NewsSuede confuse fans with “Bloodsports” bonus track chaos
12/3/13 – For an important update to this story click here
With a week to go until the release of Bloodsports, the first new Suede album in over 10 years, excitement is in danger of turning into resentment as diehard fans fume over the seemingly random distribution of ‘bonus’ tracks delivered geographically and via different ‘channels’.
In the UK, if you wish to buy Bloodsports on CD, it is a simple ten track album, with the following track listing.
- 1. Barriers
- 2. Snowblind
- 3. It Starts and Ends With You
- 4. Sabotage
- 5. For the Strangers
- 6. Hit Me
- 7. Sometimes I Feel I’ll Float Away
- 8. What Are You Not Telling Me?
- 9. Always
- 10. Faultlines
This is available from Amazon for £9.99 at the time of writing
(UK Pre-order: Bloodsports).
However, for the same money (£9.99) lovers of inferior quality MP3s are rewarded with two bonus tracks available via a ‘deluxe’ digital 12-track version from iTunes. The bonus tracks are:
- • Dawn Chorus
- • Howl
In Japan a deluxe CD+DVD edition also adds two bonus tracks, they are
- • Dawn Chorus
- • Nothing Can Stop Us
And if you want the two UK iTunes bonus tracks on a physical CD, then you need to seek out the Polish release which contains the same two songs:
- • Dawn Chorus
- • Howl
But what about the expensive deluxe bundles available in the UK? Surely they will contain all the bonus tracks above, won’t they?
You’d think so, but in fact this is not the case. The £35 Bloodsports “Hardback Book Box Set” contains the 10-track album on CD and vinyl and comes with an “exclusive 7-inch featuring an unreleased B-Side”. The label have confirmed that the vinyl single features Dawn Chorus backed with a further new track No Holding Back. So this deluxe set does not include Howl or Nothing Can Stop Us. You have to buy the Polish version AND the Japanese CD+DVD, in addition to this deluxe release, to have all the bonus tracks on a physical format.
A quick check online tells us you’d be looking at spending around £35 to get both of these items imported to the UK. This is on top of the £35 already invested in the “Hardback Book Box Set” plus the rather high shipping costs (£10 for UK delivery). That’s £80 for UK buyers to gather together four physical bonus tracks – three on CD and one on vinyl.
Incredibly, even the very expensive (£99) “Hardback Book Ltd Edition & Signed Box Set” – now sold out – repeats the omissions from the £35 set. You get a T-Shirt, a signed print, the same vinyl and CD combinations as the cheaper deluxe book set, and a USB stick which includes the album in ‘high quality’ and an exclusive video. The two seven-inch vinyl tracks (Dawn Chorus and No Holding Back) are included on the USB stick but this £100 box does not include Howl or Nothing Can Stop Us in ANY FORM WHATSOEVER. In other words, the iTunes, Japan and Poland editions all contain tracks NOT in the super deluxe box set.
Of course no one is forcing people to buy ‘everything’, and offering bonus tracks – particularly digitally – is not new, but Suede fans are a passionate and loyal sort, and in the UK in particular many would have spent much of the nineties being persuaded to buy multiple versions of Suede’s singles (CD1, CD2, CD3, DVD, cassette single etc.) in order to ensure that owned all the extra non-album tracks. The difference is that back then you could probably collect every issue of a single for around £10 and have four or five new tracks to show for it.
Fast forward almost 20 years, and the same loyal fans are being tempted to buy a £100 (or £35) box set that contains LESS Suede music on CD than the Polish deluxe edition which retails for £12.60!?
Of course the band may well be intending to issue these elusive bonus tracks on a physical format in the UK and/or other territories at some point in the near future (maybe for another Bloodsports single), but if this is the case, then they should probably make this clear before their most ardent fans set off – grudgingly – on an expensive global shopping expedition for fear of missing out.
12/3/13 – For an important update to this story click here
Are you a Suede fan with a Bloodsports buying dilemma? Let us know your thoughts on how the label have dealt with this bonus track issue – please leave a comment.
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A double 7″ single edition of ‘For The Strangers’ and ‘Hit Me’ is released on 21 October with new b-sides ‘Darkest Days’ and ‘Human Tide’.
