suss wrote:

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Quite often find re-issues that miss part of intro or cut off track abruptly though - just very lazy on someone's part I reckon, or is there a technical explanation?

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As much as the Rats re-issues were appreciated, there were a few problems. http://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/t2066606/i-can-make-it-if-you-can/

I listen to the vinyl ahead of the CDs.  The best thing about the CDs was to get cleaner MP3s, but it took a bit of messing around to get them right http://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/t2188597/remastering-the-remasters/.

I did have a set of questions about them (you have to scroll down a bit) that were supposed to have been answered but alas never were and given the breakdown in relations with the management probably never will be.

http://boomtownrats.activeboard.com/t3556104/questions-for-bob-and-pete-and-the-rest/  (I have put all the questions below, to save searching for them)

I think the technical explanation is that no matter how hard you try, some glitches slip in and that no matter how much care you take, there will always be some compromise.

1. It was great to hear the demo tracks which were extras on the first album.  Were there any other tracks from the 1975 demos?   Where and when were they recorded?  Were any other demos made and do any of them exist?

1. Though I have read the notes about the re-ordering of tracks, I must admit I don't really agree with the philosophy on the whole.  It also seems that it was a late decision as far as the debut album is concerned, as promo versions were in the original order, and no disclaimer was included on the sleeve notes.  I think V Deep is better for the re-ordering, Mondo Bongo is worse, and I'm neutral on In The Long Grass.  As for the debut album, I just listen to the promo, as it's too shocking to contemplate listening to the second best album of the seventies in any other order! Given that people are pretty familiar with the albums and the running order, don't you think this was a radical decision? 

1. A number of B-sides are missing.  That means Born To Burn, Man At The Top, Europe Looked Ugly, A Storm Breaks (instrumental), Nothing Happened Today (live in Singapore) [both from the bonus disc for Charmed Lives], and Banana Republic/Close As You'll Ever Be (live in Cardiff) have yet to appear on CD.  All The Rage has only ever appeared on a German release.  Was there any reason for omitting them?

1. The biggest sin on the CDs is the wobble at the start of I Can Make It If You Can.  Is there any reason for this?

1. The singles had slightly different mixes, most frequently abriged. Like Clockwork, I Don't Like Mondays, Someone's Looking at You, Banana Republic, Elephant's Graveyard and House on Fire were all shorter (and in some cases better!). Also Rat Trap had a variation on the Pus & Grime lyric on the single. Given that single versions for Mary of the Fourth Form and Dave (I appreciate these differed markedly, so it is more justified) were on the CDs, why not have these variants as well?

1. I also noted there were no US mixes of Lucky, Drag Me Down, and Rain on In The Long Grass.  Rain is quite notorious, a lot of people have heard of it, but few have heard it. I find the UK versions superior, but as curiosities couldn't these have been included on the reissues?

1. One of the most obvious omissions is ...House Burned Down from V Deep.  I accept it is little more than a reprise, but again, why was it discarded?

1. The Ha Ha Has have moved to the end of The Fine Art of Surfacing.  I always thought these were integral to Sleep (and they make more sense there).  Why have they been moved to the end of the original album?

1. There is no gap in Cheerio, which takes away a lot of sense from it.  Is there any reason for not preserving the gap?

1. The spoken introduction (and the final pay-off of "What's all this got to do with Punk Rock then?") are both missing from Do the Rat.  Is there any reason for this?  Is it simply pandering to political corrrectness?

1. The vinyl LP I have has the single version of Dave, but the album version here is quite different. I know it was on the recent Best of, but where did this album version of Dave come from? Was it ever released before?

1. I know that the band tried other producers on Tonic, Surfacing and V Deep, before returning to Mutt Lange and Tony Visconti.   I even heard about a reggae version of I Don't Like Mondays.  Are there any unheard pleasures around?  Are there any plans to release them ?  Maybe as downloads on the bobgeldof.info site. 

1. Is it just my turntable, or are some of the tracks faster than the originals?  As an example, Joey's on the Street Again seems significantly faster.

1. There are some session tracks and live tracks on the reissues.  The rest of the 1977 John Peel BBC session tracks were released as extra tracks on the Geldof Crazy single. The 1978 Peel sessions along with the BBC recording from Middlesex Polytechnic the same year would make a great CD. The sets from Self Aid/Live Aid are also  What chance is there of a live album or a sessions album?

1. People do have some of these tracks in their private collections, and would be willing to distribute them. Would you contemplate providing missing tracks as downloads on the official site?