Billboard is reporting the the upcoming reissues of the classic Dolly Parton albums Coat of Many Colors, Jolene and My Tennessee Mountain Home will feature multiple bonus tracks, most of which are unreleased studio recordings of Parton’s original material.
An upgrade of Parton’s catalog is long overdue, but I hope that RCA will dig deeper. I would’ve preferred the approach that was taken with Merle Haggard’s catalog – two albums on one CD – and seen all of her early albums reissued. Quite frankly, those albums are short enough to fit two on a CD and still leave room for bonus tracks. Since the three above albums have already been issued that way in Europe, with Joshua also in the mix, the RCA reissues are feeling like a rip-off.
Kevin – let’s see how these CDs are priced before we consider them a ripoff. More to the point, let’s hear how well the tracks are remastered and see how many bonus tracks are added – RCA has been very hit and miss, sometimes doing an astounding job on a reissue and sometimes doing a shortchange.
Also, I must point out that sometimes there was a good reason for a track to remain unissued – such as lack of artistic merit !
Hey Kevin, I came across this same article this morning. I’m wondering if reissues even sell, and if there is any studies on it. I think albums should generally be reissued posthumously. Although it does seem a little gimmicky, it keeps her in the news and is a good marketing move.
Paul, I think the article mentions that there will be four bonus tracks and hopefully they’re not lacking in artistic merit.