By my calculations, this means the following eight ‘Bloodsports’ bonus tracks will have been released this year in dribs and drabs across a multitude of formats:
(1) ‘No Holding Back’ (from ‘Bloodsports’ box set 7″ single)
(2) ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ (from ‘Bloodsports’ Japanese CD)
(3) ‘Howl’ (from iTunes deluxe download version of ‘Bloodsports’ and ‘Bloodsports’ Australian CD)
(4) ‘Dawn Chorus’ (from ‘Bloodsports’ box set 7″ single, ‘Bloodsports’ Japanese CD, ‘Bloodsports’ Australian CD and iTunes deluxe download version of ‘Bloodsports’)
(5) ‘Falling Planes’ (from ‘Hit Me’ download EP)
(6) ‘What Violet Says’ (from ‘Hit Me’ download EP)
(7) ‘Darkest Days’ (b-side of ‘For The Strangers’ 7″ single)
(8) ‘Human Tide’ (b-side of ‘Hit Me’ 7″ single)
Plus, in addition to the above, is the Radio Edit of ‘Hit Me’ from the ‘Hit Me’ download EP.
Good skills! They should release a 2CD+DVD special edition of Bloodsports for Christmas rounding up all these tracks and videos etc.
Darkest Days and Human Tide are also both released as WAV downloads on http://www.musicload.de
I have just noticed that two further tracks (‘Falling Planes’ and ‘What Violet Says’) are available on iTunes as part of the ‘Hit Me’ EP.
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AND IT GETS WORSE: On the Suede forum, multiple buyers of the Super Deluxe expensive version’s USB stick does not, in fact, include the bonus tracks as promised. Multiple people received their boxes only to learn that when looking in all folders of the USB, that only 10 album tracks are there, then the artwork and lyrics… But NO digital bonus tracks… so “No Holding Back” remains Vinyl-Only and they only way to hear it on your iPhone, etc. is to do a Vinyl-to-Wav or Vinyl-to-MP3 conversion… WEAK! This box set is poorly thought out and no verging on disasterous.
the super deluxe owner got a mail with a link to three bonus tracks (WAV) as excuse for them missing on the usb in the first place. These are the ones from the bonus vinyl + the itunes “only” track HOWL
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Pls go to sort out some asia shipping locations, e.g. Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong, those fans can not order super deluxe boxset through Stereo Boutique.
bad news: find enclosed the information of the Polish online shop where I ordered the Suede CD…
Polish division of Warner Music (importer of Suede – Bloodsports) just
informed us that the CD will contain only 10 tracks not 12, as informed
us before (that’s why there was tracklist with 2 bonus tracks in our shop). I’m sorry for mislead (as we were mislead by Warner Music Poland).
serpent.pl
So does this mean there will be no physical CD release of the song “Howl”?
I ordered the Japanese and the Polish CD now, which cost me around € 45,- for both. I will have 4 out of 5 bonus tracks then, maybe there will be a physical release of “No Holding Back” later. I don’t need the shirt, signature, DVD, print etc., so I guess it’s quite a (costy) compromise…
Really? So the band makes something collectible and obscure and charges more for it. Rarity gives it value. its supply and demand. Imagine of suede made paintings instead of songs. Its ridiculous to complain that limited edition paintings should be made available cheaply for everyone. They are creating something aimed at wealthy collectors. If you can’t afford it, and you want it , I understand that, its frustrating. Im a massive suede collector, and have been collecting singles since the early days. But Im not going to spend that much on super delxue etx, in the same way Im not going to buy the platinum suede records on ebay. For some collectors with money, its great, but Im not confused or angry as this post implies some suede fans are. It is what it is. The new album is fab and im happy with that.
Wine Cheesy…
No one is saying not to buy it because it’s expensive! We’re saying, IF it’s going to be this expensive, why not include ALL the extra tracks?
And my complaint regarding pricing is with SHIPPING. I had the very heavy Smiths complete box shipped from the UK to my door in the San Francisco Bay Area for one-third of what they’re charging me here for this much lighter set. That is a LEGITIMATE complaint! I earn a very good salary, so having the money isn’t an issue.. Many, many fans on their website forum are upset that all you get in this set – song wise – is really a single bonus track. That, too, is a legitimate complaint…
The website selling the box sets doesn’t even work. This is all a sham.
Amazon it is then!!!!!
I opted for:
The Box Set £35 + £10 shipping, which by the way is extortionate considering I only paid £8 shipping for the recent Beatles Box Set which was around 2.5 Kilos, i’d day they’re making a bit of money off the shipping without a doubt.
