. said:

I like the practice of including non-album singles from the period.
I second that opinion Simon if the relevance is valuable addition.
Sometimes 7" doublesided single is one-off project, which fits nowhere near to the back-catalogue canon of albums.

Easily spring to mind the two bonus tracks on Jon Anderson: Animotion album. They are working titles and poorly recorded work that simply did not fit with the album. I understand that work in progress is better released in any form than pushed to the vaults anyway.

Probably that is the main reason that Japanese recent releases of Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry catalogues retains original form without bonuses. One would welcome if the bonus tracks and b-sides, work in progress would formed another disc that could be released separately.....sigh!

regards
Post by Simon V. June 15, 2015 (5 of 7)
sylvian said:

I second that opinion Simon if the relevance is valuable addition.
Sometimes 7" doublesided single is one-off project, which fits nowhere near to the back-catalogue canon of albums.

Easily spring to mind the two bonus tracks on Jon Anderson: Animotion album. They are working titles and poorly recorded work that simply did not fit with the album. I understand that work in progress is better released in any form than pushed to the vaults anyway.

Probably that is the main reason that Japanese recent releases of Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry catalogues retains original form without bonuses. One would welcome if the bonus tracks and b-sides, work in progress would formed another disc that could be released separately.....sigh!
Good points. Bonus tracks can spoil the integrity of an album.

Some of the Banshees' singles—"Israel", "Fireworks", "Song from the Edge of the World"—were free-standing and have no direct link to an album. I am glad to have them on disc, though (well, they've withheld "Song from the Edge of the World"), without having to buy the singles collections, which would involve a lot of duplication.

Downside Up is a great example of how to preserve B-sides, though sometimes I wish they had been presented together with the A-sides with which they were conceived (I guess I don't mind duplication in this case).

Even where a single is of a piece with an album released contemporaneously, having been recorded at the same sessions, the fact is that it was released separately and there's an argument for keeping it separate. "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" would not be out of place on Revolver, but having them on Past Masters, albeit in a ragbag of dissimilar material, is perhaps preferable.

Works in progress tend to be of only musicological interest: hearing them once is usually enough. An exception is Sandy Denny's demo of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", which I find more affecting than the version worked up with Fairport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbpURBJA4uA.
Post by eljr June 15, 2015 (6 of 7)
I had been meaning to start a thread like this. I dislike them, no matter what. I want the album I purchase the way it was originally released/intended for release. Additional material is fine on a separate disc.

I'd rather be compelled to buy an additional disc than have tracks added to the original.
Post by sylvian June 15, 2015 (7 of 7)
Simon V. said:

Good points. Bonus tracks can spoil the integrity of an album.

.......


Works in progress tend to be of only musicological interest: hearing them once is usually enough. An exception is Sandy Denny's demo of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", which I find more affecting than the version worked up with Fairport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbpURBJA4uA.
As I understand....the making of an album was, is and will be a sort of challenge. It consumes all the artists integrity and concentration for the whole project. So the addition of a few other tracks from the same period but recorded with different attitude really spoils the intention of the artists who worked hard to make their best.

So for me is also important to have a broader outlook on artists work, but on separate disc, pls.

Closed