Remember how the music industry decided that vinyl was more trouble than it was worth and that the profit margins on tapes and CD’s were far more lucrative so they began cramming 70 minute albums onto one LP? The thing that really grinds my gears is that even when they did bother to press double vinyl, they would often neglect to include the best songs. Here are some notable examples:
1. Mercury Records putting the skits and the radio edit of ‘Best Kept Secret’ on the promo pressing of Stunts, Blunts and Hip-Hop instead of, you know, great songs like ‘Feel The Vibe’ and ‘I Went For Mine.’
2. Tommy Boy including all the skits and stuff like ‘Johnny’s Dead AKA Vincent Mason’ instead of ‘Afro Connections At Hi-5’ on the single LP version in a blatant attempt to force us to buy the ‘Ring Ring Ring’ single.
3. Payday‘s original issue of Runaway Slave which was rumored to have a deliberate pressing fault to convince us that records are rubbish and also featured ‘Soul Clap’ instead of ‘More Than One Way Out Of The Ghetto.’ Thankfully it was eventually released on 2LP with all the songs they left off the first version.
4. Cold Chillin’ adding Grand Daddy IU‘s ‘Girl On The Mall’ as a CD bonus, thus forcing me to get that stupid 2 Nasty 4 Radio LP.
5. Giant leaving ‘Kickin’ Flavor With My Man’ off the original promo vinyl and sentencing the outstanding ‘Hands In The Air, Mouth Is Shut’ to cassette-only status until bootleggers came to the rescue.
6. The first Bad Boy issue of Ready To Die without ‘Things Done Changed,’ ‘Me and My Bitch’ or ‘Suicidal Thoughts.’
The list is almost endless…
i was just looking at my B.I.G. LP and observing that last week!
Leaving “Let’s Git On” off Dah Shinin LP is another
Weren’t North Star from Cuban Linx… and Up North Trip from The Infamous CD only bonus tracks? Nas’ Silent Murder was missing from many versions of the lp, too. Up North Trip turned up on the Don’t Be A Menace OST, even.
Loads of non-US releases of singles had no instrumental and often terrible remixes replaced them.
Diamond makes it sound like he himself decided what songs to trim off the album to fit the vinyl LP. Still seems like some odd decisions.
I’ve got loads of albums that have crap sound quality because the label crammed all the music onto a single piece of vinyl. Nowadays I buy the re-released cd to play while looking at the LP cover. My LP of Runaway Slave has a jump in the “represent” track that’s pissed me off for the past 20+ years – here’s where I sound gullible – does anyone else’s LP have the same fault? Robbie, we need a list and then a lobbying group to get some albums re-released with all the b sides and remixes that were around at the time e.g. Nation of Millions, Runaway Slave, One for All, Represent, Buhloone Mindstate.
Yeah Ben Jones good one
Also Enta Da Stage missing Slave
My runaway slave lp jumps at represent as well, bought the cd, “fuck a Benz I can pull skins on a peddle bike”
@Chris Ward: My copy skips on ‘Still Diggin.’
@doughjoe: Where did Diamond Say that?
@silent minority: ‘Up North Trip’ is on my copy of the Mobb Deep LP.
I should also mention that Traffic Entertainment have put in some fine work re-releasing a lot of early 90’s albums on double vinyl, with KMD, Black Sheep, Brand Nubian, The Beatnuts and L.O.N.S. finally getting playable pressings.
Kool g rap and polo – “live and let die” lp has a few tracks missing compared to the cd, including “ill street blues.” “People’s instinctive travels” also had tracks missing from the lp, including “pubic enemy.” So many shit pressing – LONS first lp and public enemy – fear of a black planet” incredibly quiet.
Pretty much every Cold Chillin’ tape I own has the disclaimer “contains x # bonus tracks” [Masta Ace, Gandaddy IU, Kool G Rap, etc] so I’m assuming all those classic records have songs missing.
I always found buying singles on vinyl and full lengths on tape was the best bet. We could also talk about how cassette single sleeves would deteriorate quickly and how labels cheaped out on tape quality. Most of those tapes were flimsy and have not stood the test of time, whereas many of the full length tapes spent entire summers in hot cars and still play properly.
