Albums reissued with fewer tracks

Since we are doing albums improved by bonus tracks I was thinking about a much less common type of reissue - where tracks are removed.

I can only think of two - Bowie’s “Never Let Me Down” later issues remove the track “Too Dizzy” because apparently he hated it. Other one is Felt’s “Ignite The Seven Cannons…” the new version remixes some tracks but excises “Serpent Shade”

In both cases there isn’t anything replacing them, just less

You also get things like the original CD version of 1999 removing Delirious so it could fit on one disc, but I’m more interested in tracks that have been erased for artistic reasons rather than space concerns.

Any others?

and "Too Dizzy" was way better than the two songs before it and the Iggy cover with which the album ends.

Moving by the Raincoats was re-released on CD missing the tracks "Dreaming of the Past", "Honey Mad Woman" and "Avidoso", although the track "No One's Little Girl" has been added.

Can think of a few where tracks were dropped in favour of hit singles, but that's obviously not the question.

There was a Mike Oldfield album where one track was replaced by a completely different one, but the title was retained.. The original track was called "Sally" and went "Sally I'm just a Gorilla". The replacement was an instrumental.

A lot of versions of David Bowie's 1969 album omit the song "Don't Sit Down".

Oh, and "Return of the Durutti Column" had a missed track added to the second pressing, but was then removed for the third pressing and onwards. Side 2 was now 12 minutes long

Another Felt one: The Strange Idols Pattern was reissued without the instrumental track "Crucifix Heaven" because, apparently, band-leader Lawrence just didn't like it.

I’ve never figured out what was removed from that Durutti Column album because as far as I remember the track listing didn’t change although the contents did

I’ve read the notes on Discogs but still find it complicated

Are you looking for excisions-only or also including replacements? James's Gold Mother came out in 1990 and was reissued in 1991 with two tracks removed and two other songs in their place (one of them was "Sit Down", which had become a hit)

That's correct. (Re the Durutti)

Two of the tracks were different versions of the same tune.

Wiki has figured out the right track titles and ordering.

The latest cd set has both versions of side 2 on it!

FGTI - I can sort of see the logic of those decisions from a record company point of view, drop a couple of album tracks and replace with singles to give the album a new lease of life. Think that was probably quite common around that time. But I can’t imagine that was something James were completely on board with

Mark G - I have several versions of Return Of, but for the most recent version I bought the FBN LP. Might have to get the CD, even although I suspect I probably have that missing track on one of the other versions.

Hayden's debut album Everything I Long For came out in 1995, and one of the key tracks was "Bunkbed", whose lyrics I can sing from memory:

Lee and I had a beautiful bunkbed
Bottom was mine to keep rain from my head
Yoga, my mom, she took when I was young
That's great, show me moves when you get home

I bounced my bed
I hurt my head
I saw red
I thought, I'm dead
From my bunkbed
I hate bunkbeds

The song was always an outlier, for whatever reason the bed/head/red/dead rhymes worked, childish rhymes felt well-equipped to recount childhood memories. When I saw Hayden play in 1995, the song was clearly an audience hit. When I saw him play in 1998, somebody in the crowd yelled "heyyyyy play 'Bunkbed'" and Hayden replied "I'm not playing fucking 'Bunkbed'" and the guy yelled back "22 shows now and no 'Bunkbed'"

Anyway, the album got a 20-year anniversary reissue a few years ago and "Bunkbed" was removed entirely, and another track was moved to the bonus-track bin. "Bunkbed" is a song that just doesn't exist any more insofar as the artist is concerned

10,000 Maniacs: In My Tribe lost the "Peace Train" cover because of the Salman Rushdie controversy re:Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam.

Re: replacements:

When David Sylvian's 'Secrets of the Beehive' was remastered, 'Forbidden Colours' was replaced with 'Promise (The Cult of Eurydice)'.

I usually have difficulty deciding which of the two versions to play...

Yeah, obviously it's easy to see a side 2 with six tracks on it rather than five.

By the way, I agree with Bowie dropping Too Dizzy from Never Let Me Down. I'm used to the album without the song and have always actually liked it a lot, but I've heard Too Dizzy and don't care much for it at all.

Oh, the http://i.imgur.com/QbYzHTH.jpg LP had an unnamed track on it, which wasn't on the cd reissue.

