A little early-afternoon treat to readers of The Second Disc: another poll! The last one, drafted during the Exile on Main St. reissue bonanza, was pretty darn successful, and this one's going to get things moving with a pretty simple question we've never asked before.
What sort of bonus tracks get you to buy a reissue or deluxe title? It's a simple question, but one that can spark a myriad of discussion. Of course, it can be a case-by-case query. Prince fans are probably looking more for unreleased songs from the fabled vault, while Madonna fans might be interested in the many, many dance remixes that propelled her career through the '80s. Deadheads would want nothing more than live content, and so forth.
But if your local record store clerk broke into your house, stole all your music and vowed never to give it back until you answered the poll seen after the jump, which answer would you choose? Your commentary is, as always, much appreciated.[polldaddy poll=3374800]
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I said "other" and indicated that I want a combination of the first three categories as bonus content.
I think the recent Disintegration reissue by The Cure was weakened by the huge number of demos and "rough versions" on Disc 2. There's a reason why many of those weren't released in the first place. They could have included maybe five or six of the best demos on Disc 2, and then rounded it out with the finished studio b-sides (as opposed to the demo versions) as well as the remixes and extended mixes of the singles. I think those are more a part of Disintegration's legacy than 20 sketchy demos recorded in Robert Smith's basement.
Voted for "non-LP tracks/B sides or remixes" as a top reason for buying a CD reissue. Keep up the good work.
B-sides and other rarities from the era (soundtrack or tribute album songs, etc.) are certainly the most essential to include as bonus tracks. But I try and track down the CD singles anyway so in some cases I can get by whether they're included or not. I love demos and alternates of the stuff we already know as long as it's reasonably different, not the "The drums are quieter in this early mix" vein.
I checked other. There are plenty of times that the "hit" version that we came to love on the radio was not on the LP that was released so I'm looking for the singles to be included.
I was excited to see all of the great B-sides on the Deluxe Edition of "Hysteria".
I am the (so far) lone vote for instrumentals. Actually, I'd like instrumentals on Soul/Disco reissues specifically. Otherwise, B-sides/unreleased tracks.
I like it when an artist blows away the bootleggers. Typically, bootleggers only have fractions of demos, for example. So if there's a half-dozen demos floating around already, but then the artist goes into his or her vault and digs up a complete reel that in fact has a full dozen demos, I'll buy.
An artist must always be aware of what is floating around already, and then out-do that.