Albums improved by bonus tracks

Fragile and Close to the Edge are improved by versions of "America", I think Yes does a great job with those songs (I've never heard the original)

I like the bonus tracks on BOC's Secret Treaties as well. "Boorman the Chauffeur" should have made the original cut.

The Yes version of "America" is great although the original is great too and you should definitely hear it (and the entire "Bookends" for that matter).

To the original thread:
"Ringo" obviously doesn't suffer from having "It Don't Come Easy" added at the end.

Albums that would have been better had the following same-era tracks been added

destroyer - kaputt, for "the laziest river" - the european tracklist with it second last is the best sequence
kylie minogue - fever, for "tightrope"

rihanna anti

Geir OTM on "The Visitors".

the pet shop boys are the kings of the b sides and have a whole album of their early material called alternative but have had alot more since!

"Just Like Heaven" is a pretty much perfect added closer to 'You're Living All Over Me' by Dinosaur Jr.

I kinda think the b-side ballad "When A Blind Man Cries" really works at the end of Deep Purple's 'Machine Head' too.

The bonus tracks on the 90s CD reissue of Richard Hell’s Blank Generation make it flow much better as an album. His junkie crooner version of “All the Way” is a perfect album closer

otm YLAOM and Anti.

I was gonna say The Life of Pablo but now I can't find any proof that Fade and No More Parties in LA were bonus tracks.

I pity the fool who owns only the "Standard Edition" of either this or this

dua lipa : both albums are massively improved via their deluxe/extra tracks editions.
i listen to the 'club future nostalgia' version a lot more than the standard album.
same re the expanded ellie goulding/halcyon days album.

I listen to Wendy & Bonnie's acoustic demos of songs that were left off 'Genesis' probably more than the actual album. The 2CD version with the demos of the album tracks is more than i need.

I didn’t see Synchronicity mentioned upthread but that’s an obvious one for me. “Murder by Numbers” is comfortably better than 3-4 of the album tracks.

The Who Sell Out definitely. Exhibit A in terms of bonus tracks turning a near-great album into a fully-realized masterpiece IMHO. The 1995 remix of the later reissues with the vintage mixes both show this.

The Replacements' Don't Tell a Soul kind of counts...I wish you could take the 2008 reissue and replace the album proper with the new Dead Man's Pop mix released in 2019, that would be a CD worthy of sitting next to Let It Be et al. The mix is a big improvement, but the extra stuff like "Portland," "We Know the Night," "Wake Up" and even "Date to Church" makes up for the weaker and less fun material that originally made the cut.

It's great having the UK versions of My Aim Is True and Armed Forces ending with the bonus singles "Watching the Detectives" and "What's So Funny..." "Radio Radio" is a great single too but adding it to the end of This Year's Model undermines the great and abrupt ending to "Night Rally."

The three bonuses Rykodisc originally picked for Young Americans were perfect, partly because two originally made the cut and the third was definitely in the running (and released as an actual single anyway). I generally prefer Bowie albums as they originally were, but this is one big exception where the addition of these three make the album more worthwhile.

While I'm at it, a couple of Target exclusives of recent years have been worth getting for the bonus track bait: Prince's Originals (the "cinematic" mix of "Nothing Compares 2 U" is my favorite version of that song outside of Sinéad O'Connor's own version) and the new Raise the Roof album by Plant & Krauss (both bonus tracks are keepers, especially the second Lucinda Williams cover).

all of the gil scott-heron rumal-gia late 90s/early 2000s cd versions added a lot to those albums. i consider those the best versions.

and i mean . . . pretty much every blue note cd reissue with extra material is worth it.

The The - Infected CD with the 12" versions

Does Pixies - Surfer Rosa + Come on Pilgrim count?

Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion

Pulp - His 'N' Hers (the bonus tracks on the deluxe reissues are some of the best songs they ever did, especially B-sides such as Seconds and Her Sister's Clothes)

Jessie Ware - Her first three albums (Imagine It Was Us, Midnight Caller, Love To Love, Til' The End)

Haim - Women In Music III

Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down: The Directors Cut (Kevin Rowland's 13th Time should have never been taken off the album)

Roxy Music - S/T (I couldn't imagine the album without Virginia Plain)

Beyonce - Four (mainly for Schoolin' Life)

Britney - Glory (If I'm Dancing should have been the lead single)

Suede - Deluxe Reissues (same as Pulp, those B-sides from the first three albums are career highs)

The Modern Lovers - S/T (especially for Dignified & Old)

'Architecture & Morality' is probably my favorite album of 1981--and yet, the b-sides "Romance of the Telescope," "Of All the Things We've Made" (and maybe "Sacred Heart") are maybe even better and make the album even better.

Not surprising they formed the emotional core of 'Dazzle Ships'.

Bad feels incomplete without "Leave Me Alone."

grew up on the Taang reissue of Spacemen 3's "The Perfect Prescription"

Returning to the first post, I don't see how "Wings Wild Life" is improved by adding "Give Ireland Back to the Irish".

Ok, it's now an archival set with lots of fine extras.

But the original cd, if you like the album or don't, isn't improved by the addition of one track that doesn't fit in with the rest.

The three bonuses Rykodisc originally picked for Young Americans were perfect

"Who Can I Be Now?" would have been the perfect closer to that album.

They’re not great albums but Drake’s hotline bling and Minaj’s superbass are the biggest hits of their respective albums and they’re bonus tracks

Also surprised it hasn’t been mentioned so far but “This Charming Man” and “how soon is now?” are two of the most iconic Smiths songs and they were also bonus tracks

The expanded CD of Skip Spence's Oar released by Sundazed in 199 is incredible. The recent 3xCD AndOarAgain might have been too inclusive - it's more an archive than an album - but the highlights are as good or even better than the album, farther 'out.'

*1999

The Modern Lovers - S/T (especially for Dignified & Old)

― kitchen person,

I have the 80's Rhino LP with Dignified & Old at the end of side A.

i never realized it had 3 songs that weren't on the album originally. that's so weird. especially in the middle of the running order, i get that it's for fidelity reasons but...

wow I had no idea those songs weren't part of the original, this is totally messing with my my head

also, the rykodisc release of Big Star's "Third" - that one's a little iffy since the tracklisting for that has always fluctuated.

For me, the definitive version of Duran Duran's Rio is still the third edition american Capitol Records LP that subbed out the UK mix of side A with the superior Kershenbaum Night mixes. The night mix of "Hold Back The Rain" is spectacular - there's an entire thread about it.

Live At Leeds and No Sleep Till Hammersmith also improved by including most/all of the original gig.

Will definitely third Anti. The standard album is still pretty great but Disturbia pushes it above and beyond

Thomas Dolby's Golden Age of Wireless feels pretty incomplete without the bonuses

also quebec by Ween which ends with "Ooh La Va" on the JP version, despite the big blowout "real" ending I think finishing with some weirdass & extremely catchy shit is actually much better

also, the rykodisc release of Big Star's "Third" - that one's a little iffy since the tracklisting for that has always fluctuated.

Yeah, definitely- forgot about that one! I wish Omnivore would reissue the master takes on a single CD, but they did put them out as a double LP and the last CD of their 3-CD deluxe set. That deluxe set's last disc (and the double LP for that matter) is basically everything on the Rykodisc release with better mastering and one additional track.

I'm guessing that if you like the big star "third" album, chances are you probably own a number of 'imaginings' of the album.

Me? I'm fortunate in that I own that 3cd deluxe set, off an Amazon special offer.

I have a weird Record Store Day version of Third that I cannot find on the internet, discogs doesn't have it. it's on Omnivore and was from the same reissue project

but it's different than the Third: Complete Masters, it is packaged like reel to reel tape, and iirc the deal was that this is supposed to be the version submitted for test pressing and was the intended running order, has fewer songs (only a single album)

tracklist:
side 1 -
Stroke it Noel
Downs
Femme Fatal
Thank You Friends
Holocaust
Jesus Christ
Blue Moon

side 2 -
Kissa Me
For You
Oh Dana
Nightime
Whole Lotta Shakin'
Kanga Roo
Take Care

W.A.S.P.'s "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", since it was not allowed on the album by the label and really is a better start to the album than "I wanna Be Somebody"

xp

https://www.discogs.com/release/2831232-Big-Star-Third-Test-Pressing-Edition

assuming it's this one yr referring to? It's the edition I have also.

I believe it was promoted by having some of them being the real original test pressings.

I can't imagine a version of Sister Lovers made better by omitting "Big Black Car". I have the 80s PVC edition on vinyl.

I was surprised to learn that the first four tracks on my CD of the Fall’s Perverted by Language were singles that were not part of the original LP (and it ended with one more). The expanded tracklist is definitely an improvement on an already great album

Re: Live at Leeds et al, with few exceptions, I usually prefer live albums with bonus tracks, anything that brings them closer to a full show rather than a 40 minute excerpt.

In terms of other studio albums, the bonus tracks on the Byrds albums are very helpful. Except for their debut, their second, third and fourth albums can feel uneven to me, a problem that is easily rectified with their accompanying bonus tracks. They had the material to release six rock-solid masterpieces in a row, though I guess as-is those first six are all still great albums, just flawed in some cases.

I really love hearing the UK sequence of Are You Experienced? with the singles as bonus tracks. I'm glad that album's always had them since the '90s (though the U.S. sequence was favored for American CD's once the Hendrix family got back the rights).

The Kinks deluxe editions are mostly great, I wish the Beatles and the Stones followed the same model for packaging together the mono and stereo mixes with appropriate bonuses like the singles.

Al Green's Greatest Hits definitely benefits from having more hits.

One practice I miss is how a lot of indie and punk CD reissues added an EP or singles that immediately followed or preceded the album in question. Gang of Four, the Mekons, Wire's debut, etc...it was a nice handy way of keeping those EP's available. Sensible aesthetically and economical as well.

One exception: XTC. Inserting bonus tracks in the middle of an LP's original sequence just blows.

xxp do you think those added singles would've been better at the end, or do you like having them open the CD, right before the album? I usually prefer the end, but there are rare cases where I enjoy hearing the singles first. (The 1993 reissue of Hendrix's Are You Experienced? comes to mind.)

I do like having them open the CD… but that’s also how I first experienced it, so there may be some bias there (I guess the logic is – they were released before the album, so that’s how a fan would’ve encountered the songs).

As a random postscript… I just fired up the first Dinosaur Jr. album on streaming, and it starts with “Bulbs of Passion”! I only know it as a final / bonus track.

Wikipedia sez:

"Bulbs of Passion" was not featured on the original vinyl LP; it was a b-side to the "Repulsion" single. Subsequent reissues on cassette and compact disc featured it as the last song. The 2005 reissue on Merge Records placed "Bulbs of Passion" as the first track at J Mascis' request. "Yeah, I asked for that," J recalls, "because [that song] gave our new direction - it felt like we were our own sound."

The Raincoats themselves admitted that it was a mistake to leave "Fairytale In The Supermarket" off of their first album, so all the current editions of the album lead off with it.

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.