Albums improved by bonus tracks

One of their albums contained about 5 minutes of samples as a bonus track. And another contained specially made tunes for Beverley Hills 90210 and Neverending Story part 3- the quality of which are about 1000% better than the rest of the album........... Why is everyone looking at me like that????

(runs to avoid gunshots)

TX's Wilder definitely seconded. That's what I was trying to think of in the first place. "East of the Equator" is the greatest song title ever.

Well, "Isn't It a Pity" was the lovely conclusion to the original LP. The third b-side bonus track is an original which I can never remember anything about. All of the covers are exemplary though, yessir! : )

< /pedantry >

Vigorously seconded! They could even have reprised "John Riley" on the original with that jammy instrumental version. Better than "The Learjet Song" anyway.

Actually, pretty much ALL of those Byrds reissues add exceptional stuff.

Me too! Geir thirded. Normally I have bonus tracks - I wish they'd put them on an extra disk, like the Fleetwood Mac reissues

Admittedly I often find dub versions to be superior to the originals.

According to AMG, the Japanese import CD has "bonus tracks" as well, but I don't know what they are...

Even the first version of the CD added "When I Needed You" which is one of their best ever B-sides.

Wire's "ManScape" has more tracks on than the LP version. Including the 'title track' "Life in the Manscape" which is the lead/single...

Hmm, what else.

Generally, there's loads of cool bonus tracks on jazz rereleases, but usually they're just alternate takes that it's hard to get all that excited about, so they don't really feel like they improve the "album" as such.

the title track on mya's moodring
'i can be that woman' AND 'hands on me' on christina milian's it's about time
'man up' on amerie's touch

originally a split lp on savoy, the 2001 atlantic cd reissue includes tons of unreleased dixon work. many, many brilliantly terrifying/terrifyingly brilliant solos.

Soft Cell- Non-stop erotic cabaret- I have an issue with 10! incredible bonus early singles & b-sides not on the album- it doesn't have all their great songs, but the 20 tracks make it a better collection than any other "best ofs".

And the expanded 2CD The Name Of This Band Is the Talking Heads is a revelation.

The vinyl version of American Music Club's SAN FRANCISCO tragically slashes the two best songs that're found on the complete (CD) version.

xp I did not know that, and I have been listening to that album since it came out. Our ignorance pre-Internet is almost shocking in hindsight.

Forgot two - Dylan's Shot of Love which added a much-needed "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" and the US version of Band on the Run which added "Helen Wheels" (though I wished they dropped "No Words" in the process).

Preston's solo from TLAWR? gonna have to look that up...

Yeah, it's the same take seen in the original Let It Be film (and in the Anthology TV documentary). On the earlier take used by Johns and Spector, Preston has no solo - instead, we hear Paul recite the chorus like a lounge singer. (The whole take is best heard on Anthology 3, without Johns's buckets of echo and without Spector's overdubs.) I think Johns and Spector used a better take based on Paul's vocal alone, but I don't like that one part and prefer Preston's electric piano solo in its place.

*(The earlier take in its entirety is best heard on Anthology 3, without Johns's buckets of echo and without Spector's overdubs.)

The changing track listing on Third has always mystified me, seeing as I was introduced to it via the Ryko order and can't imagine a better opening run than the one it proposed:

"Kizza Me" – 2:44
"Thank You Friends" – 3:05
"Big Black Car" – 3:35
"Jesus Christ" – 2:37
"Femme Fatale" – 3:28 (Lou Reed)
"O, Dana" – 2:34

The only sequencing change I'd argue for on it would be to separate "Holocaust" and "Kanga Roo" but that might also be my own overexposure to those two songs in other contexts

"Stroke It, Noel" is such a moment of earnest respite in such an otherwise manic and bleak record, I can't imagine having it as the opening track

Yeah the other tracklistings for that album make no sense to me.

I can't imagine ending with anything other than "Thank You Friends". "Stroke It Noel" and "For You" are gentle songs to ease you into the record.

I love most of Bowie's Rykodisc releases. My two favourite Bowie albums are Diamond Dogs and Low. The Ryko extras include the Candidate demo (completely different song than Candidate on the album) and Dodo for Diamond Dogs - great songs both; Some Are and All Saints for Low - especially Some Are is an absolute masterpiece.
'Tonight' didn't get a Ryko reissue but Virgin added three bonus tracks: This Is Not America, As The World Falls Down, Absolute Beginners. Excellent stuff which I think also really improves the album.