It's now on the latest reissue, now called "The Crack"

Ahem.. The Redskins, that is...

I can’t imagine that was something James were completely on board with

I think they were! "Sit Down"'s success was welcome, and the band themselves put forth "Lose Control" as another substitute from the original track listing. Oddly enough, that album was/is critically acclaimed but it's probably my least favourite, "Government Walls" and "You Can't Tell..." and "God Only Knows" are the singer at his most hectoring

Bodycounts first album was reissued without Copkiller ..

I think GNR re-released the Live EP minus "One in a Million."

Eno and Byrne removed the track "Qu'ran" from later pressings of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts after objections to the use of samples of Qur'anic recital.

For a long time the only way to get Big Black's Atomizer digitally was on a CD called The Rich Man's 8-Track Tape, where it was paired with the Racer X EP, but the track "Strange Things" was omitted. A few years ago the album was remastered and reissued on LP and digital (but no actual CD) and "Strange Things" was restored.

http://bigblack.bandcamp.com/album/atomizer-remastered

Sorry, had that wrong. The Rich Man's 8-Track Tape was Atomizer (minus "Strange Things") paired with the Headache EP and the "Heartbeat" single.

xps "Qu'ran" was replaced with another track.

Valentijn wrote: "When David Sylvian's 'Secrets of the Beehive' was remastered, 'Forbidden Colours' was replaced with 'Promise (The Cult of Eurydice)'."

"Forbidden Colours" was actually a CD bonus track not on the original LP/cassette, although it fits perfectly right at the end and I can't imagine the album without it.

The Magnetic Fields' "Distant Plastic Trees" originally had an 11th track, "Plant White Roses" - a country song with acoustic guitar strums that was probably removed when the album was reissued because it didn't exactly fit in with the other synth-heavy songs. Doing so also made it a tidy 10 tracks (matching the 10 tracks on "The Wayward Bus" - with which it was paired for the 2-on-1 CD, and double vinyl reissue).

I guess depending on what you have and your tastes, the substitution on the second Ramones album may or may not be welcome. "Carbona Not Glue" is pretty great, but "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" is even greater - just epochal, even in the earlier mix used for the substitution - but it's mighty redundant if you have the single mix and the harder-edged mix on Rocket to Russia which is a better album overall.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy 'Beware' - last two songs removed from the album after he decided it should have ended earlier

I'd have to check, but didn't Capitol do this regularly with Sinatra albums from the '50s, reissue them with one song per side lopped off? They might have done it with Beach Boys LPs, too.

Guns n Roses removed the highly problematic “one in a million” from reissues of Guns n Lies.

A shame they’re trying to erase it because it was my favorite song to point to their fans on why Axl Rose sucks.

US version of Revolver

I was thinking re Sinatra maybe there was something when they combined two 8-song 10" albums onto one 12" LP, but can't find evidence of any omissions having to do with that

morrissey removed a track from the viva hate reissue didn't he

Another "drop songs, add other songs" - Lisa Germano Happiness

Capitol Records made her record a cover of "These Boots Were Made for Walking," she moved to 4AD and replaced it with another track.

X got pressured by their label into covering the Small Faces' "All or Nothing" for Ain't Love Grand (I imagine the suits wanted that "Wild Thing" lightning to strike twice). When Rhino did their reissue, the band had them move it out of the album sequence and into the bonus tracks.

I wonder if a third thread re: albums you've made edits of yourself--removed tracks, added tracks, resequenced--that you think are better. (i.e. in my mind, 'A Moon Shaped Pool' cuts the first track and adds another)?

Or am I the only one that'a ever done that?

Here's a thread for that: Is there a thread for playing God?

It's the element of it being an archival or reissue release that is significant. When an album is a new release, tracks are shuffled around or replaced in different territories, particularly in the era of physical media where space was at a premium. With these examples, it's not simply a different track order, it's an erasure.

I'd have to check, but didn't Capitol do this regularly with Sinatra albums from the '50s, reissue them with one song per side lopped off? They might have done it with Beach Boys LPs, too.

