Bonus tracks… Why?

[MarkOne]

Does anyone else find the penchant for adding loads of also ran pap to the end of re-releases, and remastered albums, really annoying. You have this album that is a work in itself, and the rerelease has a bunch of remixes, previously unreleased songs (hint, record companies, there was a reason they didn’t make the cut) tacked on the end.

Sure release a rarities, remixes and cutting room rejects compilation for the hard core completists but please leave the original alone.

/end rant

[The Elf]

I'm ambivalent to this. Sometimes there's good, interesting stuff in that extra material. In my own case I've managed to rescue rare, or even 'believed lost' recordings to releases, which would otherwise never see the light of day.

[Mike Stranks]

Are you talking about re-releases of material originally released on vinyl - because that's all there was ''back then"?

If so, the answer is format length. Because of physical size and cutting limitations, the best you could get on a vinyl album was about 40/45 mins. Along came CDs and, hey presto!, 60 minutes...

And so grew the 'we must fill up the space' moves when re-releasing vinyl on CD.

Streaming is a foreign country to me, so I don't know if the same applies to re-releases only in the 'streaming' domain. But I don't really know what I'm talking about!

I do agree that sometimes 'bonus tracks' are sub-standard, but if I listen to 'the album' I just don't play 'em. But then, I'm old-school...

[The words 'bonus track' are particular painful for me... Some years ago I recorded/tracked (all 'flat) a live concert for an artist. In due course they released a studio album with one of the songs I'd tracked 'live' as a 'Bonus track' for which I was duly credited. IMO the mix was dreadful and I'm not a little embarrassed to have my name associated with the track.]

[Arpangel]

Often I’m now buying an album which at the time, I thought was crap, but I’m finally giving it a go, so I feel I’m getting a bonus, for doing that, which is cool, there has to be some incentive.

[RichardT]

Does anyone else find the penchant for adding loads of also ran pap to the end of re-releases, and remastered albums, really annoying. You have this album that is a work in itself, and the rerelease has a bunch of remixes, previously unreleased songs (hint, record companies, there was a reason they didn’t make the cut) tacked on the end.

Sure release a rarities, remixes and cutting room rejects compilation for the hard core completists but please leave the original alone.

/end rant

I understand where you are coming from! I have mixed feelings. Occasionally I listen to one or two of these bonus tracks, but mostly I ignore them.

[Arpangel]

I bought a whole album of unreleased tracks, by one of my favourite artists, I listened to it once, there wasn’t anything memorable.
I’m OK with this, as nothing would stop me liking him, but it’s a danger that releasing stuff like this could really put some people off.
If it were me, I wouldn’t like this, there are reasons why artists don’t want people to hear what they think isn’t right to put out, in fact, I’d go so far as saying it’s a betrayal of trust that you give to a label to represent you as you would like to be, going against that could alter your whole image in other peoples eyes.
I wouldn’t want others to hear my "failures" why would I? I’d rather not invite you back-stage, it can spoil the magic of the show.

[BigRedX]

I would agree with not releasing tracks that didn't make the cut the first time around, as others have said there's a reason why they're not on the album. IME tracks that didn't quite make it due to timing constraints of vinyl generally find their way either onto B-sides of singles, or addition tracks on an EP, or are often revisited when the next album is being recorded.

As far as adding bonus tracks to the CD release of an album I'll make an exception for non-album singles, B-sides and EP tracks from the same recording session or era; as well as the single version (including 12" mixes etc.) of a song if it is a different mix/edit/recording to the album version as often this will be the version I am most familiar with and in many cases prefer. However I'd probably enjoy them more as a separate (mini-)album in their own right.

[MarkOne]

Case in point. Going For the One, by probably my favourite band, Yes.

5 great tracks topped off by possibly their greatest track Awaken.

Once that is all done, I like just to take a moment after the final bars to relish what has just gone before. Like swirling that last mouthful of vintage burgundy after a particularly fine meal.

But no, there are then 3 unreleased tracks and 4 rehearsal versions of tracks on the album.

It’s like swirling that last mouthful only for the waiter to bring you a cheese sandwich. Or a pickled egg. I wouldn’t mind if there was a feature on the streaming platforms to stop playback at the official end, and only continue with another press of the play button.

