Bonus Tracks (Good Or Bad)

[greenhorn]

I'm mixed a bit on the bonus tracks that you often find on re-issue Cd's. Generally you get 4 or so extras, maybe a remix of one of the songs, a live version or 2 of something, something unreleased...

I've found some really, really great stuff. There is a unreleased early mix of (Don't Fear) The Reaper on a re-released Agents Of Fortune. There is a live version of "Watching The Detectives" on one of the Elvis Costello's re-releases that is outstanding.

On the other hand some of it isn't really that good and it kind of spoils the listening of the CD a bit. Often I load up 5 discs into the player and a couple might have bonus material. In the flow of things I wish the bonus tracks weren't there.

Catch 22 -while I sometimes appriciate the extra's some times they are not very good and disrupt the flow of the CD and the flow of one CD to the next.

Thoughts?

Also, found any bonus track nuggets?

[bigburner]

Before buying "Sky Blue Sky" by Wilco I downloaded the album in mp3 format to evaluate it. The downloaded album had a 13th track on it called "Thanks I Get". When I bought the CD it had only 12 tracks. Every time I listen to the CD I expect to hear "Thanks I Get" because it's a great song and I wish it was on the CD.

I did some research and discovered that as a thank you to their fans for making Sky Blue Sky the #4 album in America Wilco released a studio version of "Thanks I Get". The song had been a regular live number of theirs for the past few years having originally been written for Solomon Burke.

Nigel.

[John Holmes]

I tend to like the idea of the bonus tracks (more for the money).

As to them possibly disturbing the "flow" of music, I thnk it's hit and miss. As I think that for many artist, this is a problem with the pimary tracks too! I've found it is no longer the standard to make the release have a certain mood. don't get me wrong, quite a few try. I just think that, so many hands are in the cookie jar, the artist no longer has total control of the content.

Look at what "Prince" went through with Warner Bros. He became known as "the arstist" for awhile b/c he didn't have the rights to his own stage name. I can only imagine what the process of getting the songs that they want on a release must be like.

[Chris D]

There is a unreleased early mix of (Don't Fear) The Reaper

MORE COWBELL!!!!