Swing Out Sister reissue: a complete a waste of space?

As previously reported, Swing Out Sister will be reissuing their 1987 debut It’s Better To Travel this year as a two-disc 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.

This expanded reissue is now available to pre-order on amazon (UK) with a release date of 2 July, and the track listing is as follows:

Disc: 1

• 1. Breakout
• 2. Twilight World (Superb Superb mix)
• 3. After Hours
• 4. Blue Mood
• 5. Surrender
• 6. Fooled By A Smile
• 7. Communion
• 8. It’s Not Enough
• 9. Theme from It’s Better to Travel
• 10. Another Lost Weekend (Long Version)
• 11. Blue Mood (12″ Mix)

Disc: 2

• 12. Breakout (NAD Mix)
• 13. Surrender (Stuff Gun Mix)
• 14. Communion (Instrumental)
• 15. Twilight World (Gas Distress Mix)
• 16. Fooled By A Smile (12″ Mix)
• 17. Dirty Money
• 18. Fever
• 19. Who’s To Blame
• 20. Wake Me When Its Over

Assuming the Amazon track listing is correct, this is appears to be a rather lazy and not particularly well thought out selection.

Tracks 1-9 and 12-15 constitute the original CD release from 1987 which is still very cheaply available. Another Lost Weekend (Long Version) originally featured on the Japanese Another Non-Stop Sister CD release from 1986, as did Dirty Money and Fever. In fact only THREE tracks on this two-disc release didn’t feature on the one-disc 2010 mini-LP Japanese reissue. They are Blue Mood (12″ Mix), Fooled By A Smile (12″ Mix) and Surrender B-side Who’s To Blame? (The other minor difference is that Another Lost Weekend on the 2010 Japanese reissue was not the ‘Long Version’).

Shockingly, this means that close to 60 minutes space across these two CDs is left unused. Amazing! Especially when you consider what isn’t on this reissue.

Key missing tracks include:

• • Blue Mood (Dubbed-Up Version)
• • Surrender (Roadrunner Mix)
• • Breakout (Horny Version)
• • Twilight World (Edited Version)
• • Breakout (A New Rockin’ Version)
• • Blue Mood (Growler Mix)
• • Blue Mood (7″ Mix)
• • Twilight World (Outer Limits Mix)
• • Fooled By A Smile (Phi Phi Mix)

ALL of the above remixes could have fitted onto the two discs giving fans 29 tracks rather than 20…

25 years in the making, how could they get it this anniversary reissue so wrong? The Japanese long out-of-print four-disc box Splendid Collection from 1991 remains the most comprehensive overview of the It’s Better To Travel material, but is virtually impossible to find at reasonable prices.

Leaving off so many officially released remixes on this forthcoming expanded reissue, with both discs only 50 minutes long, is pretty much unforgivable. There is simply no excuse for such sloppiness. Even if masters were missing, a decent vinyl rip, while not ideal, would be better than blank space.

This was supposed to be an anniversary release, but we are forced to send fans our condolences.