I think I know the answer to this, and I definitely have an opinion on what I believe the answer should be, but before I start changing things I wanted to double-check.
The question is regarding this release from A Minor Forest, Flemish Altruism (Constituent Parts 1993-1996). It is currently in the database with “compilation” as its secondary type. I know the subtitle “Constituent Parts 1993-1996” indeed gives the impression that it is a compilation, to the point where various other places also mark it as such (e.g. AllMusic), but I believe this to be incorrect. Here is why:
A couple songs on the album did in fact appear on earlier EPs or singles, but they were not simply put onto this album in their existing form; every song on here was recorded explicitly for this album. If you look into the liner notes at all, you will see that it says the album was recorded from 1995-1996 and those couple older songs appeared on EPs/singles in 1994. I do not think rerecorded older material appearing on an album constitutes a compilation. Plus if you just look into anything the label, etc. have said about the album, it is exclusively talked about as a debut studio album and not a compilation.
Again, I think I know the right answer here, and the style guidelines seem to support me on this, but they also don’t explicitly cover this kind of situation. I just want to be sure. Thanks!
one such example, MxPx’s Let It Happen mostly consists of new MusicBrainz Recordings, but since they’re simply different mixes of tracks from older albums, it’s still a compilation.
however, in the case of Flemish Altruism (Constituent Parts 1993-1996), yes it sounds like that’s an album. in fact, I think even if a couple of the tracks were previously released, it’d probably still be an album, since the album itself isn’t a compilation of older/previously released stuff
Alternatively, if you really want to nail down the coffin lid, message the artist and see what their intent was (I’ve had 50-50 success with replies I’d say)
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