Children of the 90s who post here will remember that CD’s of the time often had “hidden tracks” at the end. Often these things were truly worthless. Often they indicated that the act in question had too much money from their record companies and had taken far too many drugs. Anyway, The Stone Roses “Second Coming” album had a hidden track… It was not a hidden gem.
Were any of them? Or were they all crap?
I seem to remember that that album had about 100 tracks on it. 80 odd silent ones before the hidden track.
Good ones:
Train in Vain – The Clash
Untitled – R.E.M.
A Manics one who’s name escapes me
Manics – Working Class Hero on Send Away The Tigers.
Not really hidden, it was stated on the back cover. But did come after about 3 minutes of silence
Actually I checked “We Are All Bourgeois Now” on Know Your Enemy was what I had in mind
In my haste to second-guess you, I forgot about that one
Well it’s great and WCH isn’t đ
Is that a cover of the McCarthy song?
Yes
There was a good one on the World Party album âBangâ called âKuwait Cityâ which was a Beach Boys type song about the Gulf War.
If I remember correctly, some territories initial releases didnât have the track – something to do with the tape operator thinking it was finished when they created the CD master (probably mis remembered)
I was going to mention this, not for the quality of the song which I canât remember, but because the gap between this and the last track was about 30 minutes. I must have had the cd about a year before I heard it. Didnât half make me jump when it suddenly started playing.
It’s a decent song. Johnny Walker actually played it, probably a unique accolade for a hidden track
That thirty minutes of dead air time must have been tough.
It is a very decent track, I discovered it because I didn`t stop or change the CD after it finished playing the listed tracks. I copied the CD and put `Kuwait City` on at the end but a lot earlier than the 30 minutes.
I think there was one on an Ash album where we get several minutes of hilarious slurred drunk/stoned bantz among the band, culminating in one of them throwing up everywhere.
A neat encapsulation of their career in many ways
Yes, I was going to add that I’d rather listen to that than any song by Celine Dion, but I’m better than that. I rise above it.
Every track Celine Dion has ever recorded should be hidden in a lead-lined box, locked and dropped in the Atlantic Oceanâs Puerto Rican Trench
That was horrible. Ash are a great band, but nah, that made me feel ill when I heard it.
“Me, White Noise” is a hidden track on Blur’s “Think Tank” which features Phil Daniels, of “Park life” (Parklife!) fame. I can’t recall how good it is cos I can rarely get it to play.
Fog Town on Michelle Shockedâs Short Sharp Shocked album is at odds with the sound of the other tracks. Not so much hidden as unlisted as there isnât much of a wait for it IIRC.
There’s a hidden track at the end of “Captain Swing” too which is quite good as I remember it. Haven’t played that album for years, must give it a spin.
Primal Scream – Give Out But Don’t Give Up
Everybody Needs Somebody tacked on the end, not listed on the back
I’ll Be There For You isn’t listed either. At least not on my copy.
Intersting – it’s shown on my CD
There’s only one contender I know of as a truly great hidden track. 30 mins or so of silence at the end of Jarvis’s first solo album then this.
As true now as it ever was.
Cracker’s Kerosene Hat contains several hidden tracks one of which is Eurotrash Girl, a splendid song.
What a fine album Kerosene Hat is. Haven’t played it in years, must get it out.
Thereâs a good one at the end of The Wondermintsâ wonderful Bali, after ten minutes of soothing ocean noises. I think Summerteeth by Wilco has a different version of Shot in the Arm hidden at at the end.
The worst one I know is The Jello Fund at the end of Come On Feel The Lemonheads, which may or may not be listed, but has the hidden track traits – lengthy gap followed by dicking about in the studio. I remember a pub jukebox with the album, and the last track listed as DO NOT PLAY THIS SONG.
Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral has a song you have to “rewind” the CD from the beginning of track 1 to hear.
My first (and only) threesome evolved to the sound of The Verve’s Urban Hymns. About half an hour after the “last” song there was some startling alarm/white noise tomfoolery that didn’t half startle my companions.