After Sinatra left Capitol in 1961 (jumping to his own label, Reprise), Capitol reissued the albums he cut for them but edited them down to save money on publishing. FWIW, not every album was edited down - Songs for Swingin' Lovers was not for a number of reasons - but they did redub them in 1962 with fake echo, and these shitty production copies were used as the "master" for every vinyl pressing until Capitol mastered the CD's beginning in 1987. (And even then, some of these added digital echo which undermined the whole point of tracking down the original masters and using them for the first time in 25 years.)

During the late 1970's-early '80's. Capitol removed one or two songs from their Beach Boys albums, once again to save on publishing. They usually removed the most pointless song like "Denny's Drums" but not always. The songs were either stored at the end of the LP master reels or elsewhere, but when they started reissuing the albums as two-fers on CD in the U.S., they reinstated all of the missing songs.

I was thinking re Sinatra maybe there was something when they combined two 8-song 10" albums onto one 12" LP, but can't find evidence of any omissions having to do with that

Excellent point. The earliest Sinatra albums were not 12" LP's, and IIRC Capitol generally reissued them a bit later as 12" LP's, changing the track order and adding more songs to fill out the LP. (GOOD songs too, so once again, a few albums improved by bonus tracks.)

When the first two albums were reissued on CD in the U.S., they were done as a two-fer, using the shorter but original 10" track sequence for both. In the UK, at least as part of a CD box set released there, they kept those albums on separate CD's and used the longer 12" track sequences.

morrissey removed a track from the viva hate reissue didn't he

he replaced "the Ordinary Boys" with "Treat Me Like A Human Being" which I have never heard. no idea why the fuck he'd replace that extremely good song.

oh he also cut Hairdresser on Fire but now I don't remember if that was on the original album or was a US bonus thing to begin with.

My vinyl reissue of In the Wee Small Hours has 10 songs; the 1955 original had 15 whether issued as two 10" records or one 12".

Oops--16 songs.

looks like "hairdresser on fire" was just a us bonus thing

xp In the Wee Small Hours was the turning point, partly why it has a convoluted release history. Sinatra intended the album to be his first 12" but it was initially released as a double 10" album (with eight songs on each disc for a total of 16) or as a set of four 45 rpm EP's with four songs per disc (a true physical "album" - the early Sinatra records, including the ones on Columbia, were kind of cool like that as you really see where the term "album" comes from in America).

In the Wee Small Hours did ultimately get a 12" release, and that release helped popularize the 12" record as the dominant format for albums/long-players rather than 10" discs or collections of 45 rpm discs in an album-like set.

However, as mentioned, after Sinatra left Capitol, the label went back and lopped off songs on his albums to save on publishing. So a shorter 10-song version was eventually released, though IIRC it wasn't until 1970 that this was done. I'm not sure if the album remained that way until the '90s - it could have been if, like the Beach Boys masters, they made no effort to immediately re-assemble the masters in their original state after cutting out the songs and creating the production parts - but when they reissued the album on CD, Pete Welding made sure the original 16-track album was re-assembled from the original masters. Welding is the guy everyone should thank for making sure Sinatra's Capitol albums were all restored to their former glory for the first wave of CD's, though he also added bonus tracks, some appropriate, some not. (And I don't like the digital echo he applied to some titles, mainly the mono ones.)

Now you mention it:

My "marble arch" budget issue of "Safe As Milk" dropped two tracks - "I'm Glad" and "Grown So Ugly"

why you do that?

Xp I thought the term album came from having a set of 78s in a bound hardback book like container which is how my grandad had Yma Sumac's Voice of the Xtabay.

Yes, like a photo album, is what I've always suspected was the origin.

xp Correct! It may have been a mistake for me to conflate Sinatra’s 78 and 45 multidisc sets like that, but regardless his Columbia albums were just as you described when they were originally released.

"Forbidden Colours" was actually a CD bonus track not on the original LP/cassette, although it fits perfectly right at the end and I can't imagine the album without it.

There's of course also the case of David Sylvian's Gone To Earth: when it was originally released on CD, four of the instrumental tracks were omitted so the rest of the album would fit on one disc. I also didn't know this initially, just got the album on the single CD (the remastered double version wasn't released back then) and it became one of my absolute favourite albums of all time - the album flow is amazing. Of course, it is totally worth it to get the complete set: those four instrumentals are fantastic.

I wonder if a third thread re: albums you've made edits of yourself--removed tracks, added tracks, resequenced--that you think are better. (i.e. in my mind, 'A Moon Shaped Pool' cuts the first track and adds another)?