However, I never liked the Ryko bonuses for Station To Station: it's live versions of two of the six album tracks, which I think is unnecessary repetition. If I want to hear those songs, I just listen to the entire album again instead of a repeat of selected content in somewhat different rendition. For this reason, I really dislike it in general when bonus tracks are live versions or remixes of tracks which are already on the album.
I also entirely disagree with the 16y old comment upthread about David Sylvian's Gone To Earth (one of my, if not my absolute, all-time favourite albums): I think those remixes on CD1 are completely unnecessary and only disrupt the album flow!

There are a lot of Jethro Tull albums with excellent bonus material. One major exception is a 14 minute interview excerpt on Aqualung. I put on the album because I want to listen to music, not interrupted by some old interview, which is also not something to warrant repeated listenings.
But as for other original Jethro Tull CD issues with bonus tracks - yes! Among many others, 'Christmas Song' on This Was; 'Living In The Past' on Stand Up; 'Broadford Bazaar' on Heavy Horses; 8 great tracks on Broadsword and the Beast; 'Part of the Machine' on Crest of a Knave.

someone mentioned expanded live albums above - I think the expanded/remixed version of Bowie's Stage is heaps better than the old 2LP (and IMO crucial document of one of the all-time great tours and one of the greatest bands ever assembled)

also not quite 'bonus tracks' but I've long held that the cassette release of Standing On A Beach with b-sides on the flip is the definitive version - conversely the 'bonus tracks' on the CD (Other Voices, Play For Today, A Night Like This) make it a weaker compilation

DEV-O Live (from the Freedom of Choice tour) is a pretty bizarre example. it was released as a 6-song EP (probably under contractual obligation), then later made it to CD in a vastly expanded version by Ryko, with 16 bonus tracks from a different date fleshing out more or less a full concert. except...all the original stuff is still there. all six of the original tracks are duplicated, and not really much different. idk why they didn't just do a full set, who cares if the "original" performances aren't there?

Yeah Valentijn the Bowie Ryko bonuses are legendary (at least in my own mind). The demo version of "Candidate" makes my list of top 20 Bowie songs, sometimes. I remember feeling like "what" when Aladdin Sane came with no bonuses. "Holy Holy" is awful, the alt version of "John," is amazing, the live StS tracks are inessential, the "Crystal Japan" bonus on Scary Monsters had me giving Trent Reznor a side-long glance about not giving Bowie any credit for "A Warm Place". I don't even really think about Low without it ending with "Some Are" and "All Saints", etc. etc.

"Lightning Frightening" from The Man Who Sold the World is my go-to example for totally inconsequential reissue bonus tracks, but I wouldn't really want it never to have been issued.

Second for the guy who mentioned "Mutations" by Beck 15 years ago on this thread.

My CD finished with "Runners Dialled Zero" and "Diamond Bollocks", although the album apparently finishes with "Static".

Great album.

― in twelve parts (lamonti)

would argue these don't count as bonus tracks, they were included on most or all of the initial editions of the album. where are these 'stanard' copies of Mutations that finish with Static anyhow?

the recent longer/restored Secret Messages by ELO is an improvement over the original release.

The LP of Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Session didn’t include the what-now-seem-essential songs “Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)” and “Working On A Building.”

Two “perfect” albums with even-better songs released in expanded editions are Emmylou Harris’s Wrecking Ball and The Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues.

Brigitte Fontaine & Art Ensemble of Chicago - "Comme à la radio"

adds "Le goudron" which is one of her most popular songs.

With good results, Love and Rockets added a bonus instrumental track to the *beginning* of both "Seventh Dream..." and "Express". For the former, "God and Mr. Smith" (based on "If There's a Heaven Above" which is moved from the beginning of Side A to the end of Side A, bookending the side with the same theme); and for the latter, the slowly building "Angels and Devils". The upbeat "Inside the Outside" was another bonus track on "Seventh Dream..." (a good addition to break up the other tracks' slow/medium tempos); certain additions also had "Ball of Confusion" (also a bonus track on "Express"). (Another "Express" bonus track was "Holiday on the Moon" - not my favorite L&R track, heh).