Apologies if TMI.
(The alarm/white noise tomfoolery was on the CD, I hasten to add.)
So, your one and only threesome was interrupted by the sound of sirens?
Me too pal
So you know each other, then?
Well played.
David Gray’s White Ladder has a rewind/pre-cue track as well. It isn’t very good.
NIN hid two cover versions on their 6-track Broken EP, as tracks 98 and 99. One was an Adam & The Ants cover which I rather liked, the other I forget.
There was a Super Furry Animals album with a good rewind track too at the start. Think it was Guerilla or the B sides album
As this is a 90s thread I’ll throw this this in. Gary Crowley has moved on from his 80s compilations and released a new 90s one which might appeal to some here..
Mercury Rev had a hidden track at the end of Deserter’s Songs, I’m sure? Although I can’t seem to find any info on it. As far as I remember there were some very weird noises and then some guy shouting “hello? hello?” or something like that. Very spooky when you accidentally let the CD play on and didn’t realise it was coming up.
Nirvana had some guitar noise stuff at the end of Nevermind I think. And Beck had something similar at the end of Mellow Gold.
Apologies, my answers are a bit vague but it’s a part of musical history I’m trying to forget and I’m not inclined to revisit!
There was also quite a lot of `guitar noise stuff` before the end of Nevermind` đ
Endless Nameless.
The hidden track Wasted Kisses is by some distance the best song on Prince/Symbol/TAFKAP’s otherwise forgettable New Power Soul album.
There’s a gorgeous, elegaic hidden coda to the Pet Shop Boys Very album. Postscript is sung by Chris with keyboards played by Neil. Crazy guys!
The Chris-out-front PSB song is nice, but, not knowing itâs there, the first time I played that album, when the numbers came up, I thought I was getting an 8 minute extended version of Go West and Iâve never really got over the disappointment..
The list of CDs with a “pregap” track reminds me of The Wannadies album which has two different tracks in mono playing simultaneously – one in the left channel and the other in the right. What wags, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_with_tracks_hidden_in_the_pregap
“Pregap” tracks are a bit of a bugger, if you want to rip all of a CD to your phone/tablet/computer/iPod/Fiio.
I think the only Windows software that can do it reliably is dBpoweramp, which has to be paid for. The free Exact Audio Copy cannot see pregap tracks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_with_tracks_hidden_in_the_pregap
I use something else, related to CUEtools, I think. It rips the whole CD, including pregap, and either exports a Track 0 or I have to split track 1 in half. I forget – I haven’t used it in years.
Even more annoying than pregap tracks are the (usually last) tracks where the listed song ends but the track continues for anything from ten to thirty minutes in silence before a final hidden song suddenly is heard – on the same track on the CD.
Being a lazy bastard who doesn’t want to have to use some program to edit the two tracks apart when ripping to computer, I end up with (very often) a great song that I can never put on a playlist or a CD because of the long silence and the (usually) awful song at the end of it.
Artists: Stop doing that, please – no; it’s not cute and nobody feels as if they just got an extra gift from you!
Kenickie had a hidden track on At The Club that was basically them sodding about. Kenickie sodding about always made a good listen when they were interviewed etc, so it was quite charming.
I’m Still Here at the end of Crowded House’s Woodface is pointless and only heard if you forget to turn the CD off for an extended period.
On Pet Shop Boys Very, there is a very short hidden track at the end which is the only time Chris Lowe sings.
The track is a tribute to his recently deceased assistant and rumoured at the time, partner.
Quality additional info
They do say itâs worth getting a second opinion from your GP..
Ahem đ
Kamasi Washington’s last album had an entire hidden actual physical disc. Tear open the central bit of the packaging and boom, a double album just became a triple.
The song âMiss Youâ (not that one) hidden at the end of The Feelingâs â12 Stops And Homeâ;might be the best thing on an already great album. Admittedly from 2006, outside the OPâs timespan.