Yes I know I can hit stop but I never said this was a rational thing. It just irks me.

[muzines]

Personally, I love them.

The original album is the original album. I'm not sure if you guys realise, but once the last album track ends, you can hit stop. You don't have to play additional bonus tracks if you don't want to, and it's not like they are generally thrown into the middle of the album..!

For albums and tracks I'm interested in, I've found it fascinating and valuable to have access to the various unreleased demo versions, remixes and other versions where sometimes the material is more isolated. For my "Take On Me" blog post for example, having access to the various demos was invaluable in letting me piece together and understanding of the birth and evolution of that track.

Then you've got things like Peter Gabriel's "So" album, where there are versions of the tracks that start with original demo recordings, morph through various versions as they were developing and "finding" the song, all the way through into it's final form. *Love* it!

Sometimes the CD version had different mixes to the vinyl version - but through bonus tracks, I finally get "CD quality" versions of those originally vinyl only versions, along with other obscure remixes.

And in the case of bonus tracks which were tracks made by the artist, but didn't make the album cut for various reasons - yes, sometimes they're not so good, but I'd still rather have the option of hearing them, and not playing tracks I don't like (much like tracks on the full album) than not having them. While I understand this might in some way spoil the magic of the main material for some people, it doesn't for me - actually it tends to make me even *more* appreciative of the magic.

Not everything is going to land, but it's all *optional*, and I'd far rather have them, than not. And in the case of albums and material I particularly love, the more "stuff" in the archives than can get put on, the better for me! And if they want to add a download for the original multitrack sessions to nerd out to, I'm totally there for it!

Or a pickled egg. I wouldn’t mind if there was a feature on the streaming platforms to stop playback at the official end, and only continue with another press of the play button.

Yes I know I can hit stop but I never said this was a rational thing. It just irks me.

I mean you can just make an album/playlist of just the tracks you want on albums that are important to you, and not add the bonus tracks, and listen that way... Not sure about the other Streamers, but often Spotify has all the different album versions available, from the original album (no bonus tracks), through the remixes and special editions with all the extra stuff - so you often get a choice of which album version you want to play anyway...

[Martin Walker]

Case in point. Going For the One, by probably my favourite band, Yes.

5 great tracks topped off by possibly their greatest track Awaken.

Once that is all done, I like just to take a moment after the final bars to relish what has just gone before. Like swirling that last mouthful of vintage burgundy after a particularly fine meal.

But no, there are then 3 unreleased tracks and 4 rehearsal versions of tracks on the album.

It’s like swirling that last mouthful only for the waiter to bring you a cheese sandwich. Or a pickled egg. I wouldn’t mind if there was a feature on the streaming platforms to stop playback at the official end, and only continue with another press of the play button.

Yes I know I can hit stop but I never said this was a rational thing. It just irks me.

[MOF]

IMO the mix was dreadful and I'm not a little embarrassed to have my name associated with the track.]

Ditto for some programme credits for ‘sound recordist’ I’ve worked on, where days worth of sound taken from camera microphones are used alongside one day of my work.

[MOF]

Then you've got things like Peter Gabriel's "So" album, where there are versions of the tracks that start with original demo recordings, morph through various versions as they were developing and "finding" the song, all the way through into it's final form. *Love* it!

I love extra tracks but prefer them to be at the end, or in the case of The Beatles stereo remixes by Giles Martin, on a second CD.
My CD of ‘So’ dates from the original release, so no bonus early demo tracks, however the Classic Albums documentary did highlight the vinyl format issues. Peter auditioned permutations of beginnings and endings of tracks to get the right flow but couldn’t do what he wanted to do originally because of the need to have loud/bass heavy tracks at the beginning of each side.
It was only when CD became available that he changed the running order.

[Drew Stephenson]

Personally I quite like them, but my preferred way of receiving them is via the bonus CD.

[James Perrett]

I can't really complain about bonus tracks because they're a large proportion of my work at the moment. As a listener I usually find them a good addition provided that they are in keeping with the rest of the album.

