Bonus tracks...

Sometimes I think bonus tracks on remasters and reissues are cool. Other times I think they sort of destroy the flow the original album had. Some albums are just perfect the way they are and don't need extra songs.

This thought came about when listening to Blue Oyster Cult's "Some Enchanted Evening". It's short, but perfect that way it is.

The only bonus tracks I am really interested in are b-sides or other unreleased tracks. I find demos of songs that are already on the album to be worthless unless they are markedly different. Live tracks are okay but nothing special really. Most bonus tracks are just filler or sub-par to begin with and thus never made the album.

I usually like bonus tracks if they're songs that have either never been released or were only released on B-sides and whatnot, but I don't usually care much for remixes, extended versions or live-versions of songs as bonus tracks, re-recorded versions of older songs are OK, but if you're going to the trouble to re-record your old songs, you might as well devote an entire disc to them rather then just shoe-horning them at the end of an album.

Witchfinder wrote:

The only bonus tracks I am really interested in are b-sides or other unreleased tracks. I find demos of songs that are already on the album to be worthless unless they are markedly different. Live tracks are okay but nothing special really. Most bonus tracks are just filler or sub-par to begin with and thus never made the album.

stop

same here. I think its cool to have b-sides as bonus tracks. I also think that bands should cease the practice of different bonus tracks on different versions of the same album. I love Helloween but they just are obnoxious with the number of different tracks they put on different albums.

As long as the bonus tracks are at the end or on a bonus disc, it's fine. You can always shut it off before it gets to the bonus content anyway. It's more annoying when the original running order of the album is messed up because of some ill-placed "bonus" content (I have a couple albums like that... cannot remember which ones off hand, but it's irritating).

There are a few bands that don't have much else to their discography besides one or two albums and a bunch of singles, demos, etc... in which case it's nice to have all the other stuff crammed on as bonus content. In most cases, though, I usually won't listen to bonus content more than once or twice. It's neat to have demos and live stuff if you're a huge fan of the band and all, just not terribly essential to the listening experience.

The Helloween re-masters/expanded editions are peppered with super-cool bonus tracks.

arachnoplasma wrote:

As long as the bonus tracks are at the end or on a bonus disc, it's fine. You can always shut it off before it gets to the bonus content anyway. It's more annoying when the original running order of the album is messed up because of some ill-placed "bonus" content (I have a couple albums like that... cannot remember which ones off hand, but it's irritating).

There are a few bands that don't have much else to their discography besides one or two albums and a bunch of singles, demos, etc... in which case it's nice to have all the other stuff crammed on as bonus content. In most cases, though, I usually won't listen to bonus content more than once or twice. It's neat to have demos and live stuff if you're a huge fan of the band and all, just not terribly essential to the listening experience.

I know what you are saying. One I LIKE is the UFO Strangers in the Night CD remaster in which they restore the entire set-list in the proper order.

I love b-sides and bonus tracks, always have. Aside from with cassettes, I've always been one to listen to albums out of order, on shuffle, you know. So the "flow" of an album really doesn't matter to me.

The Japan pressing of Metallica's Black Album, track no. 13 "So What" .... completely unnecessary

What makes me scratch my head is when they add radio edits as bonus tracks. Who the hell wants That?

Infinite wrote:

What makes me scratch my head is when they add radio edits as bonus tracks. Who the hell wants That?

Yes, those are unnecessary. Why anyone would suggest a track like "So What?" is unnecessary is beyond me.

Eyesore wrote:

Infinite wrote:

What makes me scratch my head is when they add radio edits as bonus tracks. Who the hell wants That?

Yes, those are unnecessary. Why anyone would suggest a track like "So What?" is unnecessary is beyond me.

Well that's beyond you

arachnoplasma wrote:

It's more annoying when the original running order of the album is messed up because of some ill-placed "bonus" content (I have a couple albums like that... cannot remember which ones off hand, but it's irritating).

Skid Row's SLAVE TO THE GRIND...I have the CD

I usually stop the album before the bonus content.