Got to the point where i wouldnt cop an LP that wasnt on double vinyl and the ones i had never got any play anyway
All the Eric B and Rakim albums after Paid in Full are of poor quality, both on vinyl and CD. Master Ace’s first album wasn’t pressed up loudly enough. Diamond D’s first album was nigh on impossible to get on vinyl in 1992- just insane for PWL not to put it out.
On the pressings for It Was Written, not only was Silent Murder only on the cassette (thank God I was still buying tapes at that point) but the sing sequences on the tape, CD and vinyl are all different. I listened to the type so much that when I heard the CD, it sounded crazy to me. And yeah, start in’ with Road To The Riches, all Cold Chillin’ releases all cassette/CD only bonus joints. What about during the double CD phase, all the vinyl releases were expensive as hell because they were printed up on 4 albums, smh…
^^pardon the typos, I’m sure y’all can figure it out…
Oska All Day!!! …just dropped in to shout that.
Get On Down just put out the first official issue
of Stunts, Blunts & Hiphop. Did they throw in the cd-only tracks this time? They had the perfect opportunity to make things right but they fucked it up again. http://www.getondown.com/album.php?id=17711
The title track from He’s the DJ, I’m the rapper skips the breakdown that’s shorter that the cassette version.
Great post. The leaving off of great songs from vinyl versions of albums has always really got on my tits too. Runaway Slave missing off some of the best tracks was ridiculous. More recently, it bugged me when they left Axe Puzzles from the vinyl version of The Unseen. There are so many other examples.
Regards It Was Written; i got the UK version on CD and that missed off Silent Murder (in my opinion the best track along side I Gave You Power), but when I was travelling around Oz in 2002 I noticed their version had it tagged on the end, so bought it again.
More recent examples are when they left off Walk With Me off Cuban Linx II and only putting Nasty on a deluxe edition of Life Is Good (two of the best tracks off the respective albums).
The pressing of KMD’s Mr Hood was shockingly poor quality, almost to the point of completely spoiling the listening experience.
Also, this is a completely unrelated issue, and probably more the fault of the artists themselves or the studio engineer, but it really stresses me out when great song almost get ruined by the level of the vocals being recorded far to low, to the point of being almost inaudible. Examples that spring to mind straight away are Words I Manifest by Gang Starr and Year and a Day from Paul’s Boutique. Both quality tracks nearly ruined by quiet vocals.
Silent Murder was tape only. The back story was some wack ass marketing ploy by Columbia to get the die hards to purchase both. Didn’t work, nobody was buying tapes, until recently when hipsters crowned cassettes as the new vinyl. Now, because these things are so scarce, some dipshit in Florida just bought my copy for $40 on eBay.
It Was Written had Silent Murder as the bonus CD track on release in some regions, and in tape on other regions going by the comments. At some point it went missing from the CD versions, too.
BTW I was still often buying tapes as I could listen to what I bought straight away at school or wherever. That’s the only reason I had the Cuban Linx tape, I originally wanted the CD when I realised it had the bonus track. Then strangely enough it became a big thing years later after being mentioned by Nas. Purple tape. Bought it many times anyway.
I hate to this day that tracks were put on certain formats only. It’s a lame decision and robs or blackmails fans who actually wanted to purchase the releases. Idiotic policy.
Stetsasonic’s “Blood Sweat & No Tears” on vinyl had at least four tracks less than the CD version, including the superb albeit short “You Still Smokin That Shit?”.
Even NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton” missed some tracks on vinyl.
And the already mentioned De La Soul is Dead’s vinyl had probably the worst sound quality ever. I used to tape records at the time for walkman and car stereo, but that sound was so weak that the cassette was impossible to hear.
i think with ‘”ready to die” it was sample clearance issues, as with the reissues of ironman
btw if somebody could explain wtf was supreme clientele so different from tape to record?it’s almost two different albums. more sample clearance issues?
bboy, what it do!!!
That’s all…
Up North Trip was missing off The Infamous in tape only but, yeah, it was on the Don’t Be A Menace… soundtrack.
I knew Ack Like U Want It was missing off the tape and vinyl versions of Enta Da Stage -having listened to the tape version so many times that track still doesn’t sit right for me as I’m expecting Buck ‘Em Down to kick in after Who Got Da Props? – but Slave?!?! That’s one of my favourite songs on the album so it seems ridiculous to drop that one.