reissued albums that contain the original mix instead of the previously "new & improved mix" : does this happen a lot?

Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power: 1973 Bowie mix -> 1997 Iggy "violent" mix -> 2010 remastered Bowie mix
The Sisters Of Mercy - First & Last & Always: 1984 original mix -> 1992 eldritch remix -> 2006 remastered original mix

How common is this?

Frank Zappa - We're Only In It For The Money Original Mix - Late 80's CD Version with re-recorded bass and drum tracks - 1995 CD retains the original US mix of the album.

Killing Joke - Brighter Than A Thousand Suns was reissued a couple of years ago with the unreleased original mix replacing most of the slicker official mix.

Associates - The Affectionate Punch: original vinyl mix was replaced with a very different mix shortly after release only to be re-replaced with the original mix on the CD a few years ago.

Not 100% the same thing since the mixes don't change (I think?), but this reminded me of the Bowie reissues as well: album without bonus material - cd version with bonus tracks - second cd version with album tracklist again.

The Velvet Underground, the band's eponymous third album was originally issued with Lou Reed's "Closet Mix" when it first came out in the U.S. Since then, all subsequent releases used the Valentin mix, but the Closet Mix was included on the Peel Slowly and See back in the Nineties. I don't think the Closet Mix has been reissued on a standalone cd yet.

Hey KMS, can you tell me if is there a big difference betweeen the two mixes?

...if I Die, I Die by the Virgin Prunes has been re-issued/re-mastered/re-rebaked a couple of times. Certain editions feature the original mix of "Baby Turns Blue," others feature a chopped up edit. Frown.

I was going to cite First And Last And Always, but you already beat me to it.

Killing Joke - Brighter Than A Thousand Suns was reissued a couple of years ago with the unreleased original mix replacing most of the slicker official mix.

True, but this original mix was never available before (hooking in slavish fanboys like m'self). The re-release also doesn't contain the full version of (b-side) "Victory" (which may or may not be a bad thing for some people).

Hey KMS, can you tell me if is there a big difference betweeen the two mixes?

Actually, I don't think that I've heard the Closet Mix.

Who's Next and The Who Sell Out were newly-remixed in the 90s; the "deluxe editions" released in the 00s have the original mix.

"Some Kinda Love" is pretty different (enough so that a friend of mine didn't recognize it as being VU), but other than that the differences are minor. It's like the instrument tracks are more muffled and the vocals are louder or higher in the mix or something. The drums are distant. I think the idea was that it would sound like a band practicing in a closet and you're listening from the outside. Worth a listen, I think, but it won't rock your shit.

It's my understanding, but don't quote me on this, that relatively few vinyl copies are of the closet mix exist. you might have to find a first pressing. I just burned the third disc of peel slowly and see. I was 17, a burgeoning snob, and it was a point of pride for me for a time. "But have you heard the CLOSET MIX?"

Mike Watt remixed The Minutement's Double Nickels On The Dime for its first CD release in 1987, but almost immediately regretted it and it went back to the original mix in 1989.

I guess you could say the mono versions of the Beatles albums that were part of last year's reissues are kinda part of this too.

That Velvet Underground Closet Mix may have been released accidentally, since the track times weren't right (wiki)

Jethro Tull included a remix of one of their early album reissue CDs (This Was?) as well as the original version and it sounded pretty great iirc.

Oh dear, that should have read 'a remix *on* one of their early album reissue Cds'

Wikipedia goes into the differences between the closet mix & the valentin mix. Now, I'm going to have d/l a copy of the closet mix to hear for myself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Underground_(album)#The_.22Closet_Mix.22

The Original UK edition was the Val Valentin mix.

The Japanese edition also, in fact they never had the closet version.

henry cow - legend and in praise of learning: 80s cd issues have slightly different instrumentations and mixes then the latest remasters restored the originals (they had to be digitised from vinyl as no-one had the tapes anymore)

Isn't the latest release of Loveless (when it does come out) going to do precisely this? Just the 2nd CD having the tape mix?

I think the Alan Parsons Project Tales of Mystery and Imagination Deluxe Edition contains both the original album mix and Parsons' later CD remix.