The Signed CD from Recordstore £13.44 including P+P
That is enough for me, my focus is firstly on the vinyls and then the signatures (only because the price at recordstore was standard and not inflated as per the deluxe set)
I think they’ll be another Record Store Day release which will cover 1 or 2 of the bonus tracks, so no need to hit the panic button just yet on the others.
As for the Deluxe edition box set (the £100 one) I put that in the category of overprice box sets, reserved more recently for the likes of the Kasabian Velociraptor set (£180) and we all know what happened to that when they made too many, it dipped to an almost giveway price of £40 – £50 in the end. I think it’s great when these prices backfire on the big companies and they have to reduce heavily in the end.
I think the quantities must have been very low on the Suede deluxe box seeing as it seemed to sell out quite quickly and the recent Albert Hall DVD/CD combo of which 2,500 were made is still struggling to shift in great quantities at a considerably lower price of £40. If I had to guess i’d say maximum number would be around 500 on the deluxe box, maybe even lower.
I’m an American Suede fan who too has collected everything. Contrary to popular belief, only one item in my collection says “LONDON SUEDE” and that’s because it came with a live bonus disc. So, yes, most are imports.
Now, I have everything. Singles, Bootlegs, Japanese editions, etc. I have a cool 7″ singles box from 1993 in Mint condition. I have it all on vinyl and CD and kept it in spite of those new re-releases last year. I bought those too.
So, I see this Deluxe Edition and Super Deluxe Edition and I got really excited. I’m the ideal candidate for a Suede collector’s set because I spend money on these things and I love Suede. So then I read more closely…
In the Deluxe Edition that retails for 40 Euros, you get the bonus 7″ but Didz confirmed that you do NOT get a download version of the extra tracks unless you buy the Super Deluxe Edition! Outrageous.
So, I look to the Super Deluxe version that’s over 100 Euros. Yeah, so I get the shirt, and a signed Litho… pretty cool I guess. And I get the extra tracks as MP3s. Pretty cool. BUT, whether you get the Deluxe or the Super Deluxe, it’s 40 Euros to ship to US! No shipping apart from Courier service is available!
My point? For me to get the extra tracks on my iPhone, or to listen in the car, I have to spend $200 U.S. or more for a single album! Let’s examine this…. over the past years, we’ve has Super Deluxe Editions of single albums like the ones from U2 (“Achtung Baby”), The Who’s Quadrophenia, Peter Gabriel’s So, The Rolling Stones “Some Girls”, etc. BUT, apart from the UBER DELUXE EDITION of Achtung Baby, after shipping, this Suede Super Deluxe Edition stands as the MOST COSTLY Super Deluxe Edition of a Single album EVER.
So, I had to make a decision: Do I pay the $200+ to get that ONE extra track in a downloadable form? Or do I go another route and risk not having that one song… the ONLY Suede song in history that I won’t have? Well, here’s the path I have chosen:
1. SUEDE “BLOODSPORTS” Standard Edition CD SIGNED BY THE BAND, exclusive at RecordStore.co.uk. So I still get their signatures.
2. “BLOODSPORTS” Deluxe Japan Edition with a DVD and the Two Bonus Tracks you mention above in CD format. Now, I think the whole Region 2 DVD thing is based on assumption not fact. Most DVDs as part of these sets have been Region-Free NTSC Discs.. So it MAY play here, it may NOT. Either way, YesAsia has it with FREE SHIPPING even to the U.S.! And I get ONE of the two bonus tracks from the $200 Super Deluxe Edition!
3. The Vinyl Record Import.
If I add all of these things up, I get the signatures, the vinyl and 2 bonus tracks for LESS than the 40 Euro Exclusive Deluxe Version!
After Currency conversion and Shipping:
Record Store Signed Version: $19 U.S.
Vinyl Record: $31.00 U.S.
Japan Edition: $29.75
Grand Total: $79.75
Suede Standard Deluxe Box on their Website:
DELUXE BOX SET: 40 Euros
COURIER SHIPPING: 39 Euros
79 Euros = $103.00 U.S.
I’m NOT Cheap… and I’m praying that “No Holding Back” and “Howl” will be B-Sides of a single… but.. I just cannot and will not pay 39 Euros to ship or $200 for a box just to get “No Holding Back”. I could add the Polish version to and be at the same cost as the Standard Deluxe box if I really wanted “HOWL” on CD!