Or am I the only one that'a ever done that?

― Soundslike, mercredi 19 janvier 2022 04:35 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes ! I love doing that. It's basically a hobby. I have so many "remade" albums in my spotify playlists.

Yes ! I love doing that. It's basically a hobby. I have so many "remade" albums in my spotify playlists.

I replaced all the album versions of the singles from Ministry's Psalm 69 with the longer 12" versions, and added the bonus tracks from the singles as well, so the track listing now runs:

N.W.O (Extended Dance Mix) 8:11
Just One Fix (12" Edit) 8:13
TV Song 3:12
Hero 4:13
Jesus Built My Hotrod (Redline/Whiteline Version) 8:15
Scarecrow 8:21
Psalm 69 5:29
Corrosion 4:55
Grace 3:06
Fucked 5:06
Quick Fix 4:11
TV II 3:04

I haven't listened to that album in decades, but I think I'd listen to that album.

It might be a different sort of thing, but Neil Finn's second album "One Nil" was re-released in the US with several differences:

The album was released in the United States fourteen months after its initial New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australian release with the altered title "One All" and also contained an altered track listing, featuring four remixed songs and added the songs "Lullaby Requiem" and "Human Kindness", replacing "Elastic Heart" and "Don't Ask Why".

Nilsson's Aerial Ballet is in the "very quickly reissued after early pressings" category. Opening track "Daddy's Song" was deleted because The Monkees had a cover version out and it was supposed to be an exclusive deal.

"heartbreak in stereo" by pencey prep was remastered and reissued last year on vinyl and cd without the hidden track "fat and alone". need i explain more

Secrets of the Beehive not having Forbidden Colours on it (outside of the original cd release) is the most aggravating thing about Sylvian's entire catalog IMO (that and the terrible reissue covers for half the records).

re: Morrissey, I thought it was funny he tried to to sweep Roy's Keen under the carpet for that Maladjusted re-issue, even though it had been released as a single

I've never understood why Super Black Market Clash added all those b-sides but left off Cheat and Bankrobber from the original 10", despite including Bankrobber dub. The original comp had a great flow from punk to reggae to dub, and I wish it was preserved, then added the Sandinista and Combat rock strays.

it's completely bewildering to me why morrissey keeps changing songs and artwork on his re-releases. none of the changes have been an improvement.

It certainly sheds new light on the lyric Reissue! Reissue! Repackage! - we thought he was being sardonic, but in fact he was exulting (note that he had just finished repackaging most of World Won't Listen, which contained redundant album tracks, into Louder Than Bombs, which of all the great alternates from Hatful he could have chosen, included only the 7" version of Hand in Glove...)

"Super Black Market Clash" is my favourite triple-ten-inch album.

Each side is effectively a separate e.p.

"Super Black Market Clash" is my favourite triple-ten-inch album.

Each side is effectively a separate e.p.

Maybe that's how it needs to be heard. Because as a CD it...kinda sucks. Especially compared with the original release.

Monty Python Contractual Obligation Album, 1980:

> "Farewell to John Denver", which contained a few bars of The Rutles member, Ollie Halsall impersonating John Denver singing a parody of "Annie's Song",[5] followed by the sound of the singer being strangled, was removed from subsequent pressings of the UK version on legal advice (reports differ as to whether it had to do with the licensing of "Annie's Song" or the depiction of the popular singer being murdered), and was replaced by an apology spoken by Terry Jones. In the U.S., there was no need to clear the John Denver parody, as parodies are covered under U.S. copyright law. Later CD releases of the album reinstated the John Denver track, but after Denver's death in a plane crash, the 2006 reissue reverted to Terry Jones' apology ...

The one CD version of Use Your Illusion they used to sell at Walmart.

Guns n Roses removed the highly problematic “one in a million” from reissues of Guns n Lies.

A shame they’re trying to erase it because it was my favorite song to point to their fans on why Axl Rose sucks.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, January 18, 2022 9:26 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

They haven't removed it from any recent reissues of Lies as far as I can tell (according to discogs, it's only been recently reissued in Japan, German, Thailand, Brazil). As far as I can tell it was only removed from inclusion on Appetite For Destruction - Locked N' Loaded Edition: The Ultimate F'n Box