Since the dawning of the CD era, alternate takes have been regularly added to album reissues and box sets.
I've always had a mixed opinion of them.
I can think of one box set where I like the alternate takes which, in this context, are not really alternate takes. Jazz pianist Bill Evans has a box set called The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. Two of his best-known and most popular albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, were pulled from these live recordings. This box set assembles all of the recordings made at the Village Vanguard on June 25, 1961, in the order in which they were recorded. It also includes audience banter, some on-stage discussion, and the first take of "Gloria's Step" that was briefly interrupted by a technical error.
On some CD reissues of both of the aforementioned albums, the alternate takes appear. This is where my opinion is mixed. I often like hearing the original albums in their originally-released sequence, with no bonus tracks. Fortunately in many cases, the bonus tracks are pasted onto the end of the album (where they can be easily skipped), yet on some others, the alternate takes appear mixed in with the original album tracks. This actually happens on another Bill Evans CD reissue: Portrait in Jazz, where alternate takes are inserted directly after their original album versions.
Another Bill Evans CD, Trio '64, was reissued with eight additional tracks, with two additional takes of four different tracks. So for those four tracks, you are hearing these three times on the same CD. It gets tedious to hear them over and over, regardless of how different the takes are. And when queueing up albums to listen to, I either have to manually remove them from a playlist, or skip ahead of all of these tracks.
I only use Bill Evans' CDs as an example since there are examples of most of the types of alternate take insertions on the disc. I can think of countless others.
There are popular music CDs were the hit single versions are tacked onto the end. There are others with a hit single version, a live version, a 12-inch remix version and others are all added. Again, it's tedious when sitting through an entire album.
Some releases get it right when they put all of the bonus content on an added disc.
Prince's reissue of the landmark 1999 album did it correctly. It was a 2-LP set that fit on one CD, so that is understandable. Yet there was so much bonus content with that album that I'm surprised they could fit it all onto a single CD. There were 45 RPM single versions, and the 12-inch single remixes, including different remixes of "Little Red Corvette." Most importantly, the non-album B-sides, which often got as much airplay as the hit singles, are all included as well.
Led Zeppelin's 2014/2015 CD reissues got it right also. While the content sometimes could have fit on a single CD, they wisely split the content across two discs--the first CD was the original album as released, and the second CD contained all of the bonus content. For the two-CD Physical Graffiti, the bonus content still fits on the third CD in the set. Coda is a different story, as it includes two companion discs, the first of which contains tracks that have become popular thanks to inclusions in other Zep box sets (like "Traveling Riverside Blues," "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do," "Baby Come On Home," etc.).
As a collector of music (not releases), there are times when I do want to hear the additional tracks, especially if they are unreleased tracks or B-sides. But alternate takes are something I have a limited use for.
If it's an event, like the Bill Evans Village Vanguard box, it makes sense since the set documents the series of gigs that make up the album.
Otherwise, having the alternate takes, or any bonus tracks for that matter, tacked onto a CD are often distracting, and the alternate takes get tedious the more times the same song is repeated.
Best are those who tack them onto the end, so I can stop playback early. Even better are those where the tracks are split out to a second CD. Worst are those who inject the alternate takes into the original album's running order.
What is your take on alternate takes, and bonus tracks in general?
I've always had a mixed opinion of them.
I can think of one box set where I like the alternate takes which, in this context, are not really alternate takes. Jazz pianist Bill Evans has a box set called The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961. Two of his best-known and most popular albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, were pulled from these live recordings. This box set assembles all of the recordings made at the Village Vanguard on June 25, 1961, in the order in which they were recorded. It also includes audience banter, some on-stage discussion, and the first take of "Gloria's Step" that was briefly interrupted by a technical error. On some CD reissues of both of the aforementioned albums, the alternate takes appear. This is where my opinion is mixed. I often like hearing the original albums in their originally-released sequence, with no bonus tracks. Fortunately in many cases, the bonus tracks are pasted onto the end of the album (where they can be easily skipped), yet on some others, the alternate takes appear mixed in with the original album tracks. This actually happens on another Bill Evans CD reissue: Portrait in Jazz, where alternate takes are inserted directly after their original album versions.
Another Bill Evans CD, Trio '64, was reissued with eight additional tracks, with two additional takes of four different tracks. So for those four tracks, you are hearing these three times on the same CD. It gets tedious to hear them over and over, regardless of how different the takes are. And when queueing up albums to listen to, I either have to manually remove them from a playlist, or skip ahead of all of these tracks.
I only use Bill Evans' CDs as an example since there are examples of most of the types of alternate take insertions on the disc. I can think of countless others.
There are popular music CDs were the hit single versions are tacked onto the end. There are others with a hit single version, a live version, a 12-inch remix version and others are all added. Again, it's tedious when sitting through an entire album.
Some releases get it right when they put all of the bonus content on an added disc.
Prince's reissue of the landmark 1999 album did it correctly. It was a 2-LP set that fit on one CD, so that is understandable. Yet there was so much bonus content with that album that I'm surprised they could fit it all onto a single CD. There were 45 RPM single versions, and the 12-inch single remixes, including different remixes of "Little Red Corvette." Most importantly, the non-album B-sides, which often got as much airplay as the hit singles, are all included as well.
Led Zeppelin's 2014/2015 CD reissues got it right also. While the content sometimes could have fit on a single CD, they wisely split the content across two discs--the first CD was the original album as released, and the second CD contained all of the bonus content. For the two-CD Physical Graffiti, the bonus content still fits on the third CD in the set. Coda is a different story, as it includes two companion discs, the first of which contains tracks that have become popular thanks to inclusions in other Zep box sets (like "Traveling Riverside Blues," "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do," "Baby Come On Home," etc.). As a collector of music (not releases), there are times when I do want to hear the additional tracks, especially if they are unreleased tracks or B-sides. But alternate takes are something I have a limited use for.
If it's an event, like the Bill Evans Village Vanguard box, it makes sense since the set documents the series of gigs that make up the album.
Otherwise, having the alternate takes, or any bonus tracks for that matter, tacked onto a CD are often distracting, and the alternate takes get tedious the more times the same song is repeated.
Best are those who tack them onto the end, so I can stop playback early. Even better are those where the tracks are split out to a second CD. Worst are those who inject the alternate takes into the original album's running order.
What is your take on alternate takes, and bonus tracks in general?