[Martin Walker]

And of course James, if you're involved in the project their audio quality will be as high as it's possible for them to be - other bonus tracks may not have the same attention to detail

[Scramble]

Blake McQueen from Coralspin made just this complaint in Sound on Sound nine years ago:
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/sounding

[James Perrett]

That's a very diplomatic way of expressing it Martin - especially considering the style of some of the material that I work with where the source leaves much to be desired.

[Arpangel]

I can’t talk, I’m in the process of helping, producing, and restoring some unreleased stuff for a friend of mine, helping means a few telephone conversations, producing is very much in the Phil Spector mode, lots of drinking, swearing, and slagging everyone off, as for the restoration, it’s more like "that sounds fine, leave it as it is"

[Hugh Robjohns]

IMO the mix was dreadful and I'm not a little embarrassed to have my name associated with the track.

Ditto for some programme credits for ‘sound recordist’ I’ve worked on, where days worth of sound taken from camera microphones are used alongside one day of my work.

I feel the pain... but the most irksome one for me was the other way around -- a freelance location sound recordist was credited for my work!

A freelance crew spent two weeks filming in a cathedral choir school, culminating in a performance of Zadok the Priest, for a BBC TV programme in the mid-80s.

I was sent, at short notice -- I was told in the morning to be at the cathedral 50 miles away to record evensong in the afternoon! -- to capture the public performance at the end of the two weeks since 'the sound recordist didn't have suitable equipment'.

So, all on my lonesome, I loaded up the pool Ford Sierra estate from the sound stores, drove across the county, lugged into the cathedral two Revox PR99s, a box of 10.5" tape reels, a chunky Glensound 6-channel mixer, Glensound stereo PPM and monitoring unit, a pair of LS3/5As plus amps, a 50m BBC 7-pair multicore reel, lots of heavy long starquad single XLR cables, half a dozen mics (SM69, three C414s, and a C451 plus extension tube IIRC), and a similar number of huge brass 'cathedral stands'.

There was no rehearsal. I could adjust gains and tweak the balance during the pieces before Zadok, but I couldn't move any mics! so it was a case of best guess and crossing fingers!

God knows how I did it -- I shudder to think about it now! It's probably against H&S laws to lift a PR99 on your own these days...

...and when I delivered the tape reel to the film editor, he overlaid my recordings throughout the programme without a single credit!

Bitter? Me?

[MOF]

...and the film editor overlaid my recordings throughout the programme without a single credit!

Bitter? Me?

Yes that would have hacked me off too!!!

[Rich Hanson]

I like the approach on the recent Level 42 box sets - the original albums on one disc per album (2 for A Physical Presence) and the bonus tracks curated over 5 bonus CDs in each box - 1 for 7" versions, 1 for b-sides, 2 for 12" versions and a final one to mop up odds and sods.

[ken long]

There's an ethical question regarding "lost tracks".

[Drew Stephenson]

There's an ethical question regarding "lost tracks".

There's probably a few, what were you thinking of?

[DGL.]

When I got the OMD Souvenir box set you got a whole disc of unreleased stuff which was nice, and I do like it when they give you an extra few bonus tracks.

Sometimes the single releases from the album will be different to the album version so that is nice to be included and is one of the issue with at least one of the Scooter remasters where the single version of "The Night" is not included when it should have been.

Also, as with the OMD 40 years box set, the other good way around doing it is to release it as a multi-disc set, with all the extras on extra discs, or to do one special box set, as Howard Jones did with his "At The BBC" set.

[KlausBrusselsSprouts]

I’m not really a fan of “bonus tracks” on an album. It is a complete piece of art in itself and sometimes they just come off strange.
Back in the days where physical singles were a thing (they are on the rise again though) it made perfect sense to have it on there as a b-side. As a fan of a band it was a good opportunity for me to hear another sound from this band.
B-side compilation albums can also be a really interesting listening experience. It is however mostly for the more hardcore fans. Manic Street Preachers’ album Lipstick Traces is one of their best albums.
I like the way Coldplay are doing it. From time to time they release an EP with B-sides as a followup to their recent album. It done very well so these two releases really feel like they belong together.