Midnite City Two new songs coming up

[Captain Howdy]

For me the first album is still their best. All of the albums are great, but that debut still stands out to me because it was the most instantly hookable and the songs still hold up as some of their most catchy.

[Geoff]

5 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

For me the first album is still their best. All of the albums are great, but that debut still stands out to me because it was the most instantly hookable and the songs still hold up as some of their most catchy.

Yeah, they've been released in order for me so far, though I think the new one probably slots into the third spot? I think, maybe. Like I said, need a re-listen. But debut is my favourite, followed by the second one. 

[Mr.AOR]

Listening to this now and track 10 It's Not Me It's You definitely has a bit of D2's I Still Think About You about it especially in the pre- chorus, anyone else hear it.

[Captain Howdy]

2 hours ago, Mr.AOR said:

Listening to this now and track 10 It's Not Me It's You definitely has a bit of D2's I Still Think About You about it especially in the pre- chorus, anyone else hear it.

Not really. I mean other than being a ballad, it doesn't really make me think of I still think about you.

There is one bit that reminds me of another song, but cannot for life of me work out what it is.

We all hear different things I guess, as I have said in songs before that they remind me of something else and others just dont hear it

[The Rocker]

Anyone have the bonus track?

[auslander]

3 hours ago, The Rocker said:

Anyone have the bonus track?

Yep

[The Rocker]

23 hours ago, auslander said:

Yep

Is it a Rocker?

[Captain Howdy]

On 7/29/2023 at 12:13 AM, The Rocker said:

Anyone have the bonus track?

Yep. And the demo of it as well.

[Captain Howdy]

2 hours ago, The Rocker said:

Is it a Rocker?

More of a mid paced track. Not quite a ballad, but close.

 

[auslander]

On 7/30/2023 at 9:41 AM, The Rocker said:

Is it a Rocker?

It's a mid tempo ballad. Very Leppard-like. Not sure why it is only a bonus as it is great quality and made for radio.

[Captain Howdy]

10 hours ago, auslander said:

It's a mid tempo ballad. Very Leppard-like. Not sure why it is only a bonus as it is great quality and made for radio.

Sometimes great songs get overlooked or it just becomes a toss up between which songs do and do not make the cut.

Must be hard for any artist to select a final track listing for an album knowing that most artists will record a whole bunch of other songs for every album.

For instance, the song Thin Disguise never should have been left off the album Cherry Pie by Warrant, most people agree that and it even became a regular in their set lists and best of's.

[tts42572]

1 hour ago, Captain Howdy said:

Sometimes great songs get overlooked or it just becomes a toss up between which songs do and do not make the cut.

Must be hard for any artist to select a final track listing for an album knowing that most artists will record a whole bunch of other songs for every album.

For instance, the song Thin Disguise never should have been left off the album Cherry Pie by Warrant, most people agree that and it even became a regular in their set lists and best of's.

Agree 100% on Thin Disguise.   How the heck to they put that Train Train song and Ode To Tipper Gore on Cherry Pie over that song?  They should've just struck those 2 songs and replaced them with Thin Disguise.

As for the Midnite City bonus track, it feels pretty similar to me as Beginning of the End and It's Not Me It's You which I'd guess is probably why it ended up as bonus track material.  It's an okay song but I like the bonus track from the last album a bit more (Girls of Tokyo).

Either way, it's nice that they do an original track at all for the Japan bonus track.  It seems like many albums these days just having acoustic or alternate versions of songs already on the album which never interests me much.

[Captain Howdy]

28 minutes ago, tts42572 said:

Agree 100% on Thin Disguise.   How the heck to they put that Train Train song and Ode To Tipper Gore on Cherry Pie over that song?  They should've just struck those 2 songs and replaced them with Thin Disguise.

As for the Midnite City bonus track, it feels pretty similar to me as Beginning of the End and It's Not Me It's You which I'd guess is probably why it ended up as bonus track material.  It's an okay song but I like the bonus track from the last album a bit more (Girls of Tokyo).

Either way, it's nice that they do an original track at all for the Japan bonus track.  It seems like many albums these days just having acoustic or alternate versions of songs already on the album which never interests me much.

Interestingly, Ode to Tipper Gore was only on the US and Japanese releases of Cherry Pie. And on at least the European version Train train was actually beeped when Jani says "All a-fucking-board"

I actually had the European version on cassette and then CD, and both were the same. Someone gave me the US copy on vinyl and that is where I first heard the uncensored Train train and Ode. I later bought the remaster of the album on CD that was only available in the US and weirdly the two bonus tracks they put on it were The power & Game of war ... still no Thin Disguise, which I thought was ridiculous.

 

As for bonus tracks, I have mentioned this here before, I used to order quite a few Frontiers releases on Jap import for the bonus tracks but Frontiers is the biggest culprit these days for going the lazy route of acoustic, piano, instrumental, live bonus tracks of songs already on the album. I don't buy Jap imports of Frontiers releases anymore.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Captain Howdy

[lettard]

1 hour ago, Captain Howdy said:

I later bought the remaster of the album on CD that was only available in the US and weirdly the two bonus tracks they put on it were The power & Game of war ... still no Thin Disguise, which I thought was ridiculous.

Yeah we had to wait until the Rock Candy release to get it...along with the other tracks mentioned.

[auslander]

7 hours ago, lettard said:

Yeah we had to wait until the Rock Candy release to get it...along with the other tracks mentioned.

Bands used to sometimes release compilations of bsides, non-album tracks and bonus tracks that were great for completionists. Often you'd find some high quality stuff on them and it became like a whole new album.  

[Captain Howdy]

8 hours ago, auslander said:

Bands used to sometimes release compilations of bsides, non-album tracks and bonus tracks that were great for completionists. Often you'd find some high quality stuff on them and it became like a whole new album.  