Although I don't have the remaster, just the original pressing, a bonus track on Sepultura's Arise remaster, "C.I.U. (Criminals in Uniform)", is a great song.

Infinite wrote:

What makes me scratch my head is when they add radio edits as bonus tracks. Who the hell wants That?

Well, those make a bit more sense than adding radio ads among the bonus tracks, which at least two albums I own do (Ramones "End of the Century" and Run-DMC "Raising Hell").

I usually at least listen to the bonus stuff at least once. In most cases, I don't listen to it again. Live tracks are usually okay, but sometimes when its unreleased stuff, you realize why it was left off the original album in the first place. Demos rarely interest me, usually because the production is horrible (its a demo, duh!). Give me the finished track! One bonus track I usually re-listen to is the demo of "Don't Fear the Reaper" on BOC's Agents of Fortune remaster. It's a really cool version of the tune.

QuothTheRaven wrote:

I usually at least listen to the bonus stuff at least once. In most cases, I don't listen to it again. Live tracks are usually okay, but sometimes when its unreleased stuff, you realize why it was left off the original album in the first place. Demos rarely interest me, usually because the production is horrible (its a demo, duh!). Give me the finished track! One bonus track I usually re-listen to is the demo of "Don't Fear the Reaper" on BOC's Agents of Fortune remaster. It's a really cool version of the tune.

In some cases the demo can be better despite poor production. Sometimes better production takes away something from the music. A good example is Saviour Machine. Saviour Machine's demo songs are heavier and more 'meaty' than on their debut.

Witchfinder wrote:

The only bonus tracks I am really interested in are b-sides or other unreleased tracks. I find demos of songs that are already on the album to be worthless unless they are markedly different. Live tracks are okay but nothing special really. Most bonus tracks are just filler or sub-par to begin with and thus never made the album.

Ditto. I don't need pointless live or demo versions of songs that already appear on the album. If there's some extra studio stuff (i.e. B-Sides or other songs that didn't make the album cut) then I'm all for those.

I heard the Japanese versions of albums usually get bonus tracks as a measure to curb piracy(or something like that).

Vexer6 wrote:

I heard the Japanese versions of albums usually get bonus tracks as a measure to curb piracy(or something like that).

I heard that a band cannot get a release in Japan without a bonus track (I think they're just selfish ).

I love bonus tracks, b-sides, live versions, instrumental edits, alternate mixes, demos, you name it. However, my preference is to have a "bonus disc" with the original album on the first disc and the extra material on a 2nd disc.

Candlemass released versions of their first two albums like that. Strangely, I've never listened to the bonus discs that came to either of them.

i'm not a fan of live bonus tracks. if i want to hear something live, then i want a whole shows worth of it, done right. not random live tracks tacked on to a studio album.

S.D. wrote:

I love bonus tracks, b-sides, live versions, instrumental edits, alternate mixes, demos, you name it. However, my preference is to have a "bonus disc" with the original album on the first disc and the extra material on a 2nd disc.

I don't mind where the bonus tracks are, as long as they're not on a frickin' DVD! I know some people dig the higher audio quality some DVDs offer these days, but Tori Amos had a bonus track on a DVD before, Godsmack had two on the DVD that came with their last album. And I know there have been plenty of other bands to do it.

To me, that's ridiculous when they're just normal bonus tracks, you know.

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I love bonus tracks, b-sides, live versions, instrumental edits, alternate mixes, demos, you name it. However, my preference is to have a "bonus disc" with the original album on the first disc and the extra material on a 2nd disc.

I don't mind where the bonus tracks are, as long as they're not on a frickin' DVD! I know some people dig the higher audio quality some DVDs offer these days, but Tori Amos had a bonus track on a DVD before, Godsmack had two on the DVD that came with their last album. And I know there have been plenty of other bands to do it.

To me, that's ridiculous when they're just normal bonus tracks, you know.

Agreed, Motley Crue also had a bonus track on the Red White And Crue dvd ("Nobody Knows What It's Like To Be Lonely"), but in this case it was because the original master got messed up during the remastering process(or something like that) and they couldn't get it on the CD, so they had to put it on the DVD.