Not wording per se but hopefully the below helps with some edge cases? Sorry this is a bit of a ramble.
Remixed albums
These are uncommon enough and obvious enough that there shouldn’t be too many edge cases for these. These would always have separate RGs.
Remixed singles
My personal instinct is that where the title tracks would all be considered the same work and the release is somewhat close in time to the first release (usually the non-remixed vanilla track), they should be grouped in the same RG. But:
- where the title track would be considered a new work due to an additional guest artist, substantial re-arrangement, etc, it should have its own RG
- if the title track is a remix and substantially later (e.g. 10th anniversary remix) they should be kept separated.
- if the title track is simply a re-issue, (e.g. 10th anniversary re-release, or due to a popularity spike like 2001’s Murder on the Dancefloor featuring in the 2024 film “Saltburn”), they should be grouped together, as is done with album anniversary re-issues.
Keep together: Skunk Anansie’s Brazen (Weep)
Ivan’s perfect example - these are released close in time (same day!), and clearly in support of one single Work, even though the vanilla track isn’t present on all of the discs.
Keep apart: Robbie Williams’ Angels - 1993 original and 2022 XXV re-recording.
Although the same Work, these are audibly different arrangements and released far apart in time. (Note that the album art doesn’t use the XXV differentiator, only the online metadata does.)
The issue with “close in time” could be subjective though. Six months after an initial vanilla (non-remix) release feels right to me as a rule of thumb for grouping remixes together with it as being in support of that release of that Work. Perhaps three months. A year feels too long. But this could depend on the artist’s own usual release schedule.
Another issue is determining ‘official’ releases versus folks creating ‘unofficial’ remixes. I initially believed Frou Frou had released 24 remixes of A New Kind of Love since the original was released in 2022, but given that the track was TikTok-viral this may not be their own doing, I don’t know. And should unofficial remixes be included in with the official vanilla track? I’d say yes if the close in time criteria is fulfilled.
It could be worth noting where acoustic, re-recorded and live versions fall as well. Live versions are practically always released some time after the original release but noting them here simply as a useful parallel:
Acoustic, re-recorded and live versions of albums
A live recording of a full album, an acoustic re-recording of a full album (Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill Acoustic) or non-acoustic re-recording of an album (Swift’s various Taylor’s Versions) are all uncommon enough and usually quite far apart in time that I think these would practically always be separate RGs.
Acoustic / re-recorded singles
An acoustic version of a single isn’t that much different to a remixed version of a single, in that it’s a different version of the same work, so I believe it should be grouped in when released close in time, or a separate RG if released some time substantially later.
Live singles
Similarly, if a recorded-live version of a single is released close in time to the vanilla single, clearly in support of the same Work, I would group it in the same RG. If it’s much later, then keep it separate. For example, Due Lipa’s New Rules, with original in Nov 2017 and Live at the BRIT Awards release in Feb 2018 would to me be close enough to be in support of the initial work, but it’s on the cusp.
And finally… Remix EPs.
If the EP release is purely multiple remixes of one to a few tracks, with or without the vanilla versions, and released close in time to the main work, group it together with the single. (I tend to import from Spotify where the Single/EP designation seems arbitrary when it’s not explicit on album art.)
