Olivia Rodrigo fans who wanted to own all of her “Guts” bonus tracks until now had to develop an expensive Discogs habit, since copies of the very limited vinyl editions that included them have commanded collectors’ prices, and the songs were not put up for streaming. But those extra tracks will finally be made available in a more widespread way with this Friday’s release of “Guts (Spilled),” a deluxe edition that puts the four previously vinyl-only tracks up for digital consumption — while throwing in a fifth, brand-new bonus track to boot.
The never-before-heard number being released Friday is “So American,” said to have been recorded subsequent to the release of “Guts” last September.
The four songs previously available only on vinyl editions are “Obsessed,” “Girl I’ve Always Been,” “Scared of My Guitar” and “Stranger.”
The last three of those songs were in a more acoustic vein, which might explain why they were nixed for the final cut of the mostly rocking “Guts” album. But “Obsessed” certainly is of a piece with the record’s more uptempo tracks, and it was the one bonus track to make the setlist for Rodrigo’s current tour. Now the track — which she cowrote with Dan Nigro and Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent — has been announced as her new radio single, as well.
“Obsessed” is the only one of the previously released four that had been widely available commercially on vinyl, as the secret track on the standard black LP edition and several other variants. “Girl I’ve Always Been,” “Scared of My Guitar” and “Stranger,” meanwhile, were only found initially as unlisted bonuses on color variants that had been sold through the singer’s webstore. Eventually, all four tracks were collected together on a single-sided vinyl EP, “Gut: The Secret Tracks,” that was released exclusively for Record Store Day Black Friday last November. That EP was only pressed in a reported quantity of 7,500, and resale copies of that release have sold for a median price of $108 on Discogs.
“Guts (Spilled)” looks to be a digital-only release, for now, with no CD or vinyl edition announced; PvNew has reached out to ask if any physical release might be in the cards.
When the “Guts: The Secret Tracks” EP came out on Black Friday for RSD, PvNew wrote, “All four are strong enough — B+ tracks at worst, and that’s a conservative assessment — that they would have been worthy inclusions on the main track list. ‘Obsessed’ is the banger of the four (and also, conveniently, the one that was already tagged onto the vast majority of LP variations, so it’s no obscurity at this point). But there’s as much to be said for the pungency of the acoustically based other three: ‘Scared of My Guitar’ (because ‘I can’t lie to it the same way that I lie to you’), ‘Stranger’ (‘I’ll love you ‘til the end of time / You are the best thing that I’ll keep so far out of my life’) and a more playful kiss-off, ‘Girl I’ve Always Been,’ that suggests Rodrigo might have a country record in her. It’s hard to imagine that she won’t ultimately find some more accessible way of issuing these tracks to a wider public, like a digital release. But for this weekend, let the hunger games to procure a copy begin.”
Rodrigo’s U.S. tour began Feb. 23 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif. PvNew‘s review of the opening night said: “It’s a rock ‘n’ roll show, by the way — maybe the best rock tour we’ll get all year, even if the season is young… Any show that starts with ‘Bad Idea Right?’ and ‘Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl’ and ends with the brass knuckles of ‘Brutal,’ ‘Obsessed,’ ‘All-American Bitch,’ ‘Good 4 U’ and ‘Get Him Back!’ is going to be remembered by everyone attending as an electric guitar-ignited fireworks show, even if there’s just as much to be said for the balladic sparklers that made the show’s quieter mid-sections just as enthralling.”