I think with a lot of these they were either down to the record label wanting them or contracual obligations.

For instance Lepps Retro active was a record label decision but the band were able to make the final decision on track listing.

With Jettblacks Black Gold, it was very much an contractual obligation album and the band had very little to do with the track selection.

From what I can gather as well, any of the 80s bands that were on the big labels back in the day, any best of/greatest hits releases that had "bonus" tracks on them, were purely record label decisions so we were lucky to actually get these bonus tracks. I remember several bands releasing compilations later after leaving the label because they were unhappy with the track listing chosen by the label.

Warrant had two compilations released in 1996 that they had no control over. One was the pointless "Rocking Tall" and the other was the far superior "Best of" which actually finally added Thin Disguise to an album but also included their cover of We will rock you, from the Gladiator soundtrack.

When they were finally able to release a compilation themselves, it obviously had to be re-recorded stuff but they gave us a few songs that had never been officially released before and a re-record of Thin disguise as they knew how popular it was. Of course the record label at the time was obsessed with dance remixes, so they stuck a bunch of them on there that the band had no choice on.

[auslander]

19 hours ago, tts42572 said:

Either way, it's nice that they do an original track at all for the Japan bonus track.  It seems like many albums these days just having acoustic or alternate versions of songs already on the album which never interests me much.

Yep I just bought the Japanese version Winger "Seven" album and guess what, the bonus track is an acoustic version of Proud Desperado.

[Captain Howdy]

35 minutes ago, auslander said:

Yep I just bought the Japanese version Winger "Seven" album and guess what, the bonus track is an acoustic version of Proud Desperado.

And who released that ... Frontiers? Surprise surprise.

 

[Captain Howdy]

Itch you can't scratch is now getting a reissue with two extra tracks. The Japanese bonus track and one newly recorded track.

[CureTheSane]

3 hours ago, Captain Howdy said:

Itch you can't scratch is now getting a reissue with two extra tracks. The Japanese bonus track and one newly recorded track.

Such a scam rereleasing with bonus tracks

[Captain Howdy]

I love the band and get on real well with Rob, but yeah I do not like this tactic. The first two albums was because they got the rights back from the label that released them, but I really do not see any justification in re-releasing Itch already.

I would rather they take all the Jap exclusives, record the new tracks and release an EP or a best of type thing.

I am not re-buying any of the albums again as there is just too much other stuff to buy and limited money to spend on them.

[Stefan]

New video for 'Like There's No Tomorrow' coming this Friday.

 

 

[auslander]

In the past it was the opposite, the bonus tracks and stuff were often on the first limited issues, thus rewarding the main fans who buy the album at launch. Now they only put extra tracks on deluxe editions or reissues. I feel cynical and think it is a ploy to just get more money out of the core group of fans who support the artist no matter what, trying to get them to buy the same album multiple times.

Edited March 20 by auslander

[Captain Howdy]

8 hours ago, auslander said:

In the past it was the opposite, the bonus tracks and stuff were often on the first limited issues, thus rewarding the main fans who buy the album at launch. Now they only put extra tracks on deluxe editions or reissues. I feel cynical and think it is a ploy to just get more money out of the core group of fans who support the artist no matter what, trying to get them to buy the same album multiple times.

As I said before, I get them reissuing the first two albums due to record label issues, and even kinda get adding bonus tracks to encourage people to buy the reissues, but there really is no excuse on the last two albums.

People are struggling for money and have to choose more carefully what they spend their money on. It's one of the reasons I stopped buying Japanese releases of Frontiers albums. I used to buy them for the bonus tracks, but since they changed to only including alternate versions of songs already on the album, the Jap imports are an unnecessary extra spend.

I can understand big labels pulling shit like this, but smaller labels and bands thrive on grass roots fans, and if they start taking advantage of them, they will lose them.

Another example I saw recently is a US based band charging $46 postage to UK for one CD. Most US based bands/labels charge between $20 to $30 but this bands answer to me was "We dont control postage costs". I ordered another CD from a US site and got charged $9 for postage.

[tts42572]

11 hours ago, auslander said:

In the past it was the opposite, the bonus tracks and stuff were often on the first limited issues, thus rewarding the main fans who buy the album at launch. Now they only put extra tracks on deluxe editions or reissues. I feel cynical and think it is a ploy to just get more money out of the core group of fans who support the artist no matter what, trying to get them to buy the same album multiple times.

I feel like if I were artists who worked hard to create an album, I think I'd offer very limited/deluxe runs of an album with a bonus track or two.  Sell those for some marked up price, signed by the band on your website direct to fans.  Heck, you could probably sell those CD's/Vinyl for $25-$50....some range like that which is about double or triple what you normally would sell for.  And make sure they're jewel cases for the CD's and that the bonus tracks aren't just covers or alternate versions of a song already on the album lol!  I'd even number those releases for however many were printed like 1 out of 250 or however many were printed on the "limited" run.  Just don't make the "limited" run 5,000 CD's or something lol.

Then let the "regular" releases go to amazon or wherever else without the bonus tracks for the normal prices and chuck those in cardboard sleeves if you want too lol.

Heck, I'd have no problem paying double the cost of a regular CD for a limited issue CD like that, signed by the band.  I buy these things mostly as collectible items anyways these days, so do something to enhance the collectability and reward those fans the might want a more premium product.

I just think artists/labels should think outside the box a bit more these days.  Put out limited run physical products, maybe offer people a trial membership to some band you tube page or other web site/group where you post behind the scenes stuff with the purchase of an album, or give them a discount to your store on a future purchase.....Or whatever other ideas might make sense.