astute_99 wrote:HIPT times is the perfect example of what I've been thinking lately....
It seems as though with each of the last few albums, they've talked about doing 20 or more songs, but then only putting 10 or so on the album. Some songs that are recorded early in the sessions could be great pieces of music (we know from experience this is true) but they get dropped from the album because they don't fit the focus of the record musically, or otherwise, from the band's perspective.
Why don't they ever consider a double album? For example, they could release Curve as a double, with all the ACTUAL b-sides on another disc? It could include those other songs which don't fit the record, but are still worthy of release. I know it's just dreaming at this point, but I think it's something they should consider in the future. They seem so prolific in their recording sessions, yet we only see a portion of that material get officially released.
Another suggestion that I have would be to include some sort of online offer with purchasing the album that gives you a free download to unreleased material or studio outtakes for the album. There's so many options to get this music out, I wish they would consider it more.
I understand that maybe for the guys in the band that this goes against their artistic impression of what an album should be. For example, they obviously have a clear vision of what they want Curve to be, and if Grocery List didn't fit in that vision, I can understand. But they're sacrificing some great tracks for the sake of having a complete album, it just doesn't sit right with me
Still though I consume OLP like oxygen, and I wish they would consider this, just for the fans.
EDIT: Also, on the point of overvaluing songs, I don't really agree with that. Few would argue that Let You Down was better than Trapeze, or that Vampires could have been a worse song than Don't Stop...(these are just my personal opinions, but I feel most would agree with me).
When I say overvaluing songs, I'm not speaking from the perspective of "better vs. worse" cuts that end up on the final album. I'm talking about overvaluing "Vampires" as a "great song" when it's just not that. Perhaps within the context of the HIPT sessions, it's a great song by comparison. But comparing them to only other HIPT songs is where the overvaluing takes place. When comparing songs like "Vampires" to the greatest OLP tracks of all times, it just doesn't stand up. 4 am, In Repair, The Wonderful Future, Naveed, One Man Army....these are truly great songs. Vampires, on the other hand, is simply a demo from an era when OLP was trying to be a pop rock band rather than an experimental rock band, and it's far from great.
Also, I believe that Let You Down was superior to Trapeze. Hello Oskar, not so much, but the band has already admitted that. Hindsight is 20/20 though, and I think it's unfortunate that we have a band that's so unbelievably fan-friendly and gives us all this great insider information, and then so many use this info to tell the band they're making shitty choices. If Tales.... got cut, then maybe there's a good reason for it. Maybe it's one of those songs that, after having listened to it for a couple of months, the band was already tired of it. Perhaps the same thing happened with Vampires. If a song gets old that quickly for the band, I'm sure there's some kind of correlation to how quickly it would get old for fans. Basically, I'm just saying we shouldn't so quickly dismiss the band's creative process before the album even hits the shelves.
On another note, have you ever listened to Nirvana's "Incesticide" album? All of those are b-sides/cut tracks from
before the Nevermind era, and there is some great stuff on that album! It's just the nature of creativity for some good stuff to not "fit" on the album.
