I picked up the Steam version of this, but it doesn't let you play the original stand-alone game. Does the GOG version allow that? The expansion pack adds a bunch of nice features, but it also comes with a new soundtrack, and the original soundtrack was a lot better.
Or is there a way to switch back to the original soundtrack?

Gog added the tropico soundtrack as an extra, not sure if you can play them in game or not though.
DrIstvaan somewhat lists what the extras soundtrack includes.
[url=]http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/Even_more_additional_materials/perm=9/#p_b_9[/url]
I'm sure if you want more detail someone can provide it.

The soundtrack alone is almost worth the $9.99. :)

Thats what I keep hearing, might have to youtube some gameplay with music. Running a banana republic is starting to sound more tempting also, games going to end up on my wishlist I think.

Okay, the answer seems to be no. You can only play Tropico 1 with the expansion and the not-as-good music. (I found this out by buying and installing it.)
Does anyone has a clever idea to fix this?

No, you can't play the base game in itself. You have to play the gold version.
And that's true, the recently added soundtrack is almost 100% only from the base game.
Indeed, you really should give it a go someday ;-).
There are "videos" on YouTube featuring one track of the game with some generic background image (CD cover?). Just search for the track titles on YouTube. You can find the track titles for example on CD Baby.

Try out the demo. It's a small download and It'll hook you in, I guarantee:) Keep in mind that the demo only supports the lowest resolution to keep the file size small, and it has only a few tracks, etc.
The GOG game description somehow didn't grab me. But when I tried out the demo I was hooked.

Is there a way to remove Paradise Island from the base game, has anyone tried doing this with the retail version?

Except for the soundtrack, why would anybody want to remove Paradise Island? It does not change anything in the original game, just adds some additional scenarios and some additional units in the new Scenarios. It does not change any of the scenarios or gamplay in the original game.

? I enjoy the soundtrack it has, at least the GOG version.