Like the thought process Steven! “No Holding Back” may get released somewhere else, but at present it’s being used as an incentive to buy the deluxe box(es) – big one has sold out of course, so now the track is only available on vinyl, if you spend £35 +shipping
Whiners. This is the music business. Its about making things collectable. If you dont want it, dont buy it. if you want it, buy it. Please stop whining and enjoy the brilliance that is suede.
You could take your own advice perhaps and stop whining… about people whining?
Let’s put the money aspect aside first! It simply annoyes people to have 5 variations of the same album lying around at home..five times the same artwork. You feel like running a warehouse. That is just boring. It is more satisfing to get exiting different stuff. Like an additional single with a different mix and songs not to be found somewhere else without being watered with suff you already have. A nice aditional package with new stuff on, that rounds up the album you already have. Aside from that buying the super deluxe boxset with 3 of the 4 bonus tracks as WAV file downloads for the USB stick isn’t possible anymore. Unclever from my p.o.v, as the album is brandnew and they don’t sell this super deluxe version anymore. Now we know, that it was the only way to obtain “Howl” in real WAV quality…the itunes m4a quality file sounds worse. For fans of the even better uncompressed Vinyl sound it would have been nicer to get all 4 bonus tracks on one single bonus vinyl….people would also pay more if the concept behind was right. Now everyone is dissatisfied as there is something missing on every format. What a cool maketing concept, really!
I will buy the cd and I would have bought any cd singles, but nowadays it seems cd singles are not important… I respect the people who pay 40 or 100€ for a box set, but come on, twelve songs and a t-shirt? Anyway, the album is excellent.
i collected everything they released back in the old days, i presumed for 35 quid id be getting everything, all i want is all the tracks!
Didz mentioned on the Suede forum that some kind of physical single for It Starts And Ends With You should be out on 18th March, but as no news of this has emerged yet I assume it’s no longer happening.
I’ve ordered the £35 deluxe set, I’m really hoping the Japanese exclusive track at least comes out on a b-side. I can live with Howl & Dawn Chrous being only itunes downloads.
All of my favourite Suede tracks are b-sides so I don’t want to miss a single one.
Notwithstanding how these tracks might end up being released officially in the UK, it’s a shame to see what appears to be a comprehensive lash-up in this Suede comeback. They were one of the last truly great “B-side bands” – I did read once that they felt the pressure to come up with 4 or 5 new tracks for each single hastened their demise – but they were excellent; CD1 in particular of “Sci-Fi Lullabies” stands up well against any of their “proper” albums.
As if other fans are not as avid collectors of their artists’ rare tracks… That’s a bit nonsensical, isn’t it? From a marketing point of view it makes sense to distribute rare tracks on different formats – otherwise those formats wouldn’t be collectable, would they?
Disappointing because Suede knows how much fans cherish their b-sides, which have traditionally been stellar. Of course all of these tracks will be easily obtainable online, but bands who wonder why fans would stoop to downloading free material have only this article to read.
I agree 100% with this article!
I have bought the deluxe (non-super) and will probably buy the Japanese and Polish, but I am disappointed with the way this is being handled!
Actually, they had exclusive b-sides on cassette singles (and a mini disc single!) in the 90s, so they’ve never given us everything on a CD in the first place… but I’ll be getting the standard UK CD and I’ll download the bonus tracks by other means for free. I don’t see why I should get less for my tenner than other countries!
I knew about the cassette and DVD exclusives, but not mini-disc! I’m guessing they all turned up on CD in the end though, via Edsel’s reissues?
Yes, the mini-disc B-sides were released also on CDsingles (Electricity)!
Implement Yeah was exclusive to the MD format…
http://www.discogs.com/Suede-Electricity/release/1020660
It eventually turned up on this Select Magazine freebie CD…
http://www.discogs.com/Various-BSE-Bangin-Summer-Extravaganza/release/1219626
And the live version had previewed the previous year on the fanclub CD…
http://www.discogs.com/Suede-Implement-Yeah/release/997926
“Implement Yeah” was on the cassette of Electricity so nothing actually exclusive on that MD, but a cool round-up of all the extra tracks from CD+Cassette nonetheless
Sorry to disappoint you but I have an European two-track CDsingle of Electrictiy with Implement Yeah!
Implement Yeah came out on Maxi CD in Germany, but only on a version, that was sold at special Indie stores here. Now easy to get on discogs: http://www.discogs.com/Suede-Electricity/release/1336614