My Deluxe 3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days in the Life... Album

I got to thinking the other day about how I apparently really like to buy the same album two or three times.  In these days where most people have a hard enough time buying one copy of a particular CD, I'll often have two or maybe even three copies of certain CDs.  Now I should stop and mention that what happens is I get suckered in for a "special edition" of the album I already bought, specifically a special edition of a classic hip hop album.

The epic deluxe version of Mecca and the Soul Brother.

The quality on these releases vary.  The Beastie Boys put out loaded two-disc sets of their second through fifth albums (with the exception of Paul's Boutique, which was left untouched due to laws surrounding the heavily sampling on that album from the epic "Wild West, anything goes" days of sampling), Run-DMC released single discs of their first four albums with outstanding bonus tracks and liner notes (you're not a hip hop fan if you didn't get excited to hear their original version of "Slow and Low" that was later covered by said Beasties), and we saw really great versions of Criminal Minded by KRS-One and Mecca and the Soul Brother by Pete Rock & CL Smooth last year.  I would be remiss in not mentioning the outstanding two-disc version of Paid in Full as well.

As good as these are, there are some other re-releases that have too many holes to really be worth the re-purchase.  For example, Priority created special editions of Ice Cube's first four albums that are great if you didn't have the records, but offer little to those of who had those albums as well as his already released b-sides collection.  The NWA special editions weren't any great shakes either.  Other artists like Public Enemy and LL Cool J are begging to have special editions done of some of their classic albums, but thanks to the ineptitude of Def Jam, these will never see the light of day.  (Speaking of ineptitude at Def Jam, I'm listening to Big Boi's album from last year and I'll never figure out how this wasn't a huge hit for that label.). 

So as I am wont to do, I got to thinking about how cool it would be to see a special version of 3 Years.  The special edition serves one of two purposes in my mind- it either pays tribute to a great album that everyone agrees is a classic or it turns one's eyes back to a forgotten or should've been classic album.  In the case of 3 Years, I would argue that it's a forgotten classic- I think most people forget how good that album was and how it influenced the entire South to eventually become the dominant force in hip hop- not that I would necessarily brag too loudly on that point at times :)

Anyway, with all of the b-sides and so forth that we have at are disposal, I thought it would be kind of cool to put together our own version of what a special edition of 3 Years would look like.  I honestly think my dream job would be putting together these kinds of projects for record labels (it's a great revenue opportunity for a dying business- Def Jam in and of itself is sitting on a gold mine, for starters).  And they say your dream job would be something that you would do for free, so on that note here is how I would put together a Special Deluxe Super Duper Ultimate Definitive Collector's Edition of 3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days In the Life Of....  

Now, keep in mind- I do not have access to any archives where there may or may not be demos, unfinished tracks, completed songs that were unreleased, etc.  So we'll just have to do the best we can with what has been released through b-sides and other means- which means lots and lots of remixes on this hypothetical release.

Disc one is easy of course- the full album, plus the Metamorphosis Remix of "People Everyday" that was included on later pressings of the album.  As far as disc two, this is what I would do for a track listing:

1.  Revolution (from Malcolm X of course.  This one is a no-brainer and as discussed in the past, was on the bonus disc of the Japanese "deluxe edition."

2.  Tennessee (Dred and Funk remix).  Also on that Japanese edition as well as....

3.  People Everyday (Maroon Mix).  Now on to other tracks.

4.  Oh No.  This is from Bebe's Kids and is basically an instrumental piece, but it's from the 3 Years era so it works.

5.  Mr. Wendal (Perfecto Mix)

6.  Tennessee (Pirate Radio Mix)

7.  Fishin' For Religion (Remix) -From the "Natural" single as well as Extended Revolution

8.  Revolution (Another Perspective Mix)- From the Revolution single

9.  Tennessee (Back to Roots Mix)

10.  Mr. Wendal (Hip Hop Drum Attack)

11.  Natural (The Natural Way) - From the "Natural" single

12.  Tennessee (Showbiz Remix) - From the single

13.  Tennessee (For DJ's Only) - Also from the single

14.  Natural (The Drums of Change)

15. Revolution (Instrumental)

16.  Natural (The Natural Way Instrumental)

I am working on getting these added to one handy dandy folder on Mediafire for those interested and I'll let you know when it's ready- many of the songs are already there and all have been posted here before.

So without being able to get into the archives, as previously mentioned, I think that's about what you'd end up with.  Obviously, if there were things out there, you'd be able to go into a lot of directions with it, but even with that limitation, I think you get a decent package for a special edition.  If it ever happened, I think I just earned myself an executive producer credit....  :)  At some point, I might do this with Zingalamaduni as well, since there's some good stuff out there for that one.