My mother’s Ella Fitzgerald album skipped after the first line of Manhattan. So therefore did my tape. Not a song heard on the radio so it was years later I heard the second line, still jars…
I had a tiny scratch on LZ III LP , still expected it on the CD 
1 Like
Sorry for jumping immediately on a dev, but:
Both hiding and ban have the unfortunate side effect that it’s not so easy to to hear these tracks. I am not principally opposed to hearing the bonus tracks e.g. in Roon Radio or simply when I choose to do so. I just want a simple way to play only the original, preferably by default.
In addition:
Ban does not work in multi-selection and you need to click each one twice, this can be a lot of clicking. And each time you do want to hear them, you have to unban each one, then back again. Adding multi-selection support to heart/ban and star ratings would be a huge simplification of many tasks.
Hide makes the bonus tracks invisible and it’s not that I want to pretend they don’t exist, they can be interesting material.
Multi-selecting the original album tracks and adding them to the play queue may be an option but is not very elegant and easy to forget and just press Play on the album instead.
Thanks for listening 
1 Like
Dare I mentioned that old “chestnut” PINK FLOYD (The wealthiest band in the galaxy) turning out repetitive multi-cd versions of previous albums, remasters, previously unreleased, reissue, HD, SACD, Blu-ray ……the list goes on but nothing new in 20 years (or there about).
The original albums were wonderful but, IMVHO, the recent plethora of re-releases & re-formats border on worthless and are just profiteering.
Rant over, OK now beat me up 
3 Likes
The original is my preference. I generally set the original album as my primary version in Roon and then add the reissue as well. Depending on the band/album, the extras have varying appeal. I’ll always dive into Beatle extras.
Revolver was my first experience with this actually. My original copy of Revolver was the US 8 Track version. Like other pre-Pepper Fabs albums, it was shy a few tracks. But even more radically, it was sequenced completely differently than other pressings.
When I eventually bought a copy on CD I was completely discombobulated. The US 8 Track is the only one that feels right to me, and it’s all wrong! 
Original UK version:
- Taxman
- Eleanor Rigby
- I’m Only Sleeping
- Love You To
- Here, There And Everywhere
- Yellow Submarine
- She Said She Said
- Good Day Sunshine
- And Your Bird Can Sing
- For No One
- Dr. Robert
- I Want To Tell You
- Got To Get You Into My Life
- Tomorrow Never Knows
1970 US 8-Track Cartridge version:
- Taxman
- Eleanor Rigby
- Good Day Sunshine
- Here, There And Everywhere
- For No One
- I Want To Tell You
- Love You To
- She Said She Said
- Tomorrow Never Knows (Part 1)
- Tomorrow Never Knows (Concl.)
- Yellow Submarine
- Got To Get You Into My Life
For me it mostly depends on the audio quality. If a remastered album is sonically more pleasing to you than an original version then to me that is an easy choice. Examples include:
Led Zepellin
Blondie
The Beatles
The bonus content can be nice and live cuts are sometimes a revelation, but again for me it’s the sound of the original album that matters
1 Like
I was really getting at the content not the SQ of the remaster , that’s a no-brainer if the remaster is better, it the niggles of unexpected tracks
1 Like
I don’t like having to spend my time configuring stuff “just so.”
Especially Super Deluxe re-releases and/or remasters that have a LOT of songs or variants not on the original.
I just do “Play All” (in track order), and when it gets into the new added stuff, if I’m not in the mood to listen to all of that, I just add something different to the queue as “Play Next.”
Simple, flexible, and easy. No need to over-engineer a solution for this, IMO.
1 Like
It all depends on who is at the faders! Some remasters, like those by Giles Martin, are an improvement over the original because the mix/mastering engineer understands the original artist’s vision and respects it in the remix and remaster. Others are more problematical. One example, Josef Islam’s “Catch Bull at Four”. Josef, working as Cat Stevens, released the original in the UK and a bit later in the US. The US label edition was very Hi Fi and audio dealers liked to use it to show stuff off. Fifty years later, the copyright holder is milking the Cat Stevens catalog for revenue by putting out reissues. The recent Catch Bull at Four reissue sounds very different than the US release from the early '70s. The reissue is dry yet detailed. The original was warm, forward, and full of reverb. Two very different mixes of the original session tracking. So I listen and usually cull the HD reissues as they are generally hot and nasty. I stick to Red Book as it is less likely to have been “made up”.
2 Likes
I have had reactions to deluxe albums that are pretty much across the spectrum between jaw-droppingly amazing to “what were they thinking.”
The Beatles’s White Album and Let It Be are amazing. They are multi-channel which provides a much more immersive experience than almost anyone who saw them live. I have the original vinyl but, due to the vintage and quality of my record player, comparison with the modern version is not fair.
I do think it is fair to criticize the deluxe albums for “packing” outtakes and alternative takes into the package and, in the case of other recordings I have purchased, including a number of extra CDs that are partially filled (are they organizing the recordings or “fluffing” the package – or both).
After purchasing a number of these over the years, I have slowed down in the acquisition of these recordings considerably and opted for ones that were exceptionally done in the first place to see what the new technology can do.
It has been a mixed experience.
Maybe there can be an exchange of recommendations for exceptionally “deluxe” recordings on this site.
1 Like
If it’s Steven Wilson I’m in
That’s more about remastering though, Deluxe Edition Box Set is another matter. At times I get into it and other times I just can’t get through the extra stuff. It’s all good to have the material available and have the choice.
1 Like
I have had a listen to the new Beatles box set. One of the middle albums but the producers had included a lot of back story material. Without organizing it other than play order. And without explanation. Some material was good. Some was at the cottage with tape rolling. In the old days, inside the gate-fold, was a booklet you could read. Not today. 4pt print if anything at all.
Have you tried busting the extras up into play lists? We can do that, you know. Unfortunately, playlist store is just a big heap!
1 Like
Oh, an you can test drive the deluxe album on Roon/Qobuz or AppleMusic. No need to pay extra for a pig in a poke.
2 Likes
Thats what i do, it , i started this thread to see if i was alone,
I love the remasterings, Steven Wilson Yes, JTull etc but apart from the historical interestof the development tracks leading to the final cut , you listen maybe once after that they are simply padding IMHO
2